“Halt, any further movement will result in retaliatory action. Please step back now!” a mage pointed his wooden staff at us, the upper part of it glowing a crimson red.
“Relax, it’s just me,” Kisai said with his usual relaxed tone.
“You are not authorized to enter these premises. This is your final warning!” the glow on the guard’s staff grew brighter.
Kisai sighed and snapped his fingers. The glowing staff dimmed and then snapped in half with a loud crack.
“Really, Jin?” Ichaival redirected a bolt of magic fired at us from one of the watchtowers situated near
the entrance.
“What?” Kisai responded with a smirk.
“Yuki, to your right,” Kuan warned as he fired shots at reinforcements rushing out of the front gate.
I summoned my sword, deflecting the rapid fire shots of wind a mage cast at me. Charging my blade up with their magic, I unleashed a blast of ice, encasing their entire body in ice. Just once I would love to resolve a situation without having to fight off hordes of enemies! I swapped my sword for a baton and bashed an incoming enemy in their legs with an electrified strike.
“Nice!” Kisai complimented as he froze a group of mages with a chilling blizzard.
“That’s enough! Everyone stand down now! That includes you, Jin!” a booming voice commanded.
A well-built woman, wearing a red robe with a hood, descended down from the air. All of the enemies around us saluted the woman before retreating. Kisai grinned as she approached us.
“You really do have no manners, Jin. I know what you’re here for,” she scolded him.
“So you’re giving me the key, right?” Kisai held his hand out.
“Your poor attitude towards superiors never changes. It is not so simple,” she responded, shaking her head at the magic user.
“Damn, so you want me to fight for it? Hmm, how about giving that opportunity to someone else?” Kisai suggested.
“No, this will not be settled through combat. Instead, I have a mission for you,” she revealed.
“What’s the mission?” Kisai asked, stepping toward the woman.
“Join me inside and we’ll discuss more details. Your friends are welcome to join you of course,” she instructed and then vanished.
“Does everyone know that trick?” I stepped over an enemy encased in ice.
“Pretty easy to pull off, Yuki. Want me to teach you?” Kisai led us through the front gate.
“You’re kidding, right?” I responded.
“Nah, it takes a lot of energy to do though. It’s not really worth it,” Kisai revealed.
After traversing multiple staircases, we arrived at a door emblazoned with the Mage’s Association logo on it. Two mages stood guard outside and stepped aside upon seeing us.
”I must remind you that if you take any unscrupulous actions inside, we will immediately intervene without any warnings. Please keep that in mind as you speak with the vice president,” one of the guards admonished.
“Darryl, you heard them. Don’t f*** anything up,” Kisai said, pointing at his friend.
“This warning mainly is for you, Kisai Jin. Your constant meddling has caused too many issues in the past for both the president and vice president,” the other guard clarified.
Kisai only smiled in response and then entered. The woman from before faced a large glass window before turning around. Not a lot of furniture in here, just an office chair and two filing cabinets. She rapped her knuckles against the wall and then enough chairs for all of us appeared. That explained why this space was so bare. Was this similar to how we summoned our weapons? I should ask Tess about it later.
“Jin, several test subjects have escaped. They possess devices that amplify their magic but originally had no aptitude for it,” the vice president explained.
“Did the Stellar Foundation make them?” Kisai asked.
“Yes but they had assistance from Za’ard. I believe Ichaival Darryl would know any details related to it,” she replied, gesturing toward the hero with tilt of her head.
“Hmm, I wonder…,” Kuan muttered but didn’t elaborate further.
“All you want is for us to take them down? Seems too easy,” Kisai pointed out.
“It’s quite a challenge. Once you capture them and it’s verified, I promise that I will give you the key,” the vice president assured the hero.
“You don’t need the president’s approval?” Kisai asked.
“We’ve already discussed this matter before your arrival. Besides, considering it’s you, there’s no doubt you’ll have the chance to see the president personally sooner or later,” she answered.
After receiving directions, we headed out to track down the illegal test subjects. The first area of interest was near the forest entrance. However, there was a bit of an issue regarding the spot.
“What exactly is the Stellar Foundation?” I questioned as we searched for clues.
“They focus on research dedicated to finding a way for non-magic users to use magic,” Kisai explained, placing his hand on the ground.
“Artificial magic?” I asked.
“Yeah, guess that’s close enough. The Mage’s Association doesn’t like that at all. Doesn’t help when ownership of the area is disputed between the two groups,” Kisai replied.
The ground shook and then cracks appeared underneath us. Kisai stomped his foot and froze the entire area underneath us. Kuan fired a shot upward and someone plummeted down from the sky.
“Yuki, they’re all yours,” Kisai said as everyone pulled back.
I didn’t know if Kisai was looking out for me by letting me fight or just too lazy to defeat the enemy by himself. Knowing the magic user, it was definitely the latter. The enemy wore a metallic visor that wrapped around their forehead. The visor contained three wide grooves that lit up as the enemy raised their hand in the air. The temperature around me plummeted and four large icicles appeared above me. Pretty impressive stuff for someone who was casting magic through a device. I raised my hand in the air as well and countered with four massive fire geysers. However, my attack didn’t melt the ice. I increased the intensity but the enemy’s icicles still remained intact. Fine, time for a phase change then. I dissipated my flame geysers and heated the entire area up as hot steam filled the air.
“Your magic is useless against me,” the enemy spoke for the first time.
I don’t think so! I opened up multiple portals and teleported the floating icicles away. The enemy’s visor changed colors, this time the grooves lighting up a dark silver. I opened up a portal but it immediately closed. Okay, things were starting to make sense now. Summoning my sword, I swung it at them, flames swirling around the blade. The grooves on their visor changed colors again, this time a crimson red. Just like I anticipated! The flames around my weapon were extinguished but I followed through with my swing anyways. When my sword struck their visor, a sharp crackle occurred. Sparks of electricity discharged from my blade as it turned purple. I retracted my blade and fired small icicles their visor. When my projectiles pierced through the visor, a large amount of electricity flowed into it. Five seconds later, smoke billowed out from the visor before falling off of their head.
“Nice! Your magic layering has gotten good. Kuan, take care of him,” Kisai instructed.
Kuan appeared behind the enemy and slipped a metallic bracelet around their left wrist. There was a beep and then the enemy went limp, collapsing to the ground. With ease, Kuan hoisted them over his right shoulder and glanced over at Ichaival.
“One down. Put them in the portal,” Kisai directed.
Kuan nodded and tossed the unconscious man into Ichaival’s portal. Kisai picked up the smoking visor from the ground and inspected the device. He ran his fingers over the grooves before transferring possession of it over to Kuan. The gun user pulled out stray wires sticking out from the the visor’s backside and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
“When did you learn how to do that, Yuki?” Ichaival questioned as Kisai and Kuan discussed the visor.
“Kisai taught me awhile ago but I haven’t really had a chance to actually pull it off until recently. How are you feeling? Doesn’t teleporting someone really hurt your portal count?” I recalled.
“Tess taught me a few things to help me out with it. It should be okay. It’s mainly you guys fighting today so I shouldn’t be using up any portals other than teleporting the targets,” Ichaival answered.
“I think the Special Investigations Unit will want a look at this after what Kuan told me. Didn’t expect the Stellar Foundation to recruit people from Za’ard though,” Kisai decided, dropping the visor into an evidence bag.
“Kisai, you think the other targets will be hard to deal with?” I asked, pointing at the bagged visor.
“Nah, it’ll be easy if their devices are as simple as this one,” Kisai revealed, holding a small silver gem in between his thumb and pointer finger.
“Is that the thing powering his visor?” I took a closer look at it.
“Yeah. Works like a battery, at least on this one. If I’m right, the Stellar Foundation has already developed something way more efficient than this,” Kisai explained.
“That means they’ll be able to adapt to your magic layering. Yuki, you’ll probably have to come up with a different strategy against the next target,” Kuan suggested.
We returned to the huge forest the Mage’s Assocation headquarter was located in. After getting clearance to enter a restricted area, the next spot to investigate was an abandoned research facility. All the windows were boarded up and a magical seal was placed on the front entrance. A barrier also surrounded the building as well. Kisai revealed there were three checks to pass before the barrier and front entrance seal were broken.
“Hold on, how the hell did the target get in?” I inquired.
“They were already inside to begin with. The Mage’s Association didn’t want to deal with it so they do what they always do, slap a seal on it,” Kisai revealed, placing his finger on the barrier exterior.
Two seconds later, the barrier vanished and the front entrance seal was shattered. Seriously, why did Kisai even bring us along with him if he was so capable? Kisai yanked open the door, telling us to go inside first. Despite being abandoned, the interior was brightly lit with a long hallway and multiple doors on either side.
“Yuki, where do you sense the highest level of magic?” Kisai asked.
“Uh, everything’s neutral,” I answered, not finding a specific spot.
“Good,” Kisai responded with his usual smile.
What was that all about? I glanced over at Kuan and Ichaival but they only shook their heads. After we walked past around fifty doors, Kisai paused. He pointed at a door to our right and gave Kuan a knowing look. Kuan nodded and puled out his handgun. The magic user counted down with his fingers and then the gun user kicked the door down. Kuan entered first and Kisai immediately followed him. After a five second delay, Ichaival and I stepped foot inside.
