Having given Daniel what he had promised, The masked man goes back to setting his plans in motion; Left with a strong reminder.
'He was just supposed to survive for a minute- To think I'd actually lose on my home turf- I guess, even now, I still have improvements to be made'
The truth is, The masked man never intended to lose to any of the candidates, and after suffering such a decisive defeat, a fire was lit under him, driving him forward.
And so, With the same golden mask he wore during his first news hijacking, He makes his way back to the home fracture with determination in his eyes.
________________
Vivien was having a bad day.
Having taken up the offer of a 'starter position' at a rather new internet news site, She had quickly learned that it was basically a glorified internship, with the measly 'training wage' and chore like duties, she barely got to do any of the writing that she had taken up the position to do; rather spending her time delivering coffee to directors and actual authors for the site.
Currently on her third day at the large office-like building, She rolls her eyes as her manager once again pulls her from her work to collect condiments from a nearby store, barely resisting the urge to tell the older-looking woman to shove it.
"I'll get right to to"
She says with the most forced smile she's ever had to put on, though her manager had already left, not even really giving her the option to decline the 'request'
"what a bitch"
She mutters under hear breath as she closes the lid of her laptop, getting up from the 'Promising authors table' probably named that to make the new hires feel better, though from her experience it was essentially somewhere for people to find minions to do their unwanted, menial tasks for them.
And yet, as much as she complains, she starts her walk through the office to the store.
Walking absentmindedly, she's jolted back to reality as she catches a glance of something familiar, A golden mask, worn by a fairly short man, currently making his way in the opposite direction as her, towards the live news set.
'Isn't that that the magic man?'
with an excuse to herself to not be on delivery duty, she stops in her tracks, making sure her eyes aren't deceiving her.
'I'm sure of it, that's the one that everyone's talking about'
Trailing behind the masked man, she fumbles through her pockets for her phone, pulling it out and starting a live social media broadcast with the title 'WIZARD lord SECOND ATTACK?!?!?!'
'Hopefully he causes some chaos, Imagine the views I'd get'
She thinks as she follows behind, doing her best not to be noticed by the man, though he doesn't exactly seem to be concentrating on his surroundings.
After a few minutes of just him walking, often obscured by other people running about in a hurry, Vivien starts to see a few comments on her feed.
*19 Viewers*
*Live comments:*
*Look at the camera quality, how fake is this?*
*Can't believe I thought I would really him in action, clickbait!!!*
*Hey! Click my profile for free fun *** video*
The comments are a cesspool of irritation and bots, though Vivien ignores them mostly, following the masked man as he finally reaches the live recording studio, the two burly guards being the first other than her to really notice the fairly short man.
Vivien does her best to creep closer as she catches some of the conversation between the three through the noise of the bustling office.
"Sorry sir, Only authorized personnel and those with booked time slots can pass this point"
She hears one of the guards say, the other guard adding
"If you give us your full name, We can check if you have a slot- otherwise we'll have to ask you to leave and come back with an authorized person
The confident voice of the masked man responds rather hastily
"Ah, of course, call me Saviour; And I don't have a booked time slot- But I'm going to need you to let me through"
"Sorry sir, we can't let that happen unfortunately"
The guard is fairly audibly irritated by the mans arrogance.
Vivien manages to get closer in time for her to catch one of the guards holding his arm out to block the masked man's entry.
Then the masked man starts to glow.
The guard holding his arm out sees this and. working for a website who's news has been primarily magic focused for the last day- Acts as fast as he can, taking a step to apprehend the masked man.
Too slow.
'Saviour' glows white, then green.
Vivien winces for the guard as before he can even finish taking a step, the shorter man kicks his supporting leg from under him, dropping him to the floor like a bowling pin.
The other guard looks shocked as he dashes towards the masked man as fast as he can.
The masked man glows green as a sickening crunch echoes through the office, gaining the attention of some other people nearby; just in time for them to see the standing guard drop to the floor after being hit by a massive uppercut, his jaw broken as he drops unconscious to the floor.
The masked man then speaks to the guard that he tripped
"Stay down if you know what's good for you"
Vivien looks at her phone as the masked man enters the live recording room, leaving her unable to further film him, though seeing her viewers, she's not bothered at all.
*19,731 Viewers*
*Live comments :*
*Omg!*
*Savior!!! Savior!! Savior!!!!*
*Tune into their live news! they're about to have an uninvited guest!*
_______
Worry fills Aaron's mind as he waits at the tree where he had spoken to Daniel the day prior.
He had seen news stories of random people reported to have activated a rune being assaulted, and as such, regardless of his usual optimistic self, he cant help but suspect the worst.
Looking at his phone, hoping to see a message from Daniel, or just to keep his mind off of worst-case scenarios, Aaron catches sight of a live news feed with millions of live viewers, Rather strange considering the rather mundane title of 'How will the appearance of magic effect the stock market?'
Tuning in, Aaron's eyes widen as he sees the fairly familiar golden mask of the man that released the magic document, catching the broadcast mid sentence.
[-Anyhow, While I do feel bad for doing this forcefully, violence gets views, and what I have to say is of utmost importance.]
[By now I will assume that a lot of you have read through the document I released.]
[And though it may be less of you, I assume that some of you have attempted things such as 'external mana manipulation' and found it to be ineffective]
[Well in six days, Those abilities will work- allowing each and every human to practice and gain abilities only classifiable as magic]
[Don't rejoice however, The cause of this is an unfortunate one.]
[In six days, an event called 'the breaking' will occur, leading many different dimensions or 'fractures' to converge on this one, spilling their excess mana into the home fracture's atmosphere.]
[Aside from opening gates through which creatures that have evolved alongside mana entirely, onto the home fracture, earth; The different types of mana will act as a signal blocker in many places, leaving long range communication such as the internet, largely useless, hence why I needed to make a spectacle to draw in viewers.]
[I understand that it's a lot of information, But I hope that you can spread it to every corner of the world within six days, aswell as prompting people to download and print the document I released post my last news appearance.]
he finishes his words with a charismatic tone, saluting with a fist and ending the broadcast with one last line
[For humanity!]
________
After watching the masked man leave, Daniel takes a seat on an elevated section of jagged stone, holding a small wooden box in his hands, unaware of the contents.
The masked man had given him the box with nothing but the words:
"I hope you're able to live up to that potential- It's not every day someone beats me in a fight, regardless of my current state"
And now, Daniel looks at the small box with anticipation, reaching a hand down to unclasp the brass latch on the box, opening it slowly.
'What on earth?'
Daniel looks confused as from the box all he can see is an average looking copper band sitting in the box.
'How is this supposed to help me learn magic?'
Looking closely at the band, Daniel can find nothing special about it.
'Maybe its enchanted, like in movies?'
Though from the outside not a single rune or marking is visible.
'I guess I should just put it on?'
Seeing no other way to discover more about his reward, Daniel picks the band up and slides it onto his left ring finger.
The moment the ring is placed onto his hand entirely, it feels as though ethereal tendrils begin to climb up his body, originating from the ring.
Seemingly melding into his being itself as the tendrils finish covering his body, Daniel hears a voice echo in his head
[User detected- Initiating scan]
Like needles digging all across his body, Daniel is suddenly wracked with intense, acute pain all over, Quickly fading to unconsciousness.
_________
Waking up, The pain attacking Daniel prior is completely absent, replaced by a line of white text, appearing infront of his as though floating in the sky, accompanied by a robotic voice.
[Initial soul scan complete - Say 'confirm' Audibly to bring up scan results]
A little confused, Daniel does as the strange words tell him.
"Confirm"
[Bringing up scan results]
[User name : Daniel Redmane]
[Age : 17]
[Rare constitution : Mana addict]
[Soul form : Undetected (Unformed/Not in database)]
[Guide type : Own power]
[Creator has given user authorization - Would you like to become the sole owner of the 'Owned power Guide' ?]
"Yes, Ah - Confirm"
As soon as he speaks, the ethereal tendrils gripping his body begin to grow tighter, their eldritch presence growing more obvious to his mind as they contract around him; the strange feeling not effecting his physical body at all.
['Own power Guide' Bound to user]
[Generating code-name]
[Welcome - Agent Samson]