Unfortunately, the small fight with the Monsters Syndicate wielder had drawn the attention of the rest of the fighters in the museum. Luke disappeared again, warping away as several dozen bullets pierced the spot he had been standing. Cristian and Annie dived into the ground, following where Luke had jumped to in an attempt to avoid fire. Em took Izzy and quickly followed Cristian inside the barrow.
As soon as they dive into the ground, then an enormous explosion rock the shrine as a huge beam of light slammed into the centre of the courtyard. The last thing they saw was a beam of white light spreading out and expanding before their vision disappeared.
The entire museum had been knocked down, an enormous crater forming in the central courtyard. Every building had been blown down, the wreckage smouldering. Large fires raged in the enormous forests surrounding the shrine, spreading layers of smoke into the air.
At the front entrance where several weilders were battling, Cristian saw nothing. The front gate had been blown over and everything in that area obliterated, replaced by a large smouldering crater. In the distance, Cristian made out several clumps of soldiers charging towards the museum.
The welder that had shouted out an ultimatum earlier suddenly appeared again, flying down from high in the sky. Several white blobs of power floated in the air around him. He shouted something, too far away for Cristian to clearly hear. However, the last of the nearby wielders apparently heard and all turned and fled, retreating away from the Museum. the syndicate wielders didn't give chase, all of them turning to face the glowing white armoured Super.
Cristian smiled. Apparently, in all of the confusion, Cristian and his group had been forgotten or presumed dead. He saw Em climb up from the rubble next to him, staying low. Luke appeared several meters away, climbing up from under several large rocks. A black haze covered the Teleported, presuming that he had recently jumped. Cristian pulled Anna who was in his embrace moved over to his teammate stealthily.
While the group was moving closer to each other, the two teams of floating wielders had engaged each other in battle. Several white blobs of power launched from the floating wielder, causing massive rippling explosions that tore through the air. The Syndicate and NZDF army wielders dodged in all directions, splitting off to fire at the white armoured Super. They seemed to be trying to tire out the white armoured wielder as their reinforcements moved closer towards the chests.
Cristian finally grouping up with the others, told them his battle strats,
"Ok guys, I'm gonna cast an earth spell, obscure the battlefield. Luke and Em, you guys try to get as many chests but remember to retreat if you feel any danger. Ohh yeah, Annie summon some creatures to get those high tech laser guns haha. Izzy prepare to heal them just in case" Cristian quickly told them the plan
Luke and Em warp through the air to arrive at the Crates. A large cloud of dust suddenly spread out, enshrouding the battlefield as they landed at the crates. As Cristian unsparingly used up his mana, fully intending to keep the dust cloud up, until the two can seize the loot boxes and escape.
~Luke's pov
Having finished telling us his plan, I then grab Ems and jumped directly in front of the large pile of glowing blue Chests.
"GO!" I yelled excitedly, as I dashed forward and immediately began seizing the chest, adding them to my ownership over and over. Glancing to my left, I saw Ems concentrated her mana runes to her legs again. "Seriously!? Why am I the only one who doesn't have an anime powers? this is bullshit!" I muttered grumpily, while inwardly hoping that these chests would give me one. Having successfully motivated myself I collected the chests with renewed vigour.
Suddenly, two separate Syndicate weilders appeared crashing down on the ground us. Both of these Wielders looked similar to the previous one we had fought, with that reddish skin tone and wearing matching hoodies. "Man, seriously the tailors of these bad guys are not playing around when making uniforms huh!? I mean look at that assassins creed-like hoodie!" I thought to myself as I pulled out my pistols while paying attention to my [Spatial Awareness] and got ready to escape if more of these guys show up.
Em dashed leant forward and intercepted the Syndicate members, engaging them in a vicious melee fight before they could get off any shots with their weapons. Following her lead I kept the pressure on two, firing my pistols at them whenever there's Em appears to be in trouble. As I began to weight the pros in cons.
At this point, I had managed to claim 13 Separate Chests, and was about to grab another Chest, when suddenly an enormous explosion rocked the ground not too far away from us. The dust cloud Cristian had held up disappeared, vision returning to normal. The ground near them formed into yet another crater as the explosion spread out, destroying what was left of the Museum. Em, and the pair of Syndicate members immediately can to a consensus and stopped fighting, dodging backwards away from flying rubble.
The white armoured wielder dropped to the ground, pure rage in his voice as he screamed at the groups grabbing the chest.
"well... this cant be good.." I said aloud
"DIE! DIE! MOTHERFUCKING DIE!" white armoured wielder
~Lukes pov end
Em and Luke dodged backwards. Several bullets glancing past them, as they jumped backwards, fired by the several armed weilders floating in the air. Apparently, the enemy groups had forgotten their enmity when they realized the dwindling amount of chest left.
Luke then grab Em and teleported back to the group as he felt that it was too dangerous to continue. The group then huddled for a moment, staring at the enraged white armoured wielder and the multiple factions having a free for all. An enormous blob of white energy formed in the white armoured wielder's hand and blasted towards a retreating team, leaving nothing behind as the whole group got incinerated.
The white armoured wielder formed another blob blasted towards Cristian and his team. while a veritable hail of bullets shot towards them. Cristian formed a giant wall of rock with the last of his mana, blocking most of the bullets. The white blob of energy, however, melted through the wall and shot forward, aiming directly for Cristian. Just as it was about to explode into him, the world around Cristian shifted and disappeared, changing back into a familiar park landscape.
Cristian fell to the ground, panting, adrenaline rushing through his blood. The rest of his team fell to the ground as well, panting. Luke looked pale and sickly, shaking as he sat down. Em was shaking, the Aura around her unstable as she looked around for something to fight. Cristian then started grinning, a huge smile on his face as he looked at others. He suddenly starting laughing, a contagious smile covering his face.
The group looked at Cristian and laughed as well, letting their adrenaline out. The mission to gather some of the Crates had been a huge success. He then asks the two how many chests they got.
" I got 13 chests hehe." Luke declared.
" I have 15" Smirked Em
Cristian nodded at them and started discussing what they were going to do with the Lottery Slots, trying to figure out a good plan. He knew that both times he had opened one, he had been extraordinarily lucky and received powerful rewards. However, he didn't expect to continue having that luck and knew that there was a chance to land on nothing when the slot spun.
As Cristian was about to make a decision, he recalled the other screen that had popped up with the Lottery Scattering screen. He remembered that the so-called "System Auction" was supposed to open up about 12 hours after the Lottery Scattering.
While the System hadn't given him too much information regarding the Auction, Cristian knew he would be able to put up things he gained through the System for sale. Cristian assumed this included the Lottery Slots he had gained as well. An eager light appeared in his eyes as he said,
"Alright, here's the plan. The System Auction is going to open up in a dozen hours. I think we should wait till then and see if we can sell the Lottery Slots for a large number of points. We can work from there, upgrading our powers and our base." He looked around at his group members, seeing them all nod.
He smiled again, looking confident. Suddenly, a loud growling sound broke out, startling him and his friends, instantly making Cristian's eyes go alert as he looked around for danger. The air around him trembled as he transformed, ready to attack anyone that threatened his friends.
Luke looked at others sheepishly, staring at his rumbling stomach. Cristian and the rest of them stared at Luke incredulously for a second before breaking out into laughter.
"Ahahahahahhahaa!" Cristian burst out laughing.
"Are you serious?" Izzy looked at Luke in embarrassment while slapping his shoulder.
Luke looked at them defensively, "I'm hungry! What? Fighting makes me hungry!"
Luke stared at him incredulously and started laughing with the rest of the group. He fell to his knees, still laughing, unable to keep standing, as he looked at how ridiculous Shin looked. Tears streamed down his face as he laughed. The group laughed and laughed, releasing all of the stress and worry and pain and uncertainty that had accumulated over the past few days. Cristian heart grew light as his lungs grew heavy, a huge smile appearing on his face. He finally stood up, walking over to where Luke was standing.
"Nice work," Cristian said, holding out his fist.
"You too," Luke responded, hitting Cristian's fist with his own.
"Alright, stop with the bromance, let's go home!" Izzy interrupted while taking hold of Lukes right arm.
The rest of the group joined them and warped a few times finally reaching the villa.
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Eating a late dinner as they shared their point of view of what they had gone through today.
Finished eating and began preparing to sleep. Cristian went over the master bedroom after taking a bath. And found two giggling girls conversing with one another, but seemingly noticing his arrival the two looked at Cristian.
Cristian then laid down between the two and pulling them closer to him "Do you think everything will go back to normal soon?" Annie asked her eyes small pools of moonlight.
Cristian looked down, a small smile appearing on his face.
"To normal? Probably not. But I think the world will return to order. It's human nature, right? They teach you that in Psychology 101, you know. People like stability. People like order." He nodded, remembering past classes.
"We can only look to the future and adapt, moving forward from the past."
He turned and kissed them softly on the lips, the trio then lovingly held each other and quickly falling asleep tired from the long eventful day.
The evening light faded to moonlight as the night swiftly came, blanketing the sky.