The Continuing Adventures of Kelvin Bladeheart: Touch of Ash

Credits; Krell, Rea,
Kelvin didn't seem to handle doors well.  He'd crashed through his office door, torn through Vionelle's, and now he was dismantling the portcullis on the local ruler's palace.  It wouldn't have bothered Krell so much if it weren't for the fact that none of them were locked and all had functioning automatic opening systems.  Kelvin was actually holding the door down so that he could destroy it. 
"Maybe a door called him fat when he was little?"
"I think it would have had to do something more traumatic than that to make him hate them this much. You think a door touched him as a child or something?"
"Could just be pent up sexual tension or something, Father.  A sort of Freudian hatred of anything that blocks a portal, maybe he got shunned by one to many virgins and is taking it out on doors."
"Rea, that makes absolutely no sense."
"I win!  You're buying lunch next time Kelvin calms down long enough for us to sit down somewhere and eat."

They followed Kelvin.  He kept a good pace, in spite of slaughtering everything in his path.  But with nothing to get in their way, Krell and Rea were quite able to keep up at a steady walk. 
"Halt!  My master wishes you to end this slaughter, he will see you in his office and you can discuss what you want with him in private."
"Very well then, but it must be truely private."
"Of course, he would allow no other way."

Kelvin sheathed his sword, in as much as one could call placing his sword inside of his chest with the blade sticking out from behind his shoulder sheathing it.  Apparently the whole 'Bladeheart' thing was literal, as with his sword sheathed his heart, lodged firmly on the crossguard of his sword, was precisely where it ought to be in his chest.  It was morbid, to say the least.  Krell and Rea knew not to think about such things to hard, but apparently the guard didn't.  After expelling much of his last meal, and possibly the one prior, he wiped himself off and feebly invited them to follow him. 
It was a nice palace, realtively new certianly.  And a backwater like this didn't have the funds to build anything truely grand.  And of course, with it being humans and all, there was little chance of it being built to code, Villain's Universal or Gravagan Standard.  He hadn't seen a single death trap yet.  A large double door, Wood facade with gold inlay over something stronger, titanium maybe, marked the entrance to the local ruler's office.  Krell stopped them before they entered. 
"Kelvin, real quick, do you mind if I do the talking this time?"
"Alright, if you think you can handle him.  But if you need help just step aside and I'll handle him."

The office contained an ornate desk, lavish blinds, several paintings of the man behind the desk, and a few scantily clad women to each side of the desk, all armed.  Behind the desk was a rather thickly built man, human, between the ages of forty and fifty but he clearly kept active, with a thick mustache and a military looking uniform. 
"Good afternoon, my firends and I have been tracking down a cult on your planet and we were hoping you could be of some assitance, Mr?"
"General Tange, your companion killed twenty of my men, intimidated one of my citizens, and broke my door.  Is he for hire?"
"Not likely, although I do apologize for the men and the intimidation."
"Pity."  The man stood up and stretched his hand across the table.  "Well then it was nice meeting you Mr?"
Krell took his hand and leaned in.  "Father Krell, tell your Great-Grandfather I said hello."
"My what?"
"Touch of Ash."
He swung his hand through the General's remenants.  The best part of touch of Ash was that it left them standing until something disturbed them, which meant people were never perfectly certain when they'd died.  Unless you chose to brush them away on the spot or there was a good breeze.  Krell liked to brush them away on the spot, that way people were never sure if it was the touch from when he was shaking their hand or the touch when he backhanded them that actually delivered the spell.  Kept younger mages guessing. 
"Father!  What did you do that for?"
"Old oaths Rea, old oaths.  Besides, the book on his desk is exactly like the one we found on that last cultist."  He touched the desk and transfigured it silently and without added effect in case any one thought to check.  "Kelvin, it would appear that the cult has sunk its claws into the entire government here.  We should head straight back to the Casat Line and request fleet action."
Kelvin stroked his mustache thoughtfully.  It was funny to see him thinking, it was obvious how hard he was trying to make it look like he was that it was hard to imagine him doing any actual thinking. 
"Krell is right.  There are far to many for us to handle on our own."  A pair of blasts from the General's handmaids struck his armor ineffectually.  He reached behind him and hefted a floor lamp as a mace and proceeded to club them to death.  Krell decided to get a head start back to the ship while Kelvin massacred the palace on his way out. 

He arrived, less surprisingly than it had been in the past, to find Rea already waiting on the entry ramp. 
"What are you playing at Father.  There's no cult here."
"I have to keep him occupied for three years.  I know perfectly well that Lizzie, I mean Admiral Casat, won't dedicate troops to this.  If I can make the negotiations last a few months though I won't have to spend as much time ushering him around."
"And what if 'Lizzie' does send troops?"
"She won't, because I'll tell her not to."
"And what makes you think she'll listen?"
"A very good hunch." 
"Not good enough."
"It's not for you to know why, just that she will."
"Very well then Father, but if you're spending a few months sitting around 'negotiating' then you'l be spending a few months stuck with me and I'm not going to give up on this."
"I expect nothing less."