CH3: On the Hunt (Clear)

From the beaten desserts to the palace walls cutting off the poor from the wealthy, a breeze slid it's way in, naping the neck of sweaty arabic merchants. The warmth which shrouded this place, this city which was so in the middle of nothing. That no one rarely visited outside areas, except for when some kind of fame or fortune was rumored to lie in the breaches of danger, pitiful. This entire world was so small, and the only fortune it had was robbed from it's people and given to a filthy 'sultan'. The population so small yet so stuck on it's belief that it needed someone to lead it. This place wasn't even enough to be considered a nation really, it was more like a prison. The oceans of sand locking the inhabitants inside like some sort of Alcatraz. Ugh, the entire thought of being dictated by a man in a dress... Was utterly unappealing.

Especially when a glowing entity peared at it from many feet away, on a hilltop. He showed no extreme disdain or even care for what was inside instead, he looked around. He sensed something nearby. Conflict. The scarlet Remnant moved, it moved at a pace which could be considered superhuman and the leap it took planted it high in the air. Wherever it intended to land, only time would tell.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of feet up. Yet Caduceus calmly rose, both legs extended as it scanned and zoomed in on multiple things happening in this world. Not a lot of them good, and then, he saw it. A girl cutting down a heartless, the white orbs seemed to narrow, and the Remnant grew angry. He descended inside the city and landed hard on a stony balcony which broke off and exploded on the ground. Rising from the ashes Caduceus walked. Two minutes later, he stood behind Annabeth-Lee, and clenched his fist. If she were to turn to see him, she'd easily be able to identify frustration in his being. Unlike these small heartless, the crimson entity was much stronger. Able to wipe away vast sections of armies, and even pick up buildings with it's strength alone. Though-- it had only been awake for a short time, and was not aware of such abilities. Merely, it acted to input, and if it wanted to be in the air, it would jump, if it wanted to break walls, it broke them. The monster's mind seemed to be at a very basic level currently. Meaning it had not gathered itself much as a humanoid just yet.

The Lingering Sentiment stomped it's foot at the girl, and if she turned to meet it's gaze, she'd see the wind stirring and crimson energy begginng to levitate rocks surrounding himself. This was her warning, if she were to hurt these creatures, Caduceus would be a hero, and save them. The conflict was not in her favor.

The Remnant was indeed a solid figure of color, and right now, it wanted nothing but to help these other heartless. Upon noticing that it's past brethren were unfamiliar with him, Caduceus unclenched his fists, knelt on one knee with an open palm, and bowed. Whether or not the heartless accepted it's peace offering, a flash of crimson could be seen as a zig-zag of red and purple hues snagged up all the kittens and got them to high ground almost straight from a bowed position. They were much to small and weak for this task of battle, instead, Cad would fight Annabelle, should the bigger heartless seek to team up and defend themselves alongside him, he'd happily oblige to that. The mute Sentiment pulled the brakes on the opposite side of the field from which he began after the last kitten had be grabbed up and sat on a ledge a few feet away from the small battle zone. Perhaps not purposely, but Cad had a hard time keeping it's potential on the low from his enemy. Making it noticeable that he could completely make a distance around the surrounding characters in little under a few seconds as just prior shown. Unlike a ranged caster or mage, Caduceus focused on all of the physical statistics which made up a great fighter. Able to crush vehicles with it's bare-hands, or kick down bulldozers with it's feet. But he had no true self-awareness of his powers nor how to control them just yet. For now he was little more than a normal heartless intellectually, acting only to defend them and simply, "exist." as the old saying goes.

The Sentiment was now officially ready to throw down. It made a calm, collected, spinning hand gesture to depict a message to the girl, as it tilted it's head sizing up her proportions to discover if she had any invisible strengths not apparent to it prior to it's arrival. The other hand emulated that of a thumb pointing away. It stood to reason that this was her second warning to leave and admit surrender or defeat before he participated in combat. Should she continue to engage these Heartless; the remnant would act on impulse alone. And attempt taking her life-- just as she did the heartless earlier. Should the girl listen, which it doubted she'd do, the red entity would continue to stalk her from afar until she left this planet. Making keen sureity she not bother his people. The red remnant might've not been a heartless anymore, but if anything, Caduceus felt some kind of urge to protect it's "people". Keybladers protect their people all the time, so why can't the tables turn and he protect his?

Now then, the monster furthered his silent warning by pushing sand to the side with his 'shoe', as it's knees bent and it's arms raised. The Remnant assumed the position of a typical martial artist-- stancing in a way that was neither offensive or defensive, yet ready to assume either in a moment's hesitation. The energy circling the being from earlier was now fluctuating more aggressively. While a weapon would've fancied him better than his hands and intimidation tactics. It couldn't exactly figure out how to summon anything like that right at this second. Meaning the odd creature might be forced to search for something later on, by off chance he doesn't die or get taken in by custody of sorts after this event. If anything, the monster was slowly seeming more and more human the way it was offering the girl peaceful passage away. It was up to her whether or not she accept this and take it as education towards how the darkness truly is. A heartless is no different from an animal, hunting to survive. There needs to be a balance, a mutual understanding between the forces of good and evil... Light is not good, Darkness is not evil. They are merely tools to use, and tools to misuse.

The remnant found itself growing with frustration, even resentment. It was fairly obvious he could not talk and she was not getting the idea; which hinted that her perceptiveness was quite low. Perhaps, since their was nothing else he could do, he'd have to smoke the fox out of the the hole. He'd scare her away. With knees bent, the ground shot sand in all directions, the hardened earth cracking beneath him from just the leap. Where Cade once stood, a small crater inclined itself to the ground. The burst of win alone was enough to blind Annabeth for a moment if it had surprised her. On top of that, twenty feet in the air, Caduceus came down on her location, he swung a back handed fist outward, causing a ripple of wind to surge forth. Had any fireballs, possibly even other magics been shot out at the sentiment, the wind would catch and knock them off balance or overwhelm them and extinguish their effects. Coming in quick behind the visible wave of gale-force wind was the Lingering Sentiment itself. Caduceus attempted to plant a fist in the ground where Annabeth had stood previously. Should she still be there, the fist would plant into her face, causing massive damage and dropping her entire body like a clothesline. If she dodged, he'd drop his body downwards, skirting his form against the flooring like that of a break-dancer to sweep her leg before she could escape entirely. Or-- on the off-chance she tried to hit him with her stick, his foot would instead raise up and parry it into the sandy gravel. Where he'd use his ankle to bend and crack it in half before lunging off into a dodge roll. Thus disarming the mage-- and clearly showing that what he was doing, was telling her to get lost and leave the heartless alone.

Laying before him was a body, and the heartless began to surround his defeated foe, while he knew they were very hungry... He could not let this girl die, throwing her over his shoulder, he prepared to head off this world. Taking her along with him, unless he were to be stopped by another factor to close off his escape.

The mute creature was unsure what to do with a human, but he knew of planets like Traverse Town in which he could dump her. If that were the case, he'd head there now, and let her off in the world before the heartless could get bold enough to pursue him.

Cade snagged the girls glaive off the ground, and began his departure.