“Hey Tomo!” En’s voice woke me up from the mind dive.
“Sorry, got a little distracted,” I apologized, shutting my grimoire.
“We can go up now,” the man revealed and led me to the elevator.
En tapped his ID badge against the reader. I saw two familiar people already inside as the elevator doors opened.
“The president is ready to see you now,” Jun greeted us.
“Yuki!” Ying exclaimed before her brother placed his hands over her mouth.
“You have stuff to take care of here too?” En questioned.
“Zhang, we work here!” Ying shouted.
“Huh, don’t you usually work at the other place?” En asked.
“Ah, we’ve been reassigned,” Jun revealed as a lock flashed on the display screen.
The elevator stopped moving. Jun and Ying inserted their ID badges into the card reader below the screen. A green checkmark replaced the lock. Both siblings placed their hands onto the screen before we resumed moving again. One minute later, the doors opened. I expected a grand office but it was pretty bare-bones. There was a mahogany desk with two computer screens. Two coffee tables were on the right side of the room. The table closer to us had a tea set and a stack of documents underneath it. Open folders containing paperwork was present on the other table. Zhuyu stood near the large window in the back.
“Welcome. This is our first time meeting but I’ve heard a lot about you. My name is Shuyin,” she greeted me, standing up from her office chair.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Tomo Yuki,” I responded.
“It is rather unfortunate you have been dragged into this complicated situation. However, you are a part of the Gatekeeper’s team now so you are used to such things by now. I must thank you for helping Long during this time,” she said.
“I haven’t really done anything. En and Zhuyu have been doing all the work,” I disagreed.
“Regarding-,” she said before the glass window behind her shattered.
Zhuyu arrived next to Shuyin immediately, stopping the shrapnel from striking the prophet. He raised two fingers in the air. En joined up with his friend as a group of people swung in through the window. Man, really? I sighed, summoning my sword, ready for a fight.
“Yuki, take care of them. Zhang and I will handle Shuyin’s protection,” Zhuyu directed, knocking away a robed figure with his sword sheath.
The group split off from their leader, advancing toward me and the twins. They wore pulsating bands on their left wrists. Light bounced off the enemy’s multiple knives as one of them advanced toward me. I created an ice wall in front of me for protection but they went straight through it. I knocked down their flying knives with my sword and then pivoted behind them. Stabbing my sword into their back, I jumped back and then detonated the magic stored in it. Flames covered their entire body and they rolled around on the ground in agony. I retrieved my sword before blocking an attack from someone else.
“Don’t worry Yuki! Ge and I will handle this side,” Ying assured me, stabbing her halberd into my opponent’s back and hurled them into the air.
Great, only one enemy to focus on then. However, I could tell they weren’t just a standard henchmen. Instead of one pulsating band, they wore two of them on each side of their wrists. Red, blue, yellow, and brown. Pretty obvious what the colors corresponded to. S***, this could turn out bad if I wasn’t careful.
“You’re an amateur. Why even bother fighting?” they questioned me.
I didn’t even bother responding. My first priority was to destroy those devices on their wrist. That should neutralize their magic. I tried pivoting behind them but they spun away from me. My cheek felt wet afterwards. Their movement was so fast! I touched my face and checked my hands. Yep, that was blood.
“Give up now. You’re just not capable enough,” they ordered.
Increased speed, huh? I knew what color to target first. I increased the gravity of the ground beneath them. The floor collapsed into itself, causing them to fall. However, they leaped back upwards, taking flight. Come on! Fine, two can play that game. I opened a portal and joined them in the air. Switching out my sword for a baton, I slammed my weapon into their back. Electricity entered their body, surging towards the wrist devices. However, my electricity was repelled away from the intended target, and instead fizzled out.
“Hmm, you’re not so weak after all,” they admitted before firing multiple streams of water at me.
I converted their water attack into hot steam, blasting it right back at them. My opponent stared at me in surprise before raising their arms in defense. Oh no you don’t! I shifted path of my steam away from their arms and down into their stomach. When it struck them, their knees buckled but they recovered. I wasn’t finished with my attack just yet! Water droplets formed on their legs before turning into ice, trapping them to the ground.
“So you do have a brain after all,” they commented as flames melted the ice off their legs.
This piece of s***. I extinguished their flames and powered up my next attack with the magic drained from it. The remaining ice still on their legs exploded, sharp pieces of it ripped through the fabric of their pants, and into their skin. I followed up by converting the cold ice shrapnel into hot steam, burning their legs. They hobbled around in pain, glaring at me.
“This ferocity, could it be that you were taught by Kyoi Feng?” they wondered, running away from me.
Pretty sure if Kyoi was your opponent then you’d be down on the ground with multiple broken bones. Compared to her, my attacks were just light taps. But if they were making such comparisons, I was holding my own in this battle.
“Oh no you don’t! You’re not running anywhere! Yuki’s taking care of you!” Ying knocked my opponent back towards me with one single swing of her halberd.
The ground underneath me shook and sharp pieces of rock burst out from the ground. I avoided them with a portal, moving to my enemy’s backside. However, they blocked my attack with a large slab of rock that shot up from the ground. I changed my weapons again, selecting a baseball bat this time. Adjusting the gravity around it, I smashed through their defense, sending chunks of rock flying towards them. They redirected the rocks at me but I nullified their attack with Zhuyu’s vector powers.
“I guess I should show some respect for surviving this long. Regardless, like I said before, you simply are just too inexperienced to win in the end,” they stated.
Just shut up already! Time to take advantage of the rocks around me. I created several holes in the ground, depositing the rocks into them. My enemy remained still, probably trying to figure out what my plan was. They decided to rush towards me, firing streaks of lightning at me. Still haven’t learned your lesson yet! I switched back to my sword and absorbed their lightning attacks into my weapon.
“You cheat!” they declared in anger.
“Oh, where did all that respect you had for me go?” I shot back, responding to him for the first time.
“Pathetic. You finally speak after I reveal the truth. You are no longer worthy of my respect!” they answered.
Maybe this will finally shut your mouth for good! Lava exploded out of the ground, striking my opponent before surrounding him. Nowhere to move except up. They bent their knees, ready to leap upward. Nope, not letting that happen! The moment their feet left the ground, sharp icicles rained down on them. Upon contact, sharp electrical shocks entered their body, paralyzing them.
“This has turned into a one-sided fight,” Jun observed, standing next to me with his arms crossed.
“This is great! Finish them off!” Ying said, pointing at them before making a throat-slitting motion.
“Mei, please calm yourself,” Jun said with a sigh.
I shifted the lava to cover up my opponent before freezing it. Now all the preparations were complete for my final attack. Stabbing my sword into the ground, I used all the stored magical energy from my blade to detonate a devastating explosion. My enemy was sent flying into the air along with pieces of the frozen lava. They struck the ground with a loud thud as the frozen lava pieces pelted them afterwards. Their wrist devices were shattered, no longer glowing.
“Yuki won! Yuki won!” Ying shouted, raising my right arm into the air.
“It’s too early to celebrate. Long and Zhang are still fighting,” Jun reminded us.
“Ge, there’s a barrier. We can’t even help them,” Ying said, pointing out the faint outline of it.
“I wouldn’t worry. President Shuyin is capable of taking out the enemy herself if needed. She’s just allowing those two to handle it,” Jun revealed.
The person targeting Shuyin shoved Zhuyu away with their left hand, now inches away from the company president. However, En appeared in front of her immediately. Electric sparks sizzled from his katana blade. He stabbed his sword downward and multiple bursts of lightning shot towards the opponent. But, his opponent’s body turned transparent and the attack never hit them. Zhuyu appeared at their backside, splashing them with water, which reverted their body back to its solid form. En fired his wire, wrapping it around their legs, yanking them to the ground. Lightning then descended from the ceiling, striking their body ten times.
“I expected Long and Zhang to be rusty after not working together at full power for so long but they’re doing well,” Jun observed.
The intruder rose to their feet, unfazed by the attack they received. I noticed a light clay tinge around their body. They protected themselves with a magic barrier! They flung both arms out and unleashed blasts of lightning magic at both men. Zhuyu was knocked to the ground but En absorbed the attack with his weapon, now in its great sword form. The dual elemental user leaped up into the air and sent the opponent flying with his attack. The math major returned to his feet and swung his free hand downward. A gust of wind redirected the opponent back at En, who sliced them up with his sword. Wait, he had access to wind powers too?
“They still haven’t completely broken his defenses even after all of that. Just who are they fighting?” Jun remarked.
“I don’t see a barrier around them anymore though,” I said.
“It’s constantly regenerating. Look, you’ll notice it now,” he responded, pointing at them.
Oh, the tinge from before returned. They weren’t pulling off a lot of offense so I could only assume their intention was to tire the heroes out. All of a sudden, they vanished and reappeared at Shuyin’s backside. She remained calm as the assailant attempted to backstab her. As their blade touched her clothes, Zhuyu appeared out of nowhere, and parried the knife strike. No way, how did he reach her in time when he was so far away? His movements reminded me of Ruiqi’s in an archived exhibition battle I watched. That made sense though. If he was able to wield wind powers then he must have learned from her at some point.
As the intruder turned transparent again, Zhuyu slammed his palm into the ground. Large puddles of water formed, soaking the entire battlefield. With a flick of electricity from his fingertips, En electrified the ground. Their opponent turned visible and convulsed wildly as they became shocked by the surface. Despite standing in it, En and Zhuyu weren’t impacted. The dual elemental user dashed over with his greatsword, landing the final blow. When his blade struck the opponent, flames surged from it and devoured them. Fiery explosions followed and knocked them unconscious.
“Is it over?” I questioned, glancing over at the twins.
“It is. Good work by the both of you. Zhang, work with Jun and Ying to investigate what remains of the Black Lotus. If necessary, we may need to coordinate with Fei,” Shuyin ordered.
“Not to be rude but what the hell just happened here?” I questioned, pointing at all the defeated enemies around us.
“A preemptive ambush to deter Long from retrieving the remaining dragon pieces. Taking me out is a bonus. Long, you have all the information, rendezvous with Fei to determine the next steps,” Shuyin answered.
This woman reminded me of Tess. Very straightforward and focused on the big picture.
“One more thing. Long and Zhang, you pass. Although both of you have not returned to your true forms yet, it is acceptable for now,” she stated, returning to her desk.
The company president started typing despite the mess around her. Yep, a lot like Tess.
“Yuki, you can head home for now. Looks like we aren’t quite ready yet to get the next piece,” Zhuyu suggested.
I nodded, inserting my key into a nearby door. Zhuyu’s Dragon Mandate powers, just how many more layers were there to it? I was tempted to research it with all the resources Tess gave me access to. But, I was interested in witnessing just exactly the extent of them without any prior knowledge. Call it laziness but I was just going to do just that.
