Staring into the barrel of the gun, Ryan's body froze up. Blood was flowing down his cheek and bits of brain stuck to his chest.

"Lay down on the ground, and deactivate that skill," the man in front of Ryan said, his finger teasing the trigger. But somehow, despite all of this, Ryan couldn't do anything but laugh.

"Seriously? So you all are the bad guys," Ryan wiped his face with his left hand as he turned around, "How about you go fu-"

Unwilling to play around, the gunman pulled the trigger for just a quick moment, shooting a bullet through Ryan's torso. It came back out just by his hip. Ryan didn't know if anything important was hit with that, but it definitely hurt like hell. Ryan looked across the large cracks all over the ground, looking at Chantora. The two locked eyes for a moment, or at least Ryan thought so. It was hard to tell from here.

The chef was staring at Ryan anxiously, who used the blood gushing from the bullet wound to write an 'R' onto his belly, and then pointed into the direction where the fight with that titan had to be going on. It seemed that Chantora understood, standing up and sprinting away into the direction that Ryan pointed, as Ryan himself quickly covered the letter up with a bit more blood.

Tiar's patterns wriggled nervously on his arm, and the gunman groaned, "I told you to get on the ground."

"Or... or what? You're gonna kill me?" Ryan asked, trying to laugh through the pain. He felt like vomiting, but he could manage somehow. He walked over to one of the cracks that had formed nearby. Looking down from here, it went all the way to street-level, though at least there weren't any cars down there. It was just some kind of alley. Ryan carefully crept toward the edge, trying to push down on the bullet wound that was gushing blood.

Once he got there, Ryan turned around with his heels already over the edge, "If you had to get rid of someone just because he made catching me a bit harder for you, I wonder what's going to happen when I'm dead."

Ryan could feel it through the link with Maximus. The knight was panicking, trying to come up with any way to stop what was happening here. But he had lost an arm and a leg, and could barely stay upright anymore. Not to mention, he had promised to protect Liam with the little power that he could still use.

"You're not done bluffing yet? Get away from the edge and do what we tell you, and you might get out of this whole ordeal with at least your body somewhat intact," the gunman said, and once again, Ryan couldn't help himself but laugh.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Right now, just answer my questions, and then I might think about going with you," he lied, but it didn't really matter whether it was an obvious lie or not. Right now, the gunman couldn't do anything. Frankly, the gunman must have thought that the bullet just now would have been enough to bring Ryan to his knees so they could capture him. But he couldn't risk it again now. If he shot Ryan, he would end up falling down into that crack, and from this height, he would most certainly die. Not to mention, the wound on Ryan's leg and the incessant bleeding coming from two bullet wounds was already making him unsteady on his legs.

"We aren't here to play games. Just come with us," the gunman sighed, as the other men, who didn't have their weapons anymore, pulled up Liam from behind the car, "If you do, we'll leave the kid alone."

Ryan ground his teeth, staring at those guys violently holding onto a kid's arms and shoulders, "Are you fucking psychos? You want to kill a kid just to get me to come with you?"

The gunman glanced over at Liam and then back at Ryan, "We certainly don't want to do it."

"Could you be any more cliché than this? Fuck, I thought you'd at least have a bit more nuance to you," Ryan scoffed, though his voice sounded more like a rough bark than a laugh. His whole body was tensing up at the complete anger that he was feeling. Even the pain that he should be feeling was nothing compared to the rage running through his veins.

The gunman held the barrel of his rifle toward Liam, but Ryan immediately yelled out, "Stop! Stop it, you absolute - Fine, just... Just leave him alone."

"Giving up pretty quick despite all that big talk, huh?" the gunman stared at the chunks of metal stuck to Ryan's arm, "Deactivate the skill."

Ryan slowly nodded, taking a step away from the ledge. Some chunks of metal slowly fell from his hand, and the gunman started to approach closer, keeping his rifle aimed at Ryan the whole time. And then, without warning, the sound of a gun being shot sounded out. From the corner of his eye, Ryan could see a yellow streak for just an instant, as the person holding Liam fell to the ground. Just another moment later, the other three unarmed men fell to the ground, and the gunman glanced away confused. That was the perfect moment.

Ryan took the opportunity and almost jumped forward, pushing his right hand out to the rifle. Until then, only that hand had become uncovered from the armour, but now, the metal making up the rifle's body was being torn apart and bent into shape to wrap around Ryan's fingers.

The gunman let go of the weapon, seemingly trying to grab the knife at his hip, but Ryan was faster. He swung his metal-covered fist into the gunman's stomach. Due to the assault gear, it probably didn't do massive damage, but it was enough to keep him stunned for a moment. It was enough for Ryan to get in another strike, and another. The gunman's visor was thrown off, and Ryan glared into the eyes of the man with half his face covered in thick burn scars.

"Just leave me the fuck alone," Ryan placed a single punch right into the centre of the man's face. Of course, using his left hand, not his right. Striking him with a fist made completely of metal could lead to a bit more damage than Ryan was willing to do.

At that point, Yamada and Runar had also properly caught up. It really only took them a few seconds to cross the whole space, jumping over those gaps as if they were nothing.

"Ryan, are you... are you okay? What's with your arm? You-" Runar held onto his nephew's shoulders, seeing him covered in blood from head to toe. Glancing down, he saw the dead body of a man who had just been shot a few minutes earlier. With complete fury in his eyes, Runar squatted down. He wiped away some blood from Ryan's belly and wrote a rune onto his skin, as the bleeding quickly stopped in the front. He did the same on his back, and then on his leg.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"This is just first-aid... we're going to see a skilled healer later that should be able to take care of all this," Runar said, trying to somehow calm himself down.

"Don't worry, I'm fine for now... did everything go well with whatever that thing was earlier?" Ryan asked, groaning lightly as the pieces of metal really fell from his arm this time as the skill deactivated.

"We managed to pacify him," Runar replied, looking over at Yamada, silently signing to her, "Take care of the situation here and take full credit for taking down the berserker. We'll deal with the aftermath later."

Yamada nodded her head, squatting down to properly tie up the gunmen so they couldn't do anything when they woke up. Ryan carefully walked up to Maximus, pulling the knight into his domain. His limbs were broken right now, but he should be able to figure out how to repair them... that had to be part of this, right?

When Maximus was recovered, Ryan looked over at Liam, who had nothing but tears streaming down his cheeks. He stood there silently, just staring at what had unfolded in front of him. Ryan held out his hand toward him, trying to force a smile onto his face, "Come on, let's go."

Liam quietly grabbed Ryan's hand, as they walked away from this scene. Runar was trying his best to support them, but he had already pulled up his phone and was talking to some people. It was something about the media, or whatever. Ryan didn't really pay attention, he had other more important stuff to worry about.

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

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

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

With music blasting in his ears, Modak was typing something on his computer. He would briefly look away, taking some notes on a piece of paper right next to him. The orc placed the pencil into his mouth, biting down on the wood, "Hm... so if I do that I could speed up the frequency's wavelength while still keeping the quality…?"

While talking to himself, Modak noticed his phone lighting up. He glanced at the screen and saw some messages from Silvia. Stretching with a light groan, figuring it was time to take a break anyway, Modak pulled off his headphones and swiped to look at the messages.

"Modak! There's someone at the door for you!" his younger brother yelled out to him from the hallway, but Modak just turned his head, wanting to at least read the messages first.

"Just a second!" he replied, managing to read the first line at least.

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

Silvia

Something's going on in the Channel right now, do you know what...

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

"It sounds important!"

With a groan, Modak looked away from the screen, figuring that he could just reply after checking who it was at the door. He got up from his seat and put his headphones onto his desk. The orc opened the door, looking at Gilik with an annoyed sigh, "What is it?"

"Some woman said she wants to talk to you," Gilik replied, and Modak glanced down the hallway. With a sigh, Modak walked into the living room, seeing Pock standing in front of the door. A bit curious, Modak grabbed the door and pulled it open a bit more so that he could take a proper look. And the person that stood there confused Modak more than just a little bit. It was Alicia; the current Mistress of the Magic Tower.

"U-uhm... Wh-What are you... Can I help you?" Modak stuttered out, and Alicia looked back at him with a slight smile.

"Yes, you could, actually. There's something that I wanted to speak to you about that we didn't have the chance to yesterday."

Modak frowned, confused, "You wanted to... talk to me? Like, me? But... why?"

Alicia glanced down at Pock, smiling lightly as she turned back to Modak, "Could we speak about this inside?"

After a bit of contemplation, Modak opened the door. He wasn't entirely sure if she was trustworthy. This whole situation that Modak had found himself in was so weird and complicated, and after all of Ryan's yelling last night while Alicia was leaving, he felt a bit unsure. But in the end, he figured it should be fine to at least hear her out.

"Sorry if it's a bit messy in here," Modak apologized as he closed the door behind Alicia, who quickly shook her head.

"Nothing to worry about. You should see how Runar kept his dormitory at the tower," she laughed lightly while being guided to Modak's room. As he shushed his brothers away, the orc quickly closed the door behind him. Modak pointed toward his chair awkwardly.

"Please, uhm... take a seat."

"Don't mind if I do," Alicia replied, sitting down as she waved her hand around. Modak could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, as Alicia quickly explained, "I just sound-proofed the room. It looks like your siblings are a little nosy."

"Ah... yeah, sorry about that. So... what would you like to talk about?"

Alicia glanced around Modak's room, soon spotting the small tape placed onto the edge of the table, carefully picking it up to take a closer look, "I'm here to take a look at this."

As she did, Modak remembered something that Runar had briefly mentioned before, "So... you're interested in the tapes?"

"Well, if they work as Runar mentioned, I certainly am. Do you mind giving me a quick explanation?"

Modak slowly nodded. He figured he might as well. Rather, he was just unable to stop his excitement right now. No matter what happened yesterday, he was still talking to the mistress of the magic tower, and she was interested in something he made. How could he not get excited about something like that?

He hurried and gave her the exact explanation, trying to go into as much detail as he wanted to. Obviously, Alicia would be able to keep up with any terminology and numbers that he threw out, and Modak was sure she was also going to understand all the projects that he used as reference. Alicia listened to everything that he was saying, asking questions to make sure she understood the whole thing properly. And then, once Modak was done, she smiled curiously.

"I see... I see so this could potentially work quite well," Alicia muttered, looking at Modak, "You said you were planning on turning this process into a paper, correct?"

Modak nervously nodded, "Yes, that was the idea. I... I'm also using some of the things that I've worked out to help with a robotics problem my friend has, but that's separate from this."

Alicia crossed her legs, her smile never having left her lips, "I see. In that case, do you think you might want to write that paper in cooperation with the magic tower?"

"... What?" he wasn't able to believe what he was hearing, "I... I don't even have an ounce of mana, how would I be able to work with the magic tower?"

"The actual ability to use mana is secondary to the ability to understand it. While we are mostly in the business of researching magic in its more classic means and uses, we have been expanding more and more into the field of Magic Engineering. And these tapes could be an incredible tool."

Modak was confused, "An incredible tool? What do you mean?"

Alicia raised her finger up, and a magic circle appeared in the air, just floating there without being activated, "A large portion of spells are cast through the specific aggravation, manipulation, and definition of mana. A magic circle like this only works in this specific way, because each part does its job of the larger pattern, doing what it should to define the mana in these very minuscule ways that come together into a bigger picture. And, what you are doing here with this tape is creating very particular and precise patterns of mana. Not only that, but I imagine that once the recorded audio is displayed, it has some mana infused into the sound just by its very nature, so if refined and improved, it could even replace chanting."

Not sure if he was understanding right, Modak looked at the woman in front of him. He looked at one of the most powerful magic users currently alive, who was sitting on an old chair in his cramped bedroom, "You... you think that my mana tape can be used as a spellcasting conduit?"

Alicia stood up and smiled up at the orc in front of her, "I think it's a possibility. Wouldn't you like to try and find out?"