Ander had figured out that his captain knew the answer to the issue when asked if he could decode an enchantment. As that wasn’t Ander’s specialty, doing so was impossible, after learning Kyrion made it timed things fell into place.
Which forced them to act, Ander and Chiyo were in a Slayer's office after breaking in stealthily. A well-timed blockwide emp left the area dark and in that darkness, the two hands slipped in and quietly disabled all the cameras and sneakily subdued everyone in the building. For reasons relating to the attacks, the leaders of the Slayers were gathering to figure out who messed up.
“Chiyo, about your Vengeance. I know you’ve been gathering information on the Esper that killed–” Ander held his fingers in an arc allowing electricity to travel back and forth.
“That isn’t it!”
“Huh?” The arc stopped in the middle confused.
“That isn’t it anymore. Father doesn’t regret his actions or his death and after digging I’ve found out something concerning.”
“What did you find, my love?” Ander leaned towards the files on the computer, heaping his bolt behind him as he condensed a little bit of his power.
“Classified files relating to human experimentation and the mass kidnapping of hospital patients under the guises of tragedies. How something like this stayed secret so long is concerning.
“I can imagine. Are you humans always bringing harm to each other?” Ander asked it rather flippantly though the amount of power that surged into his fingers pushed the power he was holding past lethal.
“Good and Evil is a spectrum. Don’t worry about it.” Chiyo waved him off.
“Fine. But we may have company if you aren’t done soon.” Closihis hands, Ander stepped away from the computer.
“Are you rushing me?”
“Nope. I can probably handle them. Though It will be a swift and lethal death.” Ander admitted.
“Can’t afford that. We’re at 64%. Can you hurry up?” Chiyo looked at the flash drive that she had been using only to scowl as a figure stopped in the room.
“Murder it is!”
“I got him.” Chiyo began to move.
“If he sees us then he’ll need to die. It’s not like you can lock people in a dimensional prison.”
“Why are you so quick to kill?” Chyio asked as a loud crash sent the reinforced double doors flying off their hinges.
A large metal human cyborg, small bits of human flesh still visible while the remainder of the body was metallic and covered in weapons.
“That’s why.” Ander flicked a lightning bolt into the figure causing it to seize up and then die as the mechanical functions keeping the cyborg alive ceased and what remained collapsed due to the armor’s high pressure.
“So… Are all fights like this?”
“If a fight lasts longer than a few minutes, then it's either a sign that both are holding back or really close in skill and power. Someone like that has a body that is near late fledgling, based on my estimates. The weapons were early practitioner and loud.”
“Now what?” Chiyo looked out the window and paled as the drop would be from a great distance.
“Now we run as he wasn’t the only one they let loose. T
“Out the window?”
“Yes, jump.”
“I’ll die.”
“If you were normal maybe. But with the man enhancing your body such a fall would be a minor inconvenience, plus you should start trying to learn how to fly “
“Now?”
“Well you should be able to at least slow your fall with wind magic. You can figure it out, I believe in you.”
“I haven’t even learned how to freely use my wind magic, yes. Don’t even think I have it.”
Ander clenched his fists tightly until his fingernails pierced his palm, the dark mana he’d been keeping prepared fading as he calmed himself down. Within seconds his bloodlust was gone and he was vaguely confused before being heavily concerned.
“What was that…Nevermind. Chiyo, start running towards the window, we’re going together.” Ander blasted a hole through the widow large enough for people to pass with a mop he’d picked up on his trip into the skyscraper. The shattering was strangely silent as Ander jumped through the gap first to get his bearings.
Chiyo began to run towards the exit when the rest of the cyborg abominations made it to the room and opened fire.
“Wind wall!” Ander summoned a wall of wind between her and the machines but he was too slow as a bullet flew through her shoulder and she began to bleed.
Ander was beyond pissed and in that fit of rage the dark mana in his core grabbed hold and used a spell.
“Dark Rend.” The rage faded as he said the words and a realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He’d just used one of his brother's forbidden spells. Rend was something he came up with and used exclusively until he did it in front of someone impressionable. It wasn’t complex and he’d learned it from the source. It was a spell designed for killing efficiently. The forbidden aspect was using dark mana to accomplish it. That magic would rend the targets from the inside and tear its way out, much like his Genocide Bolt, this spell loved to chain.
“Damn it.” Chiyo got back to her feet uninjured and jumped towards a confused then serene Ander.
“So we aren’t blowing this place up?” Ander asked.
“No, just get us out of here.”
“Finally, we can get back to training.”
“We need to go to the U.K tomorrow.”
“Korea or the United Kingdom?”
“Both eventually. Can you fly as fast as your captain?”
“Faster though I can’t take you with me at that speed you aren’t reinforced enough.” Ander flew past some buildings before stopping near the top of a tower. From there they could see two people with large and well-made tattoos on their backs fighting to the death. Both were innately using life essence though very little training was present.
“Huh, a dragon tattoo and a tiger tattoo? What does that mean here?”
“Aside from the fact that they are filming for a movie. It may seem odd to some, but we see dragons and tigers as equals.”
“Huh, didn’t know actors could use life essence.”
“Qi? How can you tell?”
“It’s like mana sensing. One of the first things we learn how to do back home, wind users have an innate gift. It gets easier when you figure things out.”
“Right. Out of curiosity, are you jealous of your captain?”
“No. But I do want to fight him in a serious bout. His regeneration is nearly on par with your fathers, only tied to stored calories and mana. In our first match he pushed me to use lighting on the both of us simultaneously and managed to barely outlast me. This was back when he fought in a more straightforward fashion. Then a few hours later I saw him use what he learned to rapidly improve against an opponent I couldn’t touch at the time. Growth and determination in kids of that age is rare. Most who haven’t gone through the mental conditioning are weak willed or will easily give up. Back when we first met directly, I could have easily wiped the floor with him.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Yeah yeah. When was that fight?”
“Sevenish years ago.”
Chiyo slowly blinked. “What is wrong with people in your world having children fight like that. What if someone got hurt.”
“Kyrion did go through a bone breaking phase.”
“What about parents? Don’t you people have parents?”
“I mean… I don’t, as far as I know, just two brothers. Kyrion’s went missing during an invasion when he was around 9 or 10, though I suspect parents here are more involved here.”
“Does no one have parents?”
“Commoners and nobles in small kingdoms, will raise a kid destined to be a spirit master until they are older than seven, most of the time. After that they must begin training to get the mana in their body to function properly. Higher ranking nobles, or royalty may keep a kid until they are around twelve or thirteen before having them attend due to having potentially better resources. Otherwise the age of majority is sixteen for humans.”
“That's quite low.”
“I mean… Your world has shorter years. I suspect humans age according to the 365 day calendar which is 115 shorter than what we deal with. The math gets screwy as mental age and physical age is bizarre. Spirit mastery slows the aging process a bit, to the point where it tries to balance the ages. So a 16 year old regular person and a 16 year old spirit master look quite different in terms of age.”
“So mana helps one adapt to the world around them. Are humans the only affected race?”
“Elves age much more slowly and can’t use magic utility; they are around 60. Orcs reach their maturity at 12, and without spirit mastery, reach very old age by 40, and old or are either very young or exceptionally old.”
“And the other races?”
Ander shrugged. “The others are either well hidden or have been eradicated. Legends tell of Dwarves, Gnomes, and Giant Kin. They also tell about monsters that take on a humanoid shape when they get to the expert tier. I don't believe that is completely true as I haven’t knowingly met anyone who fits the bill.” Ander watched as the fight scene ended and sighed.
“So, did you have anything else planned for a night on the town?”
“I planned to break into the tower, get the info and leave. Don’t tell me, is there another tower?”
“No, no, just need some plausible deniability.”
“I doubt we’ll get that unless we board a plane.” Ander popped his neck.
Chiyo sighed. “Why do you say that?”
“I’m technically one of the strongest lightning users on this planet, based on what I know not many can blow holes through people as well as I can, but if you got the data, I'm sure exposing their misdeeds to the other organizations or public will get them into deep water.”
“I mean, who would believe such a thing?”
“The people worried about bombs going off all over the planet. They want to hunt this cause down, and with a mob mentality, people will be forced to pay the piper his due and tell the truth, or become an open target. If this was a Kyrion plan, the open target bit would already be in motion with his current capabilities. Which tells me it’s someone who is blinded by emotion or just not as good as we thought.”
“Your captain doesn’t get blinded by emotion?”
“Do you want cities to disappear leaving behind deserts of glass?”
“Come again?”
“In theory, a planet is a sentient entity that lives and thrives on its own. When your people, Earth humans, rip it up, tear down trees and pollute the air, how do you think it feels about said humans?”
“Go on.”
“You may have felt it, but the planet is gradually opening up vents of mana, or ley lines. In a month or so. This is in response to a massive influx of high mana concentrated blood being given to the planet. This planet would gladly eliminate any entity that would get in the way of its growth before the monsters truly arrive.”
“So just by being here, this planet is building its defenses against what's to come. We really can’t afford to piss someone like that off.”
----------------------------------------
Kyrion stood in front of a TV wiping away tears as the soap opera marathon came to a close with a beautiful ending. Or so he’d thought, as the last scene played and Eddy collapsed suddenly and without warning. Shot by some unknown assailant, and left for dead while in his house.
Kyrion reached for something to throw and found nothing. A
“Calm not Kyr.”
“Did they just end on a cliffhanger again. Is there a season two?”
“The old writers were fired at the end of the season and the new ones didn’t really get along with the cast. Eddy’s contract went up with Eddy.”
“I can see why Ari wants to eliminate humanity; they are a scourge,” Kyrion said half-jokingly.
The earth seemed to start listening in.
“That was partially a joke, even if you tried, humans will just go into hiding or escape and spread themselves somewhere else.” Kyrion said to the ground in irritation.
The consciousness went to bother someone else, leaving Kyrion alone to his thoughts. “So what happened to these writers?”
“The show died a few episodes later and the writers couldn’t find work in that business again. People have a drama threshold and when you ruin an earned happy ending people get pissed.” Kilo sighed.
“Where can I find them?”
“De–”
“You better not say dead.”
“Denver.”
Kyrion popped his back. Well, I need to go for a walk. All this is fun and all but I need to stretch my legs. Can I borrow that fancy new Peach phone?” Kyrion asked Kilo.
“No.” Kilo stated.
“Oi Grover, look up food places near Denver. Mom and pop places, no major chains.”
“Kyrion, don’t tell me that you're going to Colorado just to attack some people who ruined your soap opera.”
“Of course not, I don’t even know their names. But, I am getting a bit peckish.”
“You just had lunch an hour ago.”
Kyrion paused, realized he wasn’t hungry, and weighed burning those calories running to Denver. Just as he was about to leave a message played on the screen. Various corpses were piled on top of each other in preparation for mass cremation, the tops of their heads emptied of their brains. The scene showed the Esper creation process where a parasite was placed inside the organ and consumed bits while the patient was semi-conscious. Figures wearing an emblem were seen in the background with a Slayer symbol. The scene changed revealing two sets of numbers, one being an IP address and the other a geographical location. Moments later, a long series of names were slowly rolling up the screen like credits in an alphabetical order.
“Gorver, change the channel.” Kilo stated.
“Done?” Grover answered as if nothing happened.
“Broadcasting on every channel.”
“That location is a suburb in california. Along with an Ip Address.” Kilo stated.
“This isn’t right, but it’s possible that there is another lab under Angel Island. Killing two bears with one spear.”
“Don’t want to know.” Kilo sighed.
A knock on their door got their attention.
Kyrion answered, noticing a somewhat distraught Jin.
“What's the matter?”
“I’ve got another quest. That video is everywhere and my mission is to find the root of its corruption and prune it. It looks like it’s being done by the slayers and the trip.”
“You’re getting faster. Also, I think some of the footage was altered. Who would be dumb enough to wear their emblem while being filmed doing something inhumane.”
“It’s security camera footage, likely kept on private servers. It may have also been a tool for blackmail, but now it's out in the open. We will need to hurry.”
“Really? But I just made plans to go the opposite direction.”
“Do you want to stop this injustice or do you want to sit it out?” Kilo asked.
“Well I’m going to sit this one out a little longer. The location sent was a dud anyways. The lab wouldn’t be on mainland soil anywhere. It would be neutral and lawless ground. Or somewhere on the ocean like an island.” Kyrion looked away.
“Didn’t you just say Angel Island was a possibility?”
“Yes, though I suspect a bit further out than that. Oh well.” Kyrion took out a smoked sausage wrap and sighed.
Cedric arrived, moments later, and looked Kyrion up and down,
“It’s been a week.”
“Six days and two hours but fine. The location of the terrorist is in Antarctica in an abandoned slayed base hidden under the ice caps and surrounded by penguins. It’s where most of the dirty work was being done. If your organizations were able to figure it out before the video was sent it would have proved to the entity that humanity is ready for what’s to come. But it seems the balance is disrupted by politics, strife, and the inability to get everyone to work together. I imagine a lot of Slayers hold high positions of power in various governments unlike you who stay hidden. Which means lots of gag orders and silencing has gone out and the balance of supernatural authority is in flux. You won’t find your foe in Antarctica, as your foe has always been here.” Kyrion poked Cedric in the chest.
“Got it. This is our fault, and while the terrorist is causing trouble, they are more actively making it known that this world is headed down a dark path and should be stopped. Especially since you found an easier and safer method to arm humans with power.”
“Don’t know what you’re going on about.”
“Of course not. Sheesh, I guess people like my boy are somewhat common in your world.
Kyrion stopped and squinted.
“Hmm?”
“Why did you bring that up?”
“Kyrion, did you forget that we already went over this?”
“Must have pruned the wrong synapses by accident. It’s coming back. The answer is Rare but not uncommon, for some, spirit mastery fuses two souls together one older and one younger, the change is subtle for some, and very noticeable for others. My changes physically and mentally are more related to my blood waking up when I added a plant spirit as a core spirit. My mentality and subconscious observation increased drastically after I obtained a water spirit. If I think back on it…Nevermind. Just know I'm like this due to my teacher having a flexible moral compass and very little need for ethics. My senses naturally process large amounts of information simultaneously then filter, if I know someone long enough I can read their actions like a book to some extent.”
“How long is long enough?”
“Ten minutes of observation, or thirty seconds after a handshake.”
“Ten minutes is a long time for cold reading.”
“What's that? Anyhow, come on in and sit down.” Kyrion led Cedric to a table and had him sit on one side as he sat on the other.
“Does the concept not exist in your world?”
“I mean, it doesn’t translate. Why would you read something cold? Cold is a sensation, unless you can see heat.”
“No no.It is when you gather information on someone based on actions, posture, speech patterns, outfits,taste in food, and more. Usually done on the spot and using well educated guesses.”
“Oh you mean gambling. I know how to do that. Only way to truly win in those types of games is to stack the deck in your favor and make your opponent show their hand. For example, you and your wife had Cecil at around nineteen and you needed quick money and a job to take care of them while your girlfriend or wife was finishing school, like Cecil she is a prodigy by your world's standards and had two years left for the doctorate. You dropped out of school to help her out and wound up taking night shifts cleaning at a facility.”
“Cecil doesn’t even know this.”
“You keep a tidy office and it's one of the few places that rarely gets dusty. You took your prior career as a Janitor seriously. Then, right before Cecil was old enough to go to a pre-school, something happened that alerted the two of you to magic in this world and I assume one of your coworkers died to a monster that you had managed to slay with the tools on your person. You could have chosen a different job and yet you chose to be a janitor which caught the people who would hire you by surprise. Around that time I imagined that you fast tracked your way through courses and wound up a field operative, quickly rising through the ranks. Now tell me, is this what you call cold reading?”
“Yes and no. Where did you get that information?”
“Observation, and a few conversations from what Cecil remembered from his childhood. You were always around, until he was around eightish and an incident happened that awoke his talent for magic. Life became mostly boring and monotonous and Cecil was at a high school graduate level by ten and had finished at a university at the age of twelve. During the summer he would practice magic and during the rest of the year he’d be roommates with a friend of his magic teacher. Of whom you seem to be keeping me away from.”
“Sam is currency dead.”
“Fair enough.”
“How much did I give away?”
“12% If i’m being honest. Your wife alone informed me of 78%, Cecil the final 10%.”
“Not directly.”
“Correct, unlike you, she doesn’t rely on subtly to do her job, not in that same way. Discretion and confidentiality is one thing. In my world you’d be in your 20’s and even then you look young, same with your wife. When you said that he was your son that connected quite a few pieces of the story together.”
“That was observation and limited information. How are you not always bored? Can’t be fun thinking like that.”
“Nah, If I don’t stop soon my brain will start to hemorrhage. What I’m doing is enhancing my senses to a high degree and overclocking my brain to gather countless strands of information. Dragon Eyes, not Enhanced cognition, which allows me to predict things to a degree.”
“Anyhow, that is a dangerous trait.”
“It tends to get me killed so yeah. I’d prefer not to have it some days. For example, It took me ten minutes to figure out the current culprit but that info wouldn’t help either of us. We need to find the truth behind the experiments only then can we judge those who are harming humanity. Thus I suggest the Janitors and Cerberus team up. Or better yet merge. Unifying is what humans do best and by overpowering the Slayers you can better introduce magic to the populace as a single entity.”
“I wish I could say yes, but all I am is a branch director, our main body is currently out and about.”
“Then this is where the conversion ends. I won’t move until after you unite against your common enemy. If you need me, I’ll be on vacation.” Kyrion crossed his arms and sighed.