Chapter 248.

PART 1.

The military craft which was at some distance from the station observed Hatori. They tried to approach closer, hoping that they could get the injured mage on board. But the station disappeared, and then Hatori started to fall down. The craft gave chase but was unable to keep up. In the mist, Hatori suddenly disappeared. Though they could not get to him on time, the computer tracked Hatori's trajectory and gave an estimate of where he could have ended up.

Captain Vikram and his squad were given the responsibility to track Hatori down. If He's alive, so much better. If not, then they want to keep his body out of the hands of other forces. It is not clear whether someone might manage to crack some secret of his and come back to haunt them.

Hatori has ended up in Central Asia, a region that is known for its troublesome past, as well as present. Thankfully, the area he has ended up in is friendly to them, so retrieving him should not be an issue. Unless someone managed to get there before them.

They also have brought a mage with them. Vikram is freaked out by him. He is way too calm. The general said that he was a doctor, but no doctor had ever given him this kind of feeling. Though Vikram and his squad are wary of him, the mage, named James Flora, has not given them any reason. He is perfectly polite and doesn't argue when Vikram gives out orders.

The squad lands along with James. "He is here, we don't have to go too far." Said James.

"Good to know." Said Vikram, deciding not to question how he knows that. The mission is important, he can ask questions later. If he gets a chance that is. "Men, on guard!"

They trek in the mountainous terrain with the guidance of James, who makes sure they do not lose their target, and go further from Hatori. Once they arrive, they see that Hatori is lying in the snow. His body is surrounded by a strange glow. "Is he alive?" Asked Vikram. There was no information about this strange glow in the mission briefing.

"He is." Said James. He brings out his staff, and waves it around, confirming the status of Hatori. "He is fine, but we need to take him out of here."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Said Vikram. He stands back, as his men help James in moving Hatori.

"Usually, I would just levitate him. But in his current state, my magic might interfere with his protections. That glow you see is what has kept him alive so far." Explained James.

"Very well." Said Vikram, keeping a look out for any threat.

Just when he thought that they were going to get away peacefully, another force arrived on the scene. Vikram recognized the uniform. "Of course. The Elite Core is here." He said in disgust.

They dismount from the helicopter, and the leader comes to Vikram. "Leave that corpse here."

"Not a corpse. And last I checked; you don't have the authorization to be here." Replied Vikram frostily.

"What are you gonna do? These godless barbarians aren't gonna help you." Said the man.

Just then, several helicopters appeared, and they started to drop soldiers. "You do not have the authority. Leave!" Replied the commander in an accented English.

The leader of the Elite Core looks in the sky. Those helicopters are not leaving. Much to his annoyance, he also knows that with the soldiers present on the ground, and the weapons present on board, they outmatch him and his forces. In any other situation, these people wouldn't be a match for his military. But this is a covert operation. He shook his head and decided the course of action. "Men, we're leaving."

"Sir!" Replied his soldier, and they went back where they came from.

"Should we give chase?" Asked the commander to Vikram.

"No need. Our objective is fulfilled. Thanks for the assistance." Said the captain.

"No problem."

While this was going on, Hatori was loaded in the helicopter in which Vikram and his squad arrived at this area. Once they take flight, the forces of the region escort them, until they leave their airspace. Vikram breathes a sigh of relief once they land and he steps outside of the helicopter and breathes the air of his own country.

PART 2.

Hatori is having strange dreams. They often have an ethereal quality, and they change quite often. Sometimes, he is a CEO who is emotionlessly watching the stock price of his company rise, all the while planning the purge of those pesky shareholders. Other times, he is a Kung Fu master, who is causing havoc all around the world. Sometimes he goes back to his school days, where Daphne and Ravina are upset at him, and his entire dream turns into a romance drama, which horrifies him, and other times it takes the form of a nightmare where he is the weapon of the nobles, who destroys anything and anyone at their command.

Once these distressing dreams are over, Hatori finds himself observing the output within his mental space. The command line interface is constantly running, and showing the processes going on within his body. Here's a small sample of the output:

Initiating the blood replenishing process...

Unable to find enough nutrients for the process. Using ambient magic to fulfill the need...

Done.

Regenerating skin...

Checking to find the nutrients... Nutrients found. It is still not sufficient; potions are recommended once the system wakes up. Making up with ambient magic once again.

Done.

On and on it went, describing the repairs and what was needed for them. Hatori surmised that he could get the nutrients because he was likely in a hospital. This hospital must be a normal one, otherwise his healing process would go much more smoothly, and his repair system wouldn't need to resort to ambient magic. The problem is that ambient magic can be quite unstable, and slow. His body is still using magic to repair itself, whereas it is supposed to be resting.

Getting bored of watching the scrolling output, Hatori falls into a meditative trans. He finally wakes up and realizes that he is fully awake now. He still feels weak. Too weak to open his eyes. Which is why he can't see.

He tries to make his eyes open, but can’t do so. In fact, he feels no movement within his eye sockets whatsoever. Panicking for a moment, Hatori doesn't realize what is going on. But he then remembers what that woman did to him. 'She gouged my eyes out.' He remembers.

'Too bad she died. I would teach her a lesson. I bet she would never dare to attack someone's eyes again once I was done with her. Oh well.' He thinks to himself.

Hatori senses two magical signatures within the room with him. One is James, but the other one is faint and difficult to assess. "He is awake." Said James to the other person. "How do you feel? Can you talk?" Asked James.

"Yes." rasped Hatori. James gives him water without asking. "How long?" Asked Hatori, unable to complete the sentence.

But James understood what he was asking. "About a month. I've been looking after you." Explained James.

"Who else is here?" Asked Hatori, feeling good enough to sit up slowly.

"General Vansh here." Said the other man. "You fell off in some snowy mountains in Central Asia. We brought you here after we found you. This is a military hospital, and Doctor James has been looking after you."

"You probably want to know what happened there?" Asked Hatori.

"Not really. Just give me a written report, and I'll speak to you over the phone. For now, tell me. Are you good enough to be moved?" Asked Vansh.

"What? Don't tell me you are already tired of me?" Asked Hatori.

"Not at all." Chuckled the general. "We do not have the right knowledge or equipment to handle a mage. I believe if you can move, then you will have a better recovery under the supervision of Doctor James."

Hatori thinks about pointing out that he is already under the supervision of James. But he still remembers how the healing utility kept recommending a steady diet of potions to bring his health up to its former state. James is probably not able to brew and bring the supply of the potions here regularly. There is still a lot of caginess from the magical side, some secrets have not been given away yet. The general is giving Hatori an easy out.

"Sure. I'm good enough. Though I can't walk for long distances yet." He informed them.

"That is okay. I think you are in good enough shape that you can be levitated." Said James.

After all the arrangements were made, Hatori was shifted to his home from the military hospital. General Vansh breathed a sigh of relief. He can finally reassign the troops guarding this location somewhere else, and forget about the politicians giving him a headache about Hatori. Good thing that the hospital itself was never revealed to the media. He might order his first massacre in sheer rage. A man can only take so much of pestering.

PART 3.

After Hatori is shifted to his home in India, he participates in a meeting with Avinash. James is with him, while Avinash is in the castle with Raven who recently has returned to Subcontinent from India. This meeting is held by the king to know what exactly happened, as Avinash does not have a clear picture. There was a lot of chaos on the other side of the curtain, and it became difficult to make sense of what was going on exactly after the mission began and Hatori was teleported.

"So, how are you feeling?" Asked Avinash.

"A little tired." Said Hatori. "But I'm sure I'll get back to my former self soon enough. Also, it feels awkward to not have air resistance around me."

"You did turn that off during the fight, didn't you?" Asked James.

"I did. I wouldn't have been able to dodge those waves of plasma otherwise." Explained Hatori. "I don't think it is a good idea to turn it on again. My body is still not recovered fully."

"Correct." Said James. "If you would have insisted on that, then I would have to sedate you."

"I assume you sent James here?" Asked Hatori.

"Yes." Confirmed Avinash. "Him and Raven. I wanted to make sure that in case you got incapacitated, you can be brought back safely."

"Hmm. Good call." Said Raven. "There was some trouble while the forces tried to retrieve you. You nearly got kidnapped."

"Not again!" Said Hatori.

"Don't worry. We wouldn't have allowed it." Said Avinash, having known how Hatori got kidnapped twice, and as a result, his distaste for it.

"Tell me about the fight. What went on there? The reports are confusing and nonsensical." Asked Avinash.

"Well, the teleportation was successful. I landed on the space station and began to clear the enemy forces. But the leader proved to be difficult. She modified herself with magic, and she went completely mad when she couldn’t beat me. She started to destroy her own base, had an argument with her own second-in-command, and that man decided to blow up the station." Explained Hatori. "I couldn't avoid her plasma wave; I suppose I got careless. Taking advantage of this, she got close to me and extracted my eyes, and crushed them. And pushed me outside with another wave of plasma."

"His body was badly burned." Added James. "If it weren't for his healing runes, he probably would have died then and there."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Anyway, the problem was that the exploding station was about to enter the atmosphere, and its pieces would have done a lot of damage. Normally, I wouldn't care, but I just knew that someone would complain. So, I teleported it away. I managed to do it because I didn't have to make it go far, just far enough that it wouldn't explode in the atmosphere. This exhausted me, and then I lost consciousness." Hatori finished his recounting.

"How do you know that man who exploded the station, he was second-in-command?" Asked Raven.

"Because he had the authority to give the command. Besides, he also had the similar modifications as the leader." Hatori gave his reasoning.

"Sad about your eyes." Said Avinash. "You can design a replacement I assume?"

"Yep. Just give me some time." Said Hatori.

"There are some things though." Said James. "Your runes were behaving strangely when we retrieved you."

"Good thing you brought this up." Said Hatori. "I observed that they were using a lot of ambient magic. I didn't design them to do it. It appears that they automatically implemented this functionality on their own. Not only that, I also suspect that they made sure that I didn't fall like a rock. What is even more interesting is that these modifications are permanent."

"Well, I suppose we can go over that. I didn't want to discuss this in the hospital." Said James.

"Good thing. There might be listening devices or something." Said Hatori, his paranoia is as strong as ever.

"Well, get healed up, and then come to me. I think you've spent long enough there. Besides, the three galactic races are coming to our planet. I want you to be here when they do." Said Avinash.

Hatori wanted to ask why they were coming, but he was struck by the sudden bout of sleep. "Sure." Was all he could say, before James disconnected the call, and left him alone in his room to rest.

PART 4.

Once Hatori was good enough to walk he shifted to his house in the Subcontinent. His children are all home, and he wants to spend some time with them. Normally, he is more than capable of keeping up with them. But he is still not completely recovered. He is full of energy in the morning, but by the time of afternoon, he starts to feel tired. He takes a nap during that time and feels normal in the evening.

"How long?" Hatori asked James, feeling horrified at his condition.

James understands what his friend is feeling. Ever since his childhood, Hatori has been a physically and mentally active person. He is always doing one thing or another. Either doing his fitness regime ingrained within him by Zeko or doing one experiment after another. So, this sudden halt to his activities is naturally concerning to him. Not even the war put a stop to Hatori. In fact, he was even more active during that time, since he had to be present on many fronts, fulfilling whatever responsibilities Raven and Avinash asked of him.

"Be patient." Said James.

"I'm already a patient!" Replied Hatori.

"I'll let go of that horrible pun. The potions are taking effect already. Just wait for a month, and you will be back to your normal self." Said James, and then left for the Academy.

Who knows what kind of chaos is brewing in his absence? He needs to find a successor for the position of chief medic in the Academy.

Luckily for Hatori, his children are not given to roughhousing. True, Sushima does cause chaos every now and then, but it is more or less done with yantras and their applications. Maybe it would be better to call them misapplications. Hatori and James used to do the same thing during their younger days, but this boy alone has taken what they used to do to the next level.

Daphne Junior has beaten the fire elemental this year as well. Seeing that Sushima getting a computer and him being happy forced her to perform at the same level as her brother, even though she is not a combative one like him.

"I'll go look for a gift for her as well." Said Hatori to Daphne. "I do hope I won't end up fighting some other dangerous criminal this time."

"Don't worry. I doubt that would happen." Said Daphne. "Though I do want to discuss with you something."

"What?" Asked Hatori. He looked in the room and didn't find Ravina around. 'They probably planned this in advance.' He realized.

"I want another baby!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Said Hatori. But he then assumes a feeble posture and starts to talk in a croaking voice. "Silly old woman. Why would you have a thought like this at this age?"

"Oh, quit acting. It might work on a magicless person, but you do know we live longer and our prime period is very long," said Daphne, not falling for Hatori's act.

"See? This is why women should not be educated." He grumbled.

"Whatever." Said Daphne, ignoring Hatori's jokes. "I do think it is time to complete the quartet."

Hatori listens to an argument coming from outside of the room. Looks like Sushima is showing off again, and Junior is angry at him. Garuda is probably annoyed at them for disrupting his peace. A few seconds later, the yelps and the pleas of mercy prove Hatori write. "They are so predictive; I don't even have to be present there to know what they are doing." He told Daphne.

"You sure you want another chaotic hellion around?" He asked her seriously, with none of the humor from the earlier present in his tone.

"Yes." Said Daphne.

"Well then. Let me recover, and then I'll start the hammering process." Said Hatori.

PART 5.

A month later, Munshi and Kalicharan are relaxing in their house. They are both retired now and apart from a few bits and pieces of work they do for consulting purposes, they are not active either in the profession of necromancy or within academia. They are reading the news about the three galactic races of Dwarves, Goblins, and Orcs coming to their world for some event or another, where the king is welcoming them. Afterward, during the festivities, a scholarly debate started, which resulted in the entire hall being burned to the ground. Both of them are happy to note that the galactic races behave just like them when it comes to scholarly pursuits.

However, their relaxing is interrupted, when they sense a large buildup of magic. "Dammit, who is fucking around in the neighborhood again?" Kalicharan doesn't like it when his peace is disrupted.

"Let's check out. I bet it is those new renters." Said Munshi to his friend.

"Fine. we'll teach them a lesson or two. You don't screw around with that level of magic in a residential area." Grumbled Kalicharan. "Not even I was stupid enough to do that during my younger days."

"Yes. Which is saying something. Your stupidity level was quite high." Said Munshi.

They continue to argue about their younger days, and who was stupider, until they track the magic down to the home. "See? I was right!" Said Kalicharan. "Though how a bunch of renters manage to afford guards is beyond me."

As Kalicharan pointed to the house, several mages stepped in front of them. These are clearly trained to fight, and they are given the responsibility to stop anyone from coming inside. "Halt! Go back, or we'll use force!"

"Listen, lads," Said Munshi, trying the diplomacy. "It is a residential area. We sensed the large buildup of magic, whatever you are doing, it is not safe to do it in this area. Please halt whatever is going on inside. We are both experienced necromancers, we will help you in handling the disrupted ritual."

"Didn't you hear me old man? Back off!"

"Listen you pipsqueak." Said Kalicharan, having enough of this disrespect. "We were enjoying our retired life; it is you who are causing us trouble. Either let us go inside, or suffer the consequences!"

"What? How dare you threaten us? Men! Teach them a lesson!"

A fight breaks out. Munshi stands back and lets Kalicharan work out his aggression. They are not a match for him. Adding Munshi to this fight would be overkill.

The entire team, consisting of ten mages surround them, and they all start to cast spells on Kalicharan. The old man just laughed and reversed many of those spells. "See that Munshi? I am not bad with math anymore!" He laughed.

"I see." Said Munshi, observing the dodging enemy group, as well as shocked men whose spell backfired on their faces.

What Kalicharan did was simple. He reversed the mathematical properties of these spells. That is, if they were using positive values, they turned negative, and vice versa. This resulted in the opposite effect, where the spells either affected the caster or simply backfired. It is akin to a bomb being exploded in their hands.

Kalicharan then cast another spell, and this time a red light came out of his foci. It struck the leader of these men, who was talking so boldly a few moments ago. His skin starts to rot, and he dies and turns into an undead in control of Kalicharan. This corpse then starts to murder its former colleagues, and they are unable to handle this attack. The number of corpses grew under Kalicharan until all ten of the guards were slaughtered.

He lets go of their control, and they all dissolve into liquid. "Ain't no resurrection for you." He said to the pool of liquid.

As they started to go inside, the buildup of magic reached its peak. "We are too late." Said Kalicharan.

"Step closer." Said Munshi, and he shielded himself and his friend as they were both launched away from the house which was destroyed in a large explosion.

PART 6.

The trio of Lakshmi Chauhan, Raghunandan, and Arjun Reddy prepare for the ritual. It took them a while, but they have gathered all the ingredients necessary for the ritual. They went on a long quest... Hold on.

Ahem. They did not go on a quest. Why would they? They are noble ones. People go on quests for them. Not the other way around. They hired a bunch of mercenaries for this job and killed them when they asked for their pay. Standard operating procedure for any noble magical merchant house.

The ritual requires precise rune work, and the ingredients have to be mixed within the solution resting at the center of the circle. They chant all the spells necessary, and then the entire structure is charged up with magic. A circle appears in the air, right above the runes, and it starts to spin counter-clockwise. It creates a vortex, and they all step inside.

Expecting that they would end up back in time, right before the reign of Porus began, they are surprised when nothing of the sort happened. They crossed the vortex, and they are still standing in the same room where they have performed the ritual. They now look quite silly, as the vortex spins behind them, while they look at each other in confusion.

"What's going on?" Asked Arjun.

The vortex is still spinning. It is getting faster and faster, and it has started to generate a lot of magical energy. Arjun, who is the sensor among the trio is starting to get worried.

"Looks like there is someone outside, trying to get in." Said Raghunandan, as the sounds of a battle going outside reached their ears.

"Forget that." Said Lakshmi. "There is no info about this phenomenon. We need to leave this place--"

Her sentence is interrupted, as the magical pressure grows exponentially in the room. all three of them are brought to their knees. Soon enough, they end up on their backs, unable to get up. The circle starts to expand, and then everything goes dark.