The whole world was shaken by live-streamed news. This was the second time that Japan was struck by a national disaster, and for both of them, was the presence of men with magical powers and enhanced physical abilities that normal humans could never achieve.
When the explosions had begun, Yuri and Abdul were both informed by their men of the situation.
Yuri and Ayesha moved away from Abdul and his men. They were now more cautious of each other than ever.
Yuri called Botan to ask what was going on.
"Botan, tell me what's happening?"
Botan, who had oversight over the Yakuza and the Mazoku, was with Sebastian, who was helping him, manage them through lines of communication.
"There have been so many casualties, and hundreds of injured are still in dangerous situations, our men are fighting the Jihadists, though none of them have evidence or actually saw them drop bombs or anything that would have caused the explosions."
Yuri then replied, "Let me call back." He hung up.
He walked toward Abdul Rahman, the TerraMage, and asked.
"Is this your doing!" He pointed at him with frustratingly asked him the question. "Are you the cause of these attacks!"
Abdul then answered, "I have received reports of the situation from my men, we are not to blame."
"If you are telling the truth, then swear on your God and your Prophet!" Yuri shouted he was filled with rage at the thought of innocents dying because of his negligence.
"I will not use my God's name in vain, nor will I swear on the Holy Prophet. But I will swear on my life, and my men's lives, that we are not the cause of these explosions."
Abdul then fell to his knees and raised his chin up, and said.
"Cut my head down if you do not believe I am swearing on my own life. But heed my word, brother. If you ask me again to swear on my God's name or the Holy Prophet's name, you will receive more devastation than what your people are suffering now."
Yuri paused, and Ayesha held his hand back.
He calmed down and ran towards Abdul to help him stand up.
"I am sorry. Please tell your men to stand down, and I will too. They are currently locked in battle in the streets, while the whole world is watching."
Abdul nodded in agreement. Yuri called Botan to tell the men to stand down, as the EDEN Jihadists are on our side.
The fighting had stopped, and Yuri's men prioritized helping those who were injured and trapped get to safety.
Abdul got on his phone and told one of his men, "Call Capt. Juarez. We are leaving. Now!"
"Yes, sir!"
He then approached Yuri and said, "I deeply regret that we will not be able to assist your people, my friend. But I must also protect my own. We will be targeted by your authorities soon if we stay any longer."
"I understand. Goodbye, brother."
"Mashallah, our trade agreement will continue once the dust has settled."
Abdul left with his men, and they road a boat toward the sea.
When they arrived at the center, a giant tentacled monster scooped them from under the water and swallowed them whole. The giant Kraken then went deeper into the water, and its shadow in the water could be seen heading toward the city.
Yuri had already known that the Kraken was a vessel owned by the AquaMage, who had now begun to take control of the oceans.
"Ayesha!"
"Yes, Master."
"Let's go find the motherfucker who attacked my country!"
They went to the bow of the ship and merged to give Yuri the Dragon-Form Exosuit.
[STATUS UPDATE]
[USER: YURI HAYASHI aka AI-MAGE]
[HP: 10/10]
[MP: 38,465]
[LVL: 4]
[DEXTERITY: F -> E]
[BRAWN: F-> E]
[ENDURANCE: F -> E]
[FINESSE: F -> E]
While flying in the sky, Yuri saw the burning buildings of the city, people were still screaming, while the Mazoku were trying to evacuate them, and assisting the Emergency Response Teams.
"Ayesha, I don't know what to do."
Yuri's voice for the first time sounded like he was begging. His whole body was shaking, thinking of the hundreds of lives that were lost, but his E-class Endurance was assisting his psyche, and preventing him from going on a wild rampage, trying to find his true enemy.
[NEW QUEST RECEIVED: KILL THE BEDLAM MERCENARY TEAM IN TOKYO]
Reading the new quest that the system gave him, a deep silence stiffened his whole being.
"Bedlam Mercenaries?" he asked softly. But his eyes stared down the words of the new quest he received with an absolute assuredness that he would have his revenge.
"Searching now, Master..."
"..."
"..."
"Well?" he asked. While Ayesha took some time to search the internet, news, and every interconnected media.
"I could not find anything, related to a Bedlam Organization or anything that is related to Mercenaries, Master. A full search of every server in the world, would take more time, and require a higher level of Cyber Offensive Capabilities."
"Nothing, huh? It's fine... It's fine..." he kept trying to calm himself.
With all the chaos going around, and Yuri not being able to do anything, he needed to find the ones responsible and make them pay. He was the only one who could do it right now. So, to appease his mind, he decided to check on his loved ones to make sure they were okay, from the attack.
"System. Contact Princess Yuna."
"Contacting"
"..."
"..."
"What the fuck is going on? Why isn't she answering? Is she asleep? She couldn't be, she is at a charity event with Uncle Akira at the Imperial Palace."
Beginning to worry for Yuna too, he thought that Akira would know what was going on with Yuna.
"System. Contact Akira!"
"Contacting Akira Abe."
"Uncle! Are you okay? Can you hear me?"
"..."
"..."
"What the fuck is going on? There is a connection, right? Why aren't they answering?"
At the Kyoto Imperial Palace, a tea party for many of Japan's top officials was going well and everyone was having a pleasant night, most of the attendees were part of Akira's political factions that Princess Yuna helped him gain support.
The tea party was held in the Kyoto Imperial Palace garden. While an Imperial Guard walked around patrolling the area.
*PEW
A silenced bullet hit him straight in the forehead. Suddenly, every guard in the palace fell one by one to silent bullets.
The guests couldn't see what was going on, or who was killing the security teams. All they could hear were silenced bullets, passing through their heads, and blood splattered against the floor and the walls where they were posted or patrolling.
When every one of the Imperial Guard had fallen, everyone panicked and headed into the palace to hide in the safe rooms.
"Run to the palace!" a Japanese Priest shouted.
When they all rushed inside, every window in the palace was broken, and all the palace doors suddenly opened.
There was no one there.
No one was entering or leaving. Only the screams of the women could be heard, while the men tried their best to move the crowd toward the safe room of the palace.
When everyone was able to go inside the saferoom, they locked it well. And they collected themselves inside the saferoom of the palace.
They had believed themselves to be safe within the confines of the war-tested saferoom. They thought they were safe from the enemy who was outside. But they did not know, that the enemy was already inside with them. An old woman wearing a pink dress and holding her walking stick went to the corner of the room and pointed her stick at them. Then she pressed the trigger and shot streams of bullets at them. Shooting them with a stick that had a machine gun mechanism.
After changing several magazines at high speeds, and shooting the cherished palace guests point blank.
Streams of bullet casing dropped on the floor one by one from inside the saferoom itself, and for every bullet casing that bounced and clinked, a palace guest would fall lifeless to the ground, bloodying the white floor and landing on other dead guests. When no one was left alive, the old woman pressed her finger on her wrist, and touched an interface, turning off her holographic disguise.
Her real appearance showed a young red-haired, tall Caucasian woman, she pressed her ear to contact her team and with an Irish accent said, "The people in this safe room are all dead. Do you have the Emperor and the Empress?"
"Yes, we do."
"Good. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we get paid."