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Mordred was their boss. Yes. That was all over the books. This Mordred wasn’t exactly the most subtle of people, thought Ozaki. And yes, the primary reason to not outright kill him was that if you did, someone worse would take his place. Much worse. The gang did tend to get worse during his long periods of slumber without him around to keep them in check.

As Oras began his verbal tirade Ozaki felt himself increasingly ruffled by it. Enough so that his wings summoned unbidden, flaring out slightly. It was an action that somewhat resembled the action of a cat fluffing up its fur to seem bigger. Ozaki of course recognized what his wings were doing, what his body was doing. And realized it was stupid. What would being bigger even do against people who had decades of fighting experience on him anyways?

This guy was trying to help him. But damn was he annoying about it. His anger, already beginning to boil, was rising. He wanted to do something about this damn it. But there wasn’t a point. He couldn’t possibly win. He slapped the dunce cap off the top of his head, but other than that did not say anything. Ozaki was getting so fucking tired of this. He was tried of running and hiding. He did want to do something, but he couldn’t do it alone. And his best chance for help right now was this idiot asshole who was bragging about trying to take down a gang organization in front one of its members.

He swore to Artemis he wanted to blow the both of these jerks sky high right now… Probably could… Neither of them would see it coming from him. But he didn’t want to wreck the library, and killing one of Mordred’s children would land him in massive amounts of trouble. He had to remain calm. Lashing out wouldn’t do him any good.

Besides, it wasn’t like Oras was wrong. He was kind of being an idiot. But Oras also didn’t see the whole picture. Which of course he hadn’t. Ozaki hadn’t explained it to him. Nor was he feeling particularly charitable right now either… But he had to get over that.

Calm down. If he reacted right now it would only be regarded as a temper tantrum.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yah. No. As much as Antonio might not want to appear wishy washy on this matter. There was no way he was just going to sit back and silent while Oras talked about derailing his family’s organization. He may have gotten a good impression from their fight and the fact that he was more than willing to oblige to answer some of his questions. “I will not be participating in any such schemes to derail my family’s organization. The fact you think I would do so is an offense in on itself. I shall answer what questions you may have when you have to ask them, as you have earned said questions.”

But fact of the matter was Antonio was just as much a part of it as the rest of them. He was just stuck on… Well… Baby sitting duty now honestly. Babysitting a very angry fledgling that wanted nothing to do with them and was liable to vanish if he so much as sneezed. Speaking of which. He was looking a little flighty right now. Literally, the boy had summoned his wings and everything.

Antonio walked over to Yuuki and put a hand on his shoulder. Not so much as a companionable thing, but to keep him from physically running away. Plus, he looked rather close to loosing his shit.

He had said yes to the slap because frankly Oras had been right- Yuuki refusing so much as a word in from someone who was literally in the gang was stupid on his part. Even if Antonio might understand why. “But you are quickly draining my patience Oras.” He snapped. Undoubtedly Oras would come across the information he was looking for one way or another. However Antonio was not going to be as forthcoming as he might have otherwise been before this outright declaration of war.

Well. War was an overstatement given how many people were involved. But it was definitely a challenge.

“You can ask your questions later Yuuki.” Antonio said in a steely tone, seeing right through the likely ploy Oras was playing. He only got three questions but Yuuki got as many as he wanted. Clever to try and take advantage of that. Perhaps there was some genuine part of him that was trying to keep Yuuki from shutting down on one of his stubborn streaks that went a mile wide.

But there was of course also the part that was trying to get as much information about the Bloods as possible in order to bring down their organization. Antonio would personally rather not dictate Yuuki’s social life on top of following him when he didn’t want to be followed. But associating with a man who had stated such a challenge could only bring trouble. Particularly if Mordred actually took the threat seriously. If he did, may Artemis have mercy on the man before him.

He seemed like a decent person with incredible skills, if his stories were true. If they could get him to focus his attentions on The Church of Purity rather than his own organization, he’d be useful. Perhaps if Antonio willfully came forward with the Yuuki’s story he might be able to at least divide Oras’ attention or forestall him going after them.

No matter what they were still a criminal organization, heedless of their purpose for being this was a man who would seek to tear them down. Mordred did not take kindly to having his family threatened. To Oras this was a game, to Mordred such a declaration would be cause to unleash himself fully on him.

Nothing short of killing him would stop such a man, he could see it in his eyes. But why kill him when he could be useful? The truth alone could disarm a man if wielded correctly.


~~~~~~
For a moment he wondered why Antonio was keeping him quiet on asking questions. But that was pretty obvious if he thought about it. He wasn’t going to give Oras as free access to information as he might to Ozaki. Oras had no idea how dangerous a game he was playing right now. Ozaki had been doing research for hours on such a man. And honestly this point it was more surprising Mordred had left him alive than the fact he had turned him.

Really he shouldn’t be getting mad at them though, Ozaki thought to himself. Oras was trying to help him, as had multiple people. And he’d been too stubborn to accept it until the ice atronoch had come around. Not to mention he’d been thinking way too small until now. Just killing Yuuto? That was only one person, the whole damn Church was still out there killing people supposedly in the name of the law. The majority of the public perception was warped to favor them, for on the surface they did have the noble goal of protecting humanity. But their methods of doing so were a perversion of justice and cruel.

No wonder Mordred had thought he was going to charge into the Church of Purity. In the end what would killing one man truly do? It’d make Ozaki feel a hell of a world of better. So he’d still do it. He wouldn’t need help with killing Yuuto heedless of what Mordred or anyone else thought. Granted it’d be a damned sight easier but… He still didn’t want it.

Frankly he did hate Mordred with all his guts. But at least for now he did not want to tear down the organization Meggi had called home. Though his hesitation in that regard was beginning to wane. Perhaps he shouldn’t be mad though? They were trying to protect him. They weren’t really stopping him from doing anything in his life. Yet anyway. It was still annoying though.

Ozaki brought a hand up and drew his fingers through his hair. This little thing had been more like a break between his obsessive preparations for that… Really there was only so much he could do by this point. He had everything mapped out, he just needed the chains made and then it’d be good to go. It was just taking time for the black smith he’d hired to make them to finish them up.

For now Ozaki was going to need to do his best to get over himself. And all this senseless anger was getting him no where. But damn it all if it didn’t get frustrating sometimes.

“I want to clarify…” He was ready to dodge this time if Oras came at him with anything. He wasn’t just going to be a sitting target for this. He wanted to make something very clear. Because if Antonio reported that he might actually be on Oras’ side for this he was going to be in massive amounts of trouble. Like, their second time meeting would look like a handshake in comparison amounts of trouble. He didn’t think Mordred would kill him… But there were worse things than dying. “If I had a target I don’t think it would be them. They may have been responsible for ripping my human life away from me… But so far as being persistent threat, I’d say The Church of Purity is the greater evil in this case.”

And just like that any sort of amusement or camaraderie Antonio might have felt towards the fellow swordsman was gone in an instant. “I would say it is you who is the fool here… Assuming I’d Yuuki here anywhere near you after this.” His hand clenched tighter on Yuuki's shoulder. He did do his best not to control Yuuki’s life too much. He was here as a shadow, not a tyrant. But being associated with someone who had stated an outright challenge to The Bloods organization… No. Antonio could not permit this to pass further. Even if Oras might be convinced to switch targets at some point in this conversation.

Killing him wasn’t off the table as an option. The only reason Antonio wasn’t trying it now was because it simply wasn’t a great location. Anyone could come into this library at any time. Potential witnesses. The cameras here would not catch him, but even if there weren’t people here right now there were those who could place him at the scene of the crime fighting with the man before it happened. Simply enough, if they were going to kill him it would have to be later, and with a few more people to be sure they could get the job done without fatalities on their end.

A mile thick wall, at least in the proverbial sense, was possible.

He would have to impress upon Yuuki the urgency of not affiliating with such a man. Antonio had no doubt of the boy’s ability to at some point slip away from his watchful eye. He had done it multiple times already as it was. So it was vital to not simply hope that such a thing come to pass, but fully explain the potential consequences.

Mordred did not take kindly to threats to his family. And while he would not kill Yuuki for plotting against them that did not mean there would not be considerable punishments coming his way. As of now Antonio could see that Yuuki had not really asked this man to get involved, he had simply involved himself on his own accord. For his own amusement. For him this was nothing more than a game.

For now Antonio was willing to gamble that with a man interested in playing the hero and taking down “the big bad” could be at least momentarily distracted. “As much as I loathe to admit it, the Church has us beat in the power department. The best way we have of surviving is by sticking to the shadows.” Antonio used his talent to mask the presence of the vampire on the table from sight, obscuring it from view with a shadowy void. The shadow itself could be seen, but where it was within the murk could not.

When Oras was done with his tirade he spoke again. “The Church wants nothing more from us than our species eradication. And we nothing from them.”

He was about done with Oras now… All there was to see was how the bait had landed. If Oras really had the skill sets he claimed to have it would be better to point him in the direction of their enemy than have him on their tails. He would have been fine if Yuuki had worked side by side with such a man in taking down the Church... At the very least he wouldn't be trying to do it on his own. But he'd proved himself a liability to the family, Antonio couldn't risk Yuuki and Oras getting too close again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ozaki could feel Antonio’s grip tighten slightly at the mention of Oras just getting the information from him later. Ozaki didn’t even need a whole conversation to tell him that that was a bad idea.

Was Oras seriously going to continue provoking the man? Was he suicidal? Then again, ice elementals were surreal creatures. Being killed just meant they lost their physical form and had to be summoned again. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal for him. But if he had wanted to collect information on The Bloods he was doing the absolutely wrong thing.

He had beaten the man in a duel, but it sounded like Antonio hadn’t even been using both of his talents in that match. Oras was courting death here, given the hours of research he had done Ozaki knew that more than well enough. He was hesitant to speak right now… But so long as he kept from mentioning anything about The Bloods, it… Should be fine?

“More charisma than a cult leader… I highly doubt it.” He’d mutter. A particularly virulent cult could talk a starving family out of their last penny and genuinely make them believe that it was for their own good.

Frankly… Ozaki did not particularly wish the criminal organization to be disbanded. For one it wasn’t what Meggi would have wanted. And for another it wasn’t like he could cast stones on the crime department…. Though it was nothing on the level of gang crimes he’d note…

Ozaki himself would personally say the Church was much more powerful than The Bloods hands down. The only way The Bloods survived their reign was, like Antonio said, living in the shadows. The Church had power and charisma if not intelligence… That part was hard to say. Ozaki had never really gotten that far in it, so he wouldn’t really know their inner workings.