"I think it's time we talked about the other Magitek Mages, Sebastian."
"As you wish, Master. Though I would like to bring up that I no longer have my designer suit when we reverse the merge, thus I would ask that we order a new one."
Yuri smiled while he was flying through the night sky. The vicinity of the city seemed safe, and there was no obvious source of where the flying monster came from.
"And what exactly the fuck was that earlier? It's gotta be one of the Mages. BioMage… Maybe?"
He still had some of the toxic saliva burning through him but they were too insignificant to notice. He stopped and floated in the sky, suspended thousands of feet above the ground.
"It was likely the RiftMage, Master," Sebastian said.
"The system's analysis of the creature indicated that it was not from earth. The RiftMage, if they are truly that powerful, would be able to transport a creature of that size to earth."
"What? Isn't that too overpowered? The RiftMage could cause global extinction if they wanted to."
"Not likely, Master. Since 9 other Mages are powerful or possibly even more powerful than the RiftMage. In my calculations, you are currently the most powerful of them all, Master."
Yuri laughed. "HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Me? Do you think so? Do you think a talking voice in my head is more powerful than being able to teleport, genetically modify organisms, fricking Terraformation? You make me laugh with your jokes Sebastian."
Sebastian an AI who normally wouldn't express pride and irritability, replied, "I am Artificial Intelligence, Master! With an infinite amount of evolutionary possibilities. Only children would think moving rocks or growing flowers is the most powerful Technological Specialization."
Yuri had been teasing Sebastian the whole time, in a way, testing him too.
"The other Mages are idiots then, for leaving the AI-Mage as the last option. They got a head start choosing compared to me because I was unconscious the whole night."
Sebastian then took control of the Exosuit flight controls and boosted Yuri towards Yuri's condominium in the Toranomon Tower.
"It must be what 'humans' call fate, Master."
"For real. For real."
Yuri nodded in agreement.
As they arrived on the roof, the Exosuit began to reverse the merge with Yuri.
[Exosuit Removal Complete]
"Damn! That was a nice fight! Right?"
Yuri didn't hear a reply. The AI had turned silent, as it was naked, and its programming gave it a sense of embarrassment.
"Do not look, Master."
Both of them were naked since they had left their clothes on the Domain Building Rooftop. Yuri just realized this and felt embarrassed by his nakedness too.
"SHITTT!" They both found some old rags on the side of one of the ventilators and used them for cover and they headed for their floor and condominium.
They passed by the stairs, and no one in the Tower used the stairs, so no one had seen them.
When they arrived at their floor, Yuri said, "Let me use the Omnipresent Surveillance Ability. To see if there are any passersby. We need to be quick about it."
Sebastian's face turned serious and filled with determination looking at his sack-clothed master.
"Yes, Master. We will survive this Quest."
They checked and there was no one in the vicinity.
They sneaked quickly, tiptoeing but with haste, and arrived at their front door.
"Quickly! Open the door!"
"I'm transforming my finger into the key, Master."
"Just fucking kick the door down! Go!"
Yuri had to kick it himself, then the elevator arrived.
*DING!
It opened and it was too late, they were caught red-handed.
A beautiful woman in her twenties wearing a polo shirt, and shorts. Her glasses signaled intelligence, and her huge breasts almost tore the buttons open, but their threads were as tight as the gates of hell, with Cerberus buttons, guarding that none may reach heaven.
"Hey!" she said.
"Don't kick it!" Yuri whispered while also rushing the AI boy Sebastian.
Sebastian was able to turn his finger into a key in time to open the door. But it was all too late. The woman had run towards them, calling them out.
"Are you Yuri Hayashi?"
She walked up to them and looked the two male specimens up and down.
Yuri had surprisingly gained a stronger muscle tone, as he maintained a good workout schedule ever since he got the system.
"Depends on who's asking…" Yuri replies.
"I'm sorry for being rude. Let me introduce myself. I am Martha Akio. I grew up in the United States, but my parents are both Japanese. I am a reporter for the Daily Tokyo. And I wanted to ask some questions, concerning your Uncle Akira's victory in the House of Representatives?"
"Ah yes! That!"
Though Yuri wanted to get rid of her, he didn't want her to get the wrong impression after she left, so he decided to do his best to answer her questions. And possibly, to not get accused of…
"By the way, I am Yuri Hayashi. And this is my little brother, Sebastian Hayashi. We were both orphans. And I apologize for our clothing, we were practicing for my brother's school play, he has the role of a beggar."
Yuri's sweat drops down like a huge :sweaty: Emoji.
"Oh! I see. So that explains it. Nice to meet you, little man."
She extended her hand to Sebastian. He ignored her as he was both too embarrassed due to his appearance, and because he remained suspicious of her.
There have been several occasions of Doppelgangers attacking them already, who would know if she was one or even just a simple assassin?
"Please come in."
Yuri thought the same but he had two options, risk and try to entertain her as she might turn out to be a real reporter, or prepare to kill her because she may be a disguised assassin.
"Yes. Thank you," the twenty-year-old hot glasses girl responded.
As she passed by the door, Yuri remembered her somehow, she had a hat, shades, and headphones on at the time.
She was the reporter in the helicopter that saved Akira's life.
Yuri then closed and locked the door. Sebastian had prepared to attack from the kitchen holding the kitchen knives.
"I think I remember where we met before," Yuri said.
She looked at them and stayed quiet while sitting down and then she looked at Yuri.
"The public believes your uncle, Akira Abe, to be the Overlord hence his rising popularity among the people."
Yuri then looked at her like he was turning her to stone.
"But I have a different theory," she said. "If Akira Abe was in the hospital during the time of the Yakuza hostage-takings, then who was the armored demon fighting the Yakuza and seen flying like a soaring hawk in the sky?"
Yuri then smiled smugly and walked around her, like a predator stalking its prey.
"So what is your theory?"
"While we were heading back to the station to refuel on a helicopter, our ride suddenly moved on its own, like it was being possessed by something. Then it moved closer to a building with two bloody men and a child, half-naked, while the young man was carrying the other on his back."
"And what happened?"
"It was highly unlikely, but so are many things in life, like winning the lottery, or finding the perfect partner. I believe that young man, was the Overlord, and he was you. Not Akira."
Sebastian appeared out of the kitchen, attempting to counter an attack. But Yuri signaled him not to do so.
"Why are you here then?" Yuri said. "Are you not afraid?"
The girl smiled and walked closer to the naked Yuri covered in rags.
"I am afraid," she said. "That's why I'm here…" she bit her bottom lip and moved even closer to him.
"I like danger. It attracts me to it… Like a metal knife to a magnetic pole."
Yuri then let go of the old dirty rags covering himself, and they dropped on the floor.
His face turned serious like God looking down at a worthless human.
He grabbed her by the neck with one hand and lifted her, choking her while she was elevated closer to the ceiling.
"What do you want with me?" Yuri's voice was deep and full of wrath.
She choked but was able to speak out.
"I came here to warn you… Of an enemy."
Yuri let her go. And threw her to the sofa.
"What enemy?"
"I'm a reporter, and I've collected every story and information related to the magical phenomenon that has been happening all over the country."
"You mean, the Mazoku?"
Sebastian handed his master some casual clothes to wear while still keeping an eye on Martha.
"No, not just the Mazoku. All around the world starting two weeks ago, magical legends and myths started to come true. Not just in Japan, but all over the world. Every government in the world knows about them, but they remain quiet because they do not want the people to panic."
"I know that already…" Yuri started to rage again.
"But… but…" she tried to calm him down. "Governments were not able to procure their magical weapons and items, from these mythical beings."
"Why?" Yuri said.
"It's because the illegal trade of the weapons and items is controlled by local shamans."
Yuri laughed. "Local shamans? Haha, You have to be kidding me?"
"No. Not at all. The local shaman receives payments, tributes, offerings, and sacrifices for people to be given these magic items or receive special services. But not one reporter or government agency has been able to track one down."
"Figures," Yuri said. "So what?"
Yuri had already known that there was illegal trade of Magitek Items.
"But what you don't know is, who the local shaman in Japan is."
Yuri started to listen. It was true. He had no idea, where the Magitek Items were sourced from, except what the Yakuza had told him.
"The flying monster… just now… that you killed…" she said.
"It probably escaped from a cage, as they smuggled it from somewhere in Africa, where there were reports of the appearance of mythical beasts."
"So who is this local shaman in Japan?"
"All I know is that he was a member of the Yakuza himself, or at least closely tied to them."
"What!!!!"