After waiting for six hours to be assigned missions, Kai proposed a joint mission. As the name suggests, two or more teams are assigned on the same mission.
Dan, Laura, Volta, and Sam were tasked on a mission in Idly City (Las Vegas), in Outlands. They weren't alone though. They had a sorcerer that was going to accompany them and oversee their mission. She claimed it to be against her will. She really just wanted to stay home and read doujins, manga, and/or watch TV shows.
High-Rank grade 1 cold sorcerer, Cathy Mcarthy.
"Hi, I'm Cathy. Just call me Cathy. Not ma'am, not miss, got it?"
"Uhh, yeah sure, Cathy." Dan replied
"What about your names?" Cathy asks
"Sam Merrickson."
"Volta."
"Laura Crescent."
"Daniel Fash."
The four introduced themselves.
"Fash? Like Avery Fash?" Cathy assumes
"Hey, ain't that your..." Sam whispers
"My mom's name..." Dan claimed
"She's just an old friend, chill out." Cathy got defensive
"How'd you know her?" Dan's suspicion toward his mom grew
"Old work. Doesn't matter. Now, gather round." Cathy glossed over his question
The four walked closer to Cathy. She closed her eyes, then mist and fog shrouded them. And in a split second, they were uncovered from it and they were in a different country. Almost four thousand kilometers away. They reappeared in front of a city block. A building that was five stories tall. Cathy walks towards the front door and opens it. The four students followed her in.
Dan only packed his phone and wallet. The same goes for Laura and Sam except they bring a weapon. Cathy walked in front of the elevator and pressed the button going up. The floor was black and white marble, the walls were chiseled in a weird pattern. A circle in particular. It was warm inside the building, in contrast to the light snowing outside.
The elevator arrived and Cathy went in first. Then the four students. The door closes as Cathy rests her entire palm on a pad then it made a beep. And the elevator travels to the sixth floor.
"Where are we?" Sam asks
"My apartment." Cathy replied
"Oh, so we're going to your unit?" Sam thought aloud
"Nah, I own this building." She corrected
Sam's jaw dropped. Then they arrived. The entire floor was her unit. It was her penthouse. It was incredibly large, with four bedrooms, a large bathroom, an incredibly clean kitchen, and a very spacious living room.
"There're three rooms available. One's mine."
Sam runs into one bedroom immediately. He opens the door and shuts it behind him. Volta dashes inside a bedroom as well. One bedroom was left. Dan pouted and wanted to claim the bedroom. He looks at Laura and stayed silent.
"You can have the room, Laura. I'll sleep on the couch." Dan said
"Being honest, Dan. That couch is dirty, for several different reasons." Cathy claimed
"So?" Dan asks
"Trust me, you won't even want to sit on it." Cathy said
"..." Dan's mind ran free. Imagining things he shouldn't—of the couch.
He walks over to the couch and it does smell pretty bad. The opposite of an invitation. a warning.
"Sorry, Laura. I don't wanna sleep on that thing." Dan quickly changed his mind
15 MINUTES LATER
They all sat down at the dining table, eating food that Cathy had her cook prepared. A nice warm, refreshing lunch before they go to work. While eating, Cathy decides to give them a debrief.
"So, this mission is about dealing with a gate."
"What's a gate?" Sam asks
"Beasts are otherworldly beings. They come through "doors". Doors as in the literal sense. But, doors closes behind them after the beasts walk through them. While a gates are the same as doors except they last a certain amount of time. The record length being... Twenty meters wide and tall and lasted for about two days." Cathy explained
"Woah, when was that?" Sam's interest piqued
"150 years ago. The Corrupting Invasion." Laura answered
"You know your family history, huh?" Cathy said
"What family are you from, Laura?" Dan asks
"Ehh... It's nothing."
Dan was suspicious, but he just kept the thought to himself and dismisses his own question.
"Well... Back to the debrief, this gate will open in an hour." Cathy brings them back to the mission
"How do we know?" Sam asks
"You can count the amount of natural gates that occur with your fingers. Most of them are manmade. It takes a few hours to create and it takes twenty-four hours to open after it's casted. Judging from the stains it has been there for almost a day. So, yesterday an hour from now." Cathy explains
"Is the perpetrator him?" Dan asks
"Still unclear. But, we suspect it is him." Cathy replied
"Who's him?" Sam asks
"The half and half piece of shit; Shujin." Dan replied angrily
"The guy that took you and Laura? Wow." Sam was in awe for some reason
"He's gonna pop up frequently, isn't he?" Laura asks
"I dunno. Hopefully not. But, he's likely to be popping up frequently. He's dangerous and he knows it. From what I hear, he can use "Reality Snap"." Cathy replied
"What's that?" Dan asks
"Hey, Kai mentioned that." Sam said
"Yeah. It might be hard to understand but try to imagine this: two sticks, one planted in the ground and one held by someone. The two sticks are connected by a really stretchy and strong rubber. Pull the stick as far back as you can then release it. The stick snaps to the planted stick at full speed. "Reality Snap" is essentially the same thing, except the distance between the two sticks doesn't change. You extend the space between the sticks but never increase its distance. It's weird." Cathy explained
"How fast would you be?" Sam asks
"I'm not sure. But, Kai couldn't track him at all. He's the fastest sorcerer alive, his top speed is Mach 70. By his calculations, he can track up to Mach 100. Mach 120 if he's giving it his all. So, definitely faster than him." Cathy answered juxtaposing Kai
"Kai's the fastest sorcerer alive?" Sam was surprised
"He sure is. That's all he's good for, honestly." Cathy replied
"How long have you known him?" Dan asks
"Since he was seventeen or eighteen. I was twenty-two or twenty-one back then." She answered
"Oh, so you guys go way back." Sam commented
"What about my mom?" Dan asks
"Huh?"
"You said you knew my mom. When was that?" Dan asks again
Cathy stared at him. She wants to spare him the truth. That's the reason she came up with for not wanting to dealing with it. Luckily for her, it was almost go time. She sighed.
"You're gonna need to ask her yourself. Anyways, finish up eating. We're leaving in four minutes." Cathy said as she stood up and left
Dan was tilted. He discovered two things that were very troubling a few days after he became a sorcerer.
1. His mother is not what she seems
2. His dad is a allegedly a mass murderer
BLACK ROOM
"What should I do, Jon?"
"Three perps on that day. All three of them are ghosts. The Death Flower, The Manipulator, and The Dark Kin. Hehe. One is for sure alive, two gone. Since The Dark Kin did most of the destruction, it'd be safer to look for the Death Flower."
"Okay, the Death Flower it is."
The five then headed out to the place of mission.
Time: 14.00
Beast Count: N/A (Gate)
Approximate Level: 3
Behavior: Inactive (Current)
Victim Count: N/A
Location: Galio Tower, Idly City, Outlands
Galio Tower was a high-rise skyscraper with forty-five floors, forty-seven including the two basement levels. The gate was found by a janitor in the basement. The five investigated it together.
A purple glow of mana stain was spotted on the floor by Cathy and the two girls. Inexperienced and unused to it, Sam and Dan didn't detect it until Cathy taught them how to do it. The stain was shaped like a huge crack on the floor connected to the wall.
(What I meant by "detect" is measure the amount of mana it gives off. They can see the stain but can't tell how strong/weak it is)
Cathy looks at her phone and noticed both the time and the stain. The stain was getting a lot stronger.
"Two stay here, two come with me."
Dan and Laura went with Cathy, while Sam and Volta stayed. Cathy took them to the lobby.
"Everybody out, now!" Cathy yelled aloud. Luckily, they followed suit.
Cathy then turns to mist and went to the broadcast room. She made the operator jump because she appeared out of literally thin air.
"Broadcast an immediate evacuation order. I need everyone out of this building in three minutes, four minutes for you."
The operator made no question. He broadcasted the immediate evacuation. The broadcast was heard loud and clear on every floor.
Forty-five floors excluding the two basements—they were already cleared—approximately four hundred employees working currently. They all came down like water on a hill. Cathy was there for two reasons, supervision and securing one of the three Dayton sibling's rings. The ring was ignorantly worn and owned by the owner of the building. Allio Galio. A philanthropist who dedicated his life to mass-producing refined Healing Crystals all around the world for people in need. Because he himself suffered losses that could've been saved with the use of the refined Healing Crystal.
THREE MINUTES EARLIER
Allio was on his computer, replying to important emails. Until he was disturbed by a sorcerer. He heard blood-curdling screeches coming from outside his office. He grew suspicious. He stopped his work, stood up, and walked to his door.
His office had no window seeing the outside other than the outside of the building itself. So he was clueless as to what was happening.
He was in the middle between his desk and his door. Then the door blasted open and was thrown at him. He hit his back on the table and fell down. He had the door on top of him and couldn't get it off of him.
Then black goo tentacle wrapped itself to the door and threw it to the wall at the side. Two people came into the room. Shujin and Terror. Terror then wrapped Allio's two ankles and two wrists. And he suspended him in the air. Shujin examines him from head to toe. He notices a shiny green ring on his right ring finger.
Shujin casts "Inverted Light Blade". A blade that gave off unusual mana. A white blade with a big hole in between the handle and the blade. Its edges are colored black. Fits with his style of clothing.
He swings upwards and cuts Allio's hand off. Allio yells in pain. Shujin goes to the cut-off hand and grabs it. He notices the ring and pulls it out. He admires the ring for a few seconds.
"The ring of the second born, Leuvis Dayton." Shujin said aloud
"No way! that belongs to the second Dayton sibling?" Terror got excited
"Yup."
"That shit's gotta be at least a thousand years old." Terror guessed
"450 years, actually." Shujin corrected him
"The Overhaul ring, right?"
"Exactly."
Shujin wears the ring over his right glove. He doesn't feel that different but he can tell the ring is equipped.
"Let him go, Terror."
Terror lets Allio go and he drops to the ground.
"We're done here. Do what you want with him."
"Okay."
"I'll leave, you know where to meet me."
"Yeah, yeah."
A message then was broadcasted. An immediate evacuation. Shujin sensed a presence of someone very strong. Equal maybe. Cathy comes out of the elevator and saw Shujin flashed into white light and disappearing. She herself turns into a mist to chase after him.
Terror was still with Allio. He thought very hard on how to kill Allio. Some way that would be satisfying to him. Terror then got lazy and grabbed Allio's leg and threw him out the window. Terror then turns into a black goo puddle and flew out the window.
Shujin reappears in the middle of the lobby. In perfect view of both Dan and Laura. He glares at them. He grinned. He shows off his new ring. Then he snaps his finger and teleported again. Then Cathy appeared.
They felt a chill down their spine. The gate was opening and luckily, the people were done evacuating. Then a group of people screamed from outside. Dan and Laura turned around and saw a corpse on the road covered in blood.
"What was that?" Dan grew worried
"Probably the owner." Cathy replied
Dan then was about to run outside, but Cathy grabs his arm and stops him.
"What are you doing? We need to check on them." Dan said worriedly
"He's dead. Listen, your priority is to kill all the beast that comes through that fucking gate and protect them, do you understand?" Cathy became very serious
"But..."
"Do you understand?" Cathy repeats herself
"The gate is opening, Dan. You need to focus." Jon advised
Dan shrugged his shoulders. He calms down. Pulls his arm back and replies "yeah, I get it."
"Good. Don't die." Cathy turns back to mist and chases after Shujin.
Note: Light speed is around 300.000 Kilometers per second. The extending of space and snapping it is at the speed of roughly Mach 175. Which is 60025 M/s, which is also 1/5000 the speed of light. So "Reality Snap" speed is 1/5000 light speed.