The interior was empty except for a metallic wristband in the center of the room. Kuan stepped back, allowing Kisai to inspect the object. The magic user fired a small magical bolt at the wristband. The bolt ricocheted back at him after striking it. Kisai caught the bolt in his right hand and squeezed it.
“They’re still in this room,” Kisai revealed, glancing over in Ichaival’s direction.
The false archer was hurled into a wall and a magical circle appeared behind him. Translucent knives struck the magical circle before a crimson line connected all the blades in a hexagonal shape. Kuan fired shots at the blades but his bullets were deflected by a burst of energy surging from the magical circle. I felt a presence behind me but it vanished when I spun around. Kisai, now wielding a staff, slammed it into the ground. Glowing lines appeared on the floor, light pulsating through them. Kuan ran to the entrance and pulled out his hunting knife. He sliced the air around him and revealed the target.
“Tch, you’re a pain in the ass to deal with too,” the enemy commented as his body turned transparent.
“Nope!” Kuan tossed sparkling powder at him.
Kisai tripped the enemy with his staff before tossing them into the air. As the target descended, the hero thrust his left palm out and sent him into the magical circle imprisoning Ichaival. The impact set Ichaival free and the false archer crushed the target’s head in between his Kali sticks.
“Jin, where’s the other one?” Kuan yanked the metallic wristband off of the enemy’s arm.
“Probably in the main lab. Only place where they can do maintenance on the devices,” Kisai answered.
“You want me to open up a portal for this one?” Ichaival gestured toward the unconscious target.
“Nah, save it for later. Kuan, make sure he’s out for awhile,” Kisai decided.
Kuan nodded and fired a single bullet into the target’s left arm. Their body convulsed before relaxing. We departed the room and headed off to the main laboratory. When we arrived, the door was locked, a flashing red light above it. Kisai placed his left hand on the door before quickly pulling it back. Kuan glanced up at the red light before aiming his gun at it.
“What’s up with the door, Kisai?” I questioned, sensing a large magic output from it.
“It’s sealed up with some pretty complicated stuff. I’ve only seen this before when I worked with Feng before,” the magic user revealed.
“The person inside is that good?” I was surprised there was someone on Kyoi’s level.
“Dunno, they might have just copied a schematic. It’ll take awhile to break it,” Kisai answered, launching a tiny orb of magic at the center of the door.
There was a loud bang as Kuan fired two shots at the the red light, glass shards crashing to the floor. He pulled out a pair of tweezers from his pockets and inspected one of the pieces. Ichaival stood next to Kisai, a bored expression on his face.
“You could have warned us before firing that thing,” I remarked, walking over to Kuan.
“Huh? I thought you were used to things like that by now,” Kuan replied, gathering pieces of glass and depositing them in a bag.
“An assignment from Tess?” I watched Kuan seal the bag.
“Yeah, just stuff for the SIU to check out,” Kuan answered.
“Got it!” Kisai exclaimed as the door slid open.
After confirming there was no danger, we all entered. Bright fluorescent lights lit up the entire room. I noticed someone sitting in a chair at the far end of the room. There were multiple doors on the left and right side of the room, all labeled with large numbers in the range of 1-10. Even as we got closer, the person didn’t budge. Uh, a bit creepy. They weren’t dead, right? Okay, Yuki, don’t let your mind wander! Once we got there, I’m sure they would be perfectly fine!
“They’re dead,” Kuan said after checking their pulse.
Damn it! Why did my prediction have to be true?
“For real?” Kisai held his finger over their nose.
“F***!” Ichaival exclaimed, his eyes already scanning the room for danger.
The door marked with the number 6 opened up. A person wearing a hazmat suit stepped out, carrying a limp body tucked under their left arm. Okay, definitely getting weird now. Kuan immediately fired shots at the newcomer, forcing them to drop the person they carried. Ichaival teleported over with a portal and engaged them with his Kali sticks. Another door opened and a woman wearing a military uniform appeared. Great, more people to deal with!
“Yuki, Kuan and I will take care of her. You deal with the target coming out of that door!” Kisai and Kuan closed in on the woman.
A serpent, constructed out of water, surrounded me. I immediately cut through it with my electrified sword and searched for the caster. Immediately after, hawks engulfed in flames shot towards me. I blocked their path with a ice wall before finally locating the target. They wore a thick pair of spectacles, multiple jewels embedded on the sides. The ground underneath me cracked, creating a hole full of spikes. I floated in the air, narrowly avoiding danger. The target joined me in the air, charging at me with a spear.
I adjusted the gravity on the spikes beneath me and sent them flying toward the target. An electric cheetah intercepted all my projectiles, shielding the caster from my attack. Damn, this was getting me nowhere! The fastest way to end this was breaking the gems on their glasses and cut off their magic supply.
I teleported to their backside, planning to stun them with my baton. However, it struck a barrier instead . Okay, time to trap them with portals. Surrounding the target with portals, I cut off their escape path and reflected all their attempts at escaping with magic back at them. So far so good but I couldn’t maintain these portals for much longer.
I appeared behind them as my portals broke down. Seeing their glasses up close, the shimmer on their jewels appeared dimmer than when I first saw them. I locked in a chokehold and released it when they became unconscious. I removed their glasses and slipped it into my pocket. Okay, time to check on everyone else.
Ichaival’s enemy was larger than him but that didn’t matter. The false archer battered the hazmat suit wearer from all directions using portals, making it difficult for his enemy to predict where he would come from. Ichaival finished off his opponent by slipping behind him, bashing their knees, before jamming the end of his left stick into their neck. The hero’s Kali sticks pierced through the hazmat material and knocked the foe out cold.
Kisai unleashed an attack that caused the entire ground to shake and the woman was sent flying into the air. Kuan pulled out a rocket launcher and fired at the airborne opponent. A huge explosion occurred and I shielded my eyes from the bright light. When everything settled down, Kuan had already handcuffed the woman. Loud noises came from the entrance and an entire group of mages rushed in. They all stepped aside and the vice president of the Mage’s Association appeared.
“Jin, we’ll personally apprehend these targets. As promised, the key is yours,” she said, handing a shiny object over to him.
“You’re not taking her in,” Jin asserted, pointing at the woman he and Kuan defeated.
“Although she intruded on our property, I will let you handle any matters related to her. There is no negotiation with the targets,” she said.
“Kuan, call the Special Investigations Unit. Yuki, you and Ichaival can go home. I’ll explain what happened here next time. Don’t want to say something dumb because I messed up something,” Kisai instructed.
“Kisai, catch!” I tossed the pair of glasses I retrieved from my opponent.
“Thanks. Sorry about not being able to explain everything,” Kisai said, his voice serious, lacking the usual playfulness.
When I returned home, I was tempted to read some archived reports on Kisai’s dimension. But, I would trust Kisai to explain what happened today. Besides, I was too tired to even do anything right now. Time to just sleep!
