Chapter 10: CounterAttack of the Heroes in the DARK-Full Magic Assault (BattleMIX Track One)

Date: Friday, June 5, 2009

Time: 3:27:46 P.M.

There were several phone dial tones that repeated as a call was being made.

Finally.

[Hello]

A voice came on the other side of the phone, belonging to Raziel, the founder and leader of NEO New York City.

From the end of the phone call, there was heavy breathing before someone spoke.

Alistair Michaels.

".....It done"

The voice was weak, as if Alistair was struggling to breathe.

There was silence from Raziel's end as he took in that statement.

[By done, do you mean-]

There was a long silence before Alistair spoke.

[Both the individual and the weapon will no longer be an issue.]

Raziel paused before speaking.

“I am curious; how were you able to pull this off?

There was a long silence before Alistair spoke.

[Both the weapon and individual were...]

Part 1

Date: June 5, 2009

Time: 2:47 p.m.

Location: Bronx, NEO New York City.

Gym class.

Several soft pants broke out.

The final period for the teen, who was lightly jogging on the track field at school.

Emi Takahara.

Finishing her lap, she made her way to the bleachers.

It was the last period for her and several other students, with school coming to an end.

She could have taken it easy like the other students, but she needed to do something to keep her busy.

She needed to keep her mind off something.

No matter how many times she tried to think of something else, her mind always trailed back to one person.

Haruko Matsumoto.

She could not shake that feeling.

The teen was always such an enigma to her.

Whether it be personality or-

Emi stared up at the magic-sigil-covered sky.

-His powers.

Her mind flashed to the day Haruko woke up in the hospital, to him being told about his new powers and-

If what the girl that he was with said was true, he now had powers rivaling the strongest within the city, maybe even the entire world.

Emi lowered her head, staring at the track field.

Right now, he appeared the same, not giving anyone any indication of what had happened to him.

A light smile appeared on her lips.

But-

Perhaps that was what she liked about him.

That down-to-earth, optimistic personality of his.

That wild hair flowed gracefully in the wind.

His light blue eyes highlighted the other features of his face.

His slight muscular frame and muscles that would……

Emi's eyes widened as a light blush appeared on her face, causing her to shut her eyes and furiously shake her head, pushing her thoughts out.

She took a deep breath, calming herself down.

Beyond the sound of light chatter from other students and cars passing by outside the school, everything was quiet.

So peaceful.

She sighed as her mind went back to Haruko.

Right now, he was off somewhere in a world she could not even begin to comprehend with his newfound powers.

What would come back?

That is what made her worry about him.

Despite his attitude, Haruko never actively searched for trouble, but he couldn’t ignore it if it happened in front of him either.

Right now, she figured that he was into something he could not say, and even if he could, he would choose not to.

That is who he was.

But who would come back?

The person she had known for years as a friend, then lovers or-

This new person, the girl he was with, said that he was now-A GOD.

She had let out a soft sigh.

“Haruko………what is going to happen with you, me, and...”

Location: City Hall, Manhattan, NEO New York City

Time: 2:50:34 p.m.

Multiple opened folders with papers scattered across the round table rested between six of the most important people within this vast metropolis of a city.

NEO New York City.

Floating above the table was a blue floating hologram globe with several red dots on various countries.

“If the plan is to go to war, then I assume that several preparations have to be in order, now or in the future.” Borough President Inoue said.

There was silence from Raziel, who had his eyes closed, taking a sip from his cup of tea.

Removing the cup from his lips, he opened his red eyes to the group and spoke.

“Plenty, but for right now, we will start with the basics.”

“Weapons and other items.” Borough President Jones said.

“Which should be no issue; with a small payment of several hundred billion dollars to the United States, I believe that we will cover all of that.”

“That amount of money to buy those items... seems pretty counterproductive to what we stand for as a city; surely we can manufacture our own.” Borough President Jones stated,Sitting back in his chair, folding his arms.

“We can, but this is just for the first wave.”

“First wave?” Borough President Huan asked

“Even though we hold the rank of a country, we are nothing more than a landlocked city state with the land mass to boot. We have almost 150,000 soldiers, with almost 75,000 reserves…..”

“And we are still going forward with this, even with these numbers.” Borough President Huan asked, cutting him off.

“Correct; if we are lucky, perhaps neither will be used.”

“What do you mean?”

“Starting tomorrow, I plan on integrating the HEAVEN.EXE Security Program into the ANGEL and ARCH_ANGEL Sentinel Programs, with the intention of deploying them for combat.”

“The drones.” Borough President Ramirez chastise.

"Sentinels,” Raziel reiterated.

“Since no one goes into a war planning to lose, we must assume that victory is the ultimate goal. What is the timetable we are looking at going forward?” Borough resident Inoue asked.

“With all my calculations, not even I can accurately predict that.”

“But if you had to guess,” Borough President Huan followed.

There were a few seconds of silence before-

Raziel stared at the floating globe with a light smile.

“Before the year ends, sometime during the summer but before the fall season.”

“!” Maria Inoue.

“!” Anthony Jones.

“!” Javier Ramirez.

“!” Tan Huan.

It was a silent, shocked reaction from four borough presidents.

“That is insane on multiple fronts.” Borough President Inoue stated:

“You are intending to announce the city’s plan for an all-out war with Russia and, in the same breath, planning victory within a few months of declaration; you must be crazy.”

Multiple voices shouted out over each other.

“Rest assured, I have already taken measures to guarantee our victory.” Raziel said.

“I hate to be that person…” A voice spoke out. “But I may have to agree with Borough President Ramirez.” Borough President Inoue said.

Raziel turned his head to Borough President Inoue as she continued.

“We can make all the plans we want, but we can’t win a war on hypotheticals, no matter how well they are thought out. Right now, as it stands, Russia is a superpower that is rivaled by the United States and China, with a stash of nuclear weapons too, something we have not dipped our toe into.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Borough President Huan leaned back.

“Just one of their weapons, if it were to hit us, even inadvertently, is enough to turn this city into rubble; the death count would be unfathomable.”

“Which will be of no concern; throughout all of my, what did you call them, hypotheticals, none of them involve any fighting within the city.”

“If there is going to be no fighting within the city, then all the skirmishes will either happen by proxy via another country or-”

“We fight them on their own turf.”

That statement from Borough President Jones caused the other borough presidents to turn their heads toward Raziel.

“A war on their front!”

“That is a mad idea.”

“I agree; history has not been kind to those who attempted that very same scenario.”

“War couldn’t be your first option.”

“It is not war; it will most likely be the fallout of my ultimate goal.”

The hologram globe shrank as a new hologram object popped up between the six.

A symbol.

An eclipse.

A black circle representing the moon eclipsing a white circle representing the sun gives the symbol a crescent moon look, with several sun rays peeking from behind the black circle.

“New Dawn.”

There was silence as the borough presidents stared at Raziel before turning to the symbol.

“Through intel given to us from the United Kingdom, New Dawn is a terrorist group of magicians operating across the world, but their attacks in recent months have been confined to its borders until...” Raziel trailed.

“Until….”

“New Dawn had managed to steal an artifact from the vault library; that very weapon is within our borders in the hands of perhaps the most dangerous magician in the world.”

“This group, New Dawn, what is its goal?”

“There are many charters throughout the world, but the one common theme amongst them is the idea of rejecting the modern world. It is a vague premise, but their methods are not. In the last few months, the attacks they have carried out have resulted in a fair number of casualties.”

“So, this is a proxy war that is being financed between the United States and Russia, and we just happened to get caught in it.” Borough President Jones said.

“Not by chance, this city stands as a testament to its underlying goal, the universe at large, so it is easy to see that we would be targeted by this group.”

“Assuming the United States is agreeing to support the city in our endeavor, then the weapons and equipment would likely be the most that they are willing to offer.”

“Enough to sway in their favor, and enough to keep their hands clean—a true and true proxy war.” Borough President Huan said

“We are outnumbered and outgunned, and we are expecting to win a war by challenging Russia within its own borders. The only people that would continue forward at such a disadvantage are those with a death wish or...” Borough President Inoue said.

“Or those who can guarantee victory even at such a disadvantage.” Borough President Johnson said, stirring the tea in her cup.

At the sound of Borough President Johnson's voice, everyone turned to her.

“I am sure that is the case.”

Raziel smirked.

The hologram logo disappeared as the two windows popped up.

The borough presidents stared at the two windows in silence.

The windows were images of two individuals.

One image was of a girl with brown skin, dual-colored blue and black hair, blue eyes, and a scar on her left check.

The other image was of a teen with long, wild black hair and bright blue eyes.

“Who are these two?” Borough President Ramirez asked.

“Haruko Matsumoto and a new addition to the city, Aoi. Two individuals whose very powers ignore every conceivable metric rivaling the divine—a true GODS power.”

“Ha.” Borough President Jones scoffed. “Magic has been around for thousands of years, esper powers within the last forty, and I am sure there were many that considered themselves as GODS. The problem with calling everyone with the slightest hint of ability GODS is that eventually that word loses all meaning.”

“There are certain individuals within the city and across the world that have, by their own capabilities, in one shape or another bordered on the line between man and GOD but for the first time, I can truly say that without a doubt, these two are the genuine article.” Raziel stated

“And these two are what we are supposed to bank our entire city, not just our victory in war, a couple of kids; surely this is a joke.” Borough President Inoue said as she grabbed a folder from the table with her left hand. With her right hand, she turned her attention to the clear glass of water.

She paused.

Something had caught her eye.

There was a light ripple from the water in the glass.

The sudden action caused her to pull her hand back.

Silence.

Another ripple.

One larger.

Suddenly, light tremors could be felt inside the large room, which had alerted the party.

Everything was lightly shaking.

“An earthquake.”

“Now, within the city.”

"Everybody calm down."

SSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Something new had alerted them.

Red lightning

Outside the window, off in the distance, the group in the room could see red lighting flowing up into the sky.

At the sight of everything, Borough Presidents Inoue, Huan, and Jones stood up from their chairs and made their way to the large glass window viewing the north section of the city.

“What is going on?”

“Is this an attack on the city?”

“What do we do?”

Raziel's red eyes slowly glanced up to the window to see red lightning from one of the magic points, lightly smiling.

“It seems that we must adjourn this meeting until another time. In the meantime, we’ll let the emergency services handle the situation from here.”

The Borough Presidents turned their attention to Raziel, who had both of his palms on the table, pushing himself to stand up with his eyes closed.

“I know things seem uncertain right now, but...”

Raziel opened his eyes to the borough presidents.

"Fear not; from this point on, amazing things are about to happen.” Raziel said, making his way to the door that opened as he approached.

“All will be fine regarding everyone and the status of this city," Raziel stated to the group, leaving them in silence as the doors closed behind him.

Jamaica Bay

A shockwave broke out as red lightning emerged from the sigil, sending a gust of wind toward Aoi and Camellia.

There was a light tremor under their feet.

Camellia used her right forearm to shield her face, while Aoi stood there without a care in the world.

Both looked at the sigil.

“The sigil…It seems that the main spell was activated; we need to destroy the sigil now.” Camellia shouted as she began running towards the sigil as Aoi watched on.

Faint smoke began to rise from the ground, unbeknownst to the two.

A faint ringing sound echoed in her head.

A six sense.

It was a quick flash in her mind, but it was enough for her eyes to widen.

WATER.

Not fully, but-

She could feel that water was being condense-

Somewhere.

She began looking around in a panic.

Nothing.

No change.

Not the water around them, but some form of water was approaching quickly at them.

In the deepest corner of her mind, she could feel it.

“WAIT, DON’T MOVE!!!” Aoi shouted out as she quickly held her right arm in front of her.

White smoke erupted from the sigil, engulfing the area and the two in white smoke.

Queens.

Metal tray containers and other instruments fell to the ground.

Virtual dissection tables began rolling and crashing into the walls.

The entire room was chaotic, as everything was shaking.

Between the tremors and the sparks of red lightning, Aurelius slowly made his way towards the sigil.

As he got closer, the output of the lightning increased.

It was as if, whatever the spell was, it was trying to keep him away from the sigil, but-

He needed to get to the sigil.

It was a single step forward with his right foot, but it set off a reaction from the sigil.

It was a spark, just for an instant, but several blue sparks of lightning were emitted from the sigil.

Just a hunch.

Something was off.

This lightning was different.

Much more controlled.

On instinct, he opened his cloak and unclasped a gray briefcase-shaped object hanging from his back. With his right hand, he swung the handle of the object in front of him, slamming it into the palm of his left hand.

There was a loud metallic sound as the object expanded and transformed into a large hammer.

Large streams of lightning had burst forth from the sigil, destroying the area around him.

Walls.

Tiles.

Storage units.

Aurelius gripped the handle of his weapon.

In a quick flash, he saw a face in the streams of lightning.

His eyes widen.

It was a quick motion, but it needed to be quick.

He knelt, slamming the hammer downward onto the ground.

In a panic, he clapped both hands together.

[Sphaera aetherea siderum] (Latin transl, The ethereal sphere of the stars)

That was what Aurelius managed to get out of his mouth before the room was engulfed in lightning, as a loud growl could be heard.

The Bronx.

Heat

An unbearable heat broke out, and their tactical uniforms did not make it any better.

As the armed men watched the red lightning from the sigil spread out, burning red symbols spread out, covering the walls.

The spreading symbols caused the notices on the wall to burn.

Small pieces of burning paper began to fill the air like embers from burning wood.

Smoke.

Rising heat.

All of that caused the overhead sprinklers to activate.

Water began to downpour in the lobby.

Furniture.

Plants.

Armed men.

Everything was sprayed with water.

Suddenly, the sigil on the wall began to glow brighter.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything was heightened with tension.

There was a continuous light tremor that she could feel beneath her feet, but that was not her main concern.

She stared up into the sky above the building.

A red stream of lightning had surrounded the building, flowing into the sky.

No response.

Agent Maria Holm.

She stood outside with several other agents.

There was no reply from the black radio she held in her left hand.

Just static.

The output of lightning around the building. increased.

A distorted growl appeared on the radio.

“Task force pull out; I repeat pull-”

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

She was cut off as the armed men were sent flying through the glass entrance sliding doors.

There were several heavy thuds as their bodies bounced across the ground with several grunts, as others landed on the black SUVs.

Running from the side of the car, Maria ran to the person on the ground in front of her.

Kneeling on the ground, she turned the man over onto his back.

His black uniform was covered in dust and burn marks.

She could hear muffled groans from the male through his face guard.

Maria placed her palm on the face mask, pulling the helmet mask off his head, revealing the face of a clean-shaven male, covered in sweat, wincing in pain.

She immediately grabbed the black radio that was clipped to her vest chest pocket. Before she could say anything on the radio, there was a loud noise.

Flames tore through the first two floors of the building, shattering the entrance glass and the windows on the front side of the building.

The front of the building began to collapse due to structural damage, kicking up smoke.

Through the sound of the falling debris, a sound could be heard.

“Thud.”

A repeating sound was echoed out.

“Thud.”

Everyone began looking around.

“Thud.”

The sound had gotten louder.

Footsteps.

There was a loud noise that sounded like heavy footsteps coming from the burning building.

“Thud.”

“Thud.”

Its shoulders crashed into the collapsing second floor.

Rebar from the rubble began to glow before melting, dripping onto the floor as it walked out.

Large.

Molten black rocks with bright orange cracks.

It.

A fire golem.

Molten chains wrapped around its forearms, with the chains dragging across the ground.

Small patches of fire trailed each of its footsteps as it walked forward.

Maria looked at what appeared to be the head.

Glowing orange eye sockets stared at Maria.

Queens

Through the sound of light tremors, there was a loud explosion as the front entrance of the morgue exploded.

Debris and rubble were sent flying, as a large black ball with a purple hue quickly flew out of the smoke into the deserted courtyard.

It bounced on the ground a single time before shattering apart like glass, causing Aurelius body to bounce several times across the floor before coming to a stop as his hammer landed near him.

There was a long silence as he laid there.

Grunting, he started to pick himself up.

Silence.

(2.4 seconds.)

Aurelius knelt on the ground, staring at the destroyed entrance of the morgue, wiping the blood from a cut above his eyebrow.

A small spark of lightning could be seen in the smoke near the entrance.

(A short amount of time, I was barely able to get off that spell, and even then…..)

Aurelius glanced down at his right ankle.

Part of the cloak was singed, revealing a deep, bleeding cut on his right lower leg.

Blood poured around his foot.

(I had to forego performing that spell without its incantation, reducing its functionality by a huge margin, and I managed to only escape with this.)

Aurelius sighed.

(Something was there, but its attacks were too fast for me to fully comprehend, but that is not the main problem….)

A stream of lightning had exited the building, parting the smoke.

(It’s a two-tier spell, the initial sigil from the city-wide spell, and whatever spell this is. If all of its attacks have that base speed, then I won’t be able to get full incantations off, reducing the strength of the spells…..)

Around the man, in the open courtyard, a stream of lightning flickers from one lamp post to another in a circular motion, breaking the lightbulbs, before the stream jumps into the air.

Aurelius watched in silence.

It was just for an instant, a quick flash.

A mass of purple rocks.

Its head was a black oval floating above the chest and midsection of the rock. Along with the head, none of the other limbs connected to the center mass beyond nothing more than a small, faint stream of lightning.

Aurelius gripped the handle of the hammer and gritted his teeth.

The beast of lightning swung its right arm downward as it approached Aurelius.

[Sidus aeternae flammae] (Latin transl. The star of the eternal flame.)

There was a quick flicker of orange light on the axe before it was engulfed in orange flames.

As the lightning golem got closer, Aurelius swung his burning axe.

Jamaica Bay

She could not tell if she was alive or if her brain was too late to process the fact that she was dead.

It was too quick.

Small white particles floated in the air.

To the best of her ability, she gulped, not trying to move her neck muscles too much.

Cold.

Freezing cold.

It was hard for her not to shiver, but she couldn’t move too erratically.

Not right now.

She did not know what the slightest move would entail.

Camellia had her head tilted back with her neck exposed.

The smoke started to clear out, revealing the next threat.

There was a muffled, painful cry that escaped her lips as she held her chin up.

Ice.

A lot of ice.

White smoke blasted out from the sigil, covering the area in a blanket of ice, but-

That was not her current problem right now.

A barrage of icicles had exploded from around the sigil that rested on the side of the boat as a safeguard for the sigil.

Camellia gritted her teeth.

Slightly pricking her neck was an icicle that pierced several millimeters deep.

From the smoke that blasted out from the sigil to the icicles, it was all one quick motion. Far quicker than anything she could react to,

Camellia's eyes slowly glanced to her right.

-Not her.

Behind her.

Aoi.

The Water Crystal Guardian.

She held her right hand out in front of her.

She had stopped the icicles from advancing further, holding them in place.

With a snap of her fingers, the icicle at Camellia's neck began to crumble, and smoke flew out of the icicle as it shattered against the icy ground.

Camellia's legs gave out, causing her to fall to her knees.

She immediately moved her left hand to the front of her neck; there were several coughs as she rubbed it in a quick motion.

Slightly pulling her hand from her neck and sighing.

Still alive.

Her thoughts were soon interrupted by Aoi speaking.

“We need to destroy the sigil to end this spell, right?” Aoi asked for clarification.

“Ye..yeah.”

Cracks started to form on the icicles near the sigil, releasing smoke into the air.

A deathly groan.

From the ice, a muffled, deathly groan could be heard as more ice began to crack.

Without warning, a large blue arm burst through the side of the ice before its palm slammed into the ice-covered ground.

There were a few seconds of muffled groaning and grunting from inside the ice as the ice nails on the large hand began clawing at the ground.

The top of the hill of icicles began to shake as it slowly started to rise as if it were being lifted from the ground.

The icicles began to shake as they slammed into each other.

From under the icicles, something began to rise, breaking through the ice.

More ice.

Both females began raising their heads as whatever broke through the ice was standing up, looming over the two.

A large ice golem.

A body made of ice.

Red eyes glow through the frozen head, with spikes sticking out of the top.

Sharpe icicles lined its lower jaw, giving it the appearance of outward teeth.

Sharp ice fingers.

Wide arms.

Frozen black bracelets were on its forearms.

There was a cracking sound as a mouth opened, releasing a small breath of cold air as it stared at the two females down on the ground.

“This is going to be a little tricky.”