"What a pain..."<br/><br/>Auroch voiced yet another complaint as he felt the dark presence very quickly leave his perceptive range. It had moved through the town and right out the front gate too. It wouldn't have been as much of a problem if it had not been for the guards panicking. He looked around and considered his next option.<br/><br/>"Hey! Drop the weapon!" he heard behind him, Auroch turned around and saw a ninja wielding dual katanas. He could not see his expression due to the sheer amount of clothing he was wearing over his body, but he could see he was ready to fight. While he was sure that the ninja would have been able to sense his aura and see that he was not a threat, he was pretty sure that Anima was muddling that up and making him seem like he was just the thing that caused this. That and the fact none of the ninjas knew that he was allowed in here. He simply looked at the ninja and put his hands up, pretending that he was surrendering. The ninja betrayed his experience in the way he stood, he was too tense, worried. He was young and a pup in comparison to some of the others he had seen moving about the area. The moment he saw the boy relax he made his move.<br/><br/>Auroch drew upon power within and used his magic to form a Haste spell that allowed him to move from where he was standing to the ninja in a very short amount of time, more than enough time to beat the ninja's attempt at pressing for an offense. He took his left hand and drew his gigantic blade, swinging it broad side out towards his legs and tripping the ninja, who expected a higher blow from a blade like the one he wielded. He let his leg kick the boy hard in the head and incapacitated him easily, sheathing the sword back on his back.<br/><br/>"They shouldn't hire people so young to kill people..." Auroch said to himself, "some are just not ready to draw the blood of another."<br/><br/>Moving his attention back to the moment at hand, he extended his senses trying to find a different direction to move in, he knew he could not chase after the dark presence himself even with a prolonged haste spell, the thing was flying, and fast. He then remembered the presences of the party he had seen at the temple gate, a Viera, a Gria, and a Moogle. The Gria was a ninja and the Moogle was of a rare species of High Moogles. He had kept a tab on their auras, which was not very hard seeing as how he confirmed two of them to host Espers. The Viera's was especially noticeable and was the last one to leave his perceptive range. They were moving northeast, seeing as how the ninja was the one leading the group she was escorting them as suspects, though their base was in a different direction which was peculiar. They were the only characters of interest besides the dark presence that was by now already too far. He began to consider his options, he could attempt to pursue the dark one...but that was not advised, as the person (or thing) was much too far away. He could stay here and attempt to survey evidence for information, but remembered how many ninjas were there simply when he got there. They would probably be swarming around the inside. He took a look around and thought for a bit. The most logical option would be to follow the group that was moving northeast and making sure they remained safe. Auroch had never met other Esper hosts before and he was pretty sure sticking with them would help him better understand his condition.<br/><br/>He took off at a fast run, ignoring ninjas that noticed his presence and he held out his hand, the seal bracelet Anima was sealed in began to flash and tremble with power as he focused. He jumped into the air and suddenly darkness enveloped his body and he was gone. Leaving the ninja's to ponder what just happened.<br/><br/>A few miles away a dark orb rose from the ground and melted away to reveal Auroch, the bracelet settling down and resting back against his arm, as if it was a normal trinket. He looked back and forth, sure no one followed him. He did not prefer to use Anima's power to travel over such distances like that but it was much faster than even the best haste spell he could muster. He did not feel tired after doing it though he did feel really cold....messing with powers that dark left that feel on him, it was unsettling down to the very fiber of his being and he had to focus just to shake it off. Doing that had closed the distance quite well, he took off at a run and continued onward.