Above a mechanically constructed vehicles ruin, Lin hovered, staring down with a contemptious attitude.
"It seems I still underestimate the technological tree of this world," Lin thought as he looked at them with a high above-all disposition as he floated down leisurely with the calming breeze shifting his garments and hurling them to and fro.
"That was my mistake. I apologize! I will make it up right now." Lin disembarked, his feet touching the marble-like floor with a silent and serene sound.
He trod to the foamy wreckage that dwarfed him in size and reflectivity.
A myriad of sounds articulated from the pod ruins, and out arrived the criminals clasping different assortments of dangerous weapons, followed by the hostages they held, who rapidly retreated from the war ground.
A vast plot of barren circular land, vaguely glowing with white light as pedestrians take 3D holopics of what would either be a one-sided slaughter or a one-man beat down.
The nearby government officials lingered for reinforcements as they pointed their weapons, ready for any chance to help outโ without putting themselves in peril.
Lin waved his hands, inducing a portal to appear underneath the vessel, getting it out of the vicinity.
"I wouldn't want any of you taking covers, now do I?"
Lin said in an emotionless fashion, not hiding his nonchalant demeanor toward their numbers, his disdain for their illusory technological advantage, and his intention to harm them in all ways he could think of.
"Bastard!" Klaric said in a low voice while balling his fist with his eyes wide open, strictly glancing at Lin, who lazily strolled around without any intention of attacking them.
The group then glimpsed at each other and sequentially nodded their heads, doing all kinds of signals with their racial body parts and shifting position each time they completed as they changed the gears of their weapons.
If scrutinized from an outside perspective, it would seem like they telepathically spoke.
Soon, they surrounded him halfway, doing one set of signals right after.
[โฆ!] [๐๐ด๐ด!] [๐๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ!]
Bolts of light permeated the space they stood with heart-wrenching sounds, charring the air at ejection and casting a red-heated haze that released a fizzling sound, masking the figures of the menaces in the process.
Lin spun his staff around its axis with mana extending its reach on all sides, deflecting the hazardous rays and occasionally hitting the ground next to some hostile, provoking them to angle their attacks better, greatly increasing the difficulty for Lin. The pedestrians started running away and leaving drones to record the scene as the blasts started flying in all directions with unrestrained momentum.
Lin's movement became more obscure to witnesses as he made sharp decisions in the shortest amount of time humanly possible, but a professional could notice that he was getting pressed and more likely to make a mistake.
๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐!
A bolt passed by his cheeks, slightly shifting him away from the flow as his eyes darted in response to follow it, inducing him to miss the mark and prompting three blasts to pass through his attack barrier. And with an instantaneous reaction, Lin changed his magic skill with a twirl of his staff.
โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โโฏ โ
A couple of portals majestically manifested from one spot, neutralizing the close call and onslaught that followed it.
๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ!
Time seemed to slow down as the beams hung in the air, the onlookers from afar shocked but cheering nonetheless, the coalition panicking while some glanced at their backs before turning to look at others that did the same, and the driver running away from the scene before getting shot by the officials in hiding.
[Vroom!]
Lin unexpectedly, with dashing speed, hauled his staff in reverse, bending the portals sideways and paying back all the light in full, killing half of them in the flash of an eye.
A solemn expression finally decorated their faces as Lin killed any last hope they might have held prior, compelling them to grip their weapons for comfort. Their own body urged them to flee from this 'man,' but they resisted the impulse. They knew better--running would only hasten their death.
"Not bad! You fear me! But you refuse to run. Hahaha..." Lin proceeded to relaxedly step to the squad that shivered like a pack of wild dogs in front of a hyena.
"Ahhhh!" Klaric dropped his guns and sprinted to Lin in a Viking-like manner.
Klaric shifted his body weight, putting it all into one punch as a glare occurred on the surface of his fist, but missing as Lin used the butt of the staff to lunge at his throat, diverting his center of gravity.
The punch hit the ground, bursting out an arc of blue energy in its path, with other parts of Klaric's vest casting out the same light.
Klaric looked up immediately while jumping up and setting up a knee strike as he aimed at Lin's lower regions.
๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ!
Lim slightly progressed backward, evoking a miss as he raised his staff to the side and swayed it, dropping Klaric, whose facial features distorted and his facecles moving sideways in the direction of the stick weapon.
Lin bounced around a bit and glimpsed at the rest who witnessed the short bout.
"Do you want to have a go?"
He lazily swirled his staff around him. The armed men looked at each other, talking with their eyes, taking a few moments to conclude.
โฆ
"ARHHH!" "ARHHHHH!" "ARHHHH!"
They all screamed with their alien facial expressions morphing to unbelievable proportions as they chaotically plunged the weapon they clamped to the ground while scrambling to Lin, who stood in front.
Lin's face had a smile as he calmly remained in place. Tyler leaped forward with his hands stretched out in a grabbing motion, heading for the motionless Lin's eyes.
"I got him!" Tyler thought as a green liquid exploded from his hands, revealing his race as a slime-type humanoid. The mucous threatened to wrap the face ahead of it with its silky embrace.
Lin disappeared from the site, propelling to Tyler's sides as he lunged forward in mid-air. "Hmph!" [BAM!] Lin slammed his palm downward, thrusting Tyler's head onto the floor, scattering green goo that made a disgusting wet sound upon landing.
Lin abruptly set up his hands to his cheeks, blocking a kung fu flying kick that made him skid across the floor while spinning his staff and deflecting countless fists, elbows, knees, and feet that arrived from difficult spots.
[๐๐ข๐ฉ! ๐๐ข๐ฉ! ๐๐ณ๐ฌ!]
Chimes of blows and screams resounded, and waves of blue energy glared in each squabble Lin found himself in as he skillfully hopped past his foes. His body moved circularly to imitate a perfect defense of both attack and offense.
[Ang! Clang! Bing!]
Lin waved his staff wildly in the air, smashing down everything with hostile intention around him with a widened smile that seemed like it should be on the face of satan.
"Everybody freeze! Do not move until I say you move!!!" Late to the party were Advent operatives, coming at the climax of Lin's debut earning a collection of boos from the audience and a laugh from the downed criminals.
But unlike last time, Lin did not comply, wanting to have the last laugh by any means necessary.
"Citizen, do you not- ark!"
One of the Advents wanted to say before a force came from above, plunging them to the ground.
{Spatial shift!}
As they fell, Lin finally smacked down the last lawbreaker. Lin gave a grin and prepared to leave the scene, but one Advent soldier stood up and raised the gun, pointing it at Lin's face.
"On the ground-"
Lin materialized in front of the soldier who said that, clutching their neck as his fingers penetrated its metallic form. He brought the machine to its knees with a minor struggle while smacking away the rifle.
"You are lucky I don't want to be a criminal. It's not the kind of life I want or the kind my mother would have wanted, or otherwiseโฆ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ!"
~Clap~
After saying this, Lin wandered in the opposite direction, but was soon interrupted by another noise and noticed a little boy with a spike gliding head clapping his transparent hand with an awed expression.
Although still dizzy from the fight, Lin knew it was one of the hostages, and a moment later, more hostages and the pedestrians came along and smacked their hands together, creating a cheerful atmosphere that caught him off guard. It made him feel like was getting caught with his pants down.
He awkwardly accepted their cheers with an embarrassed smile. Lin's picture soon emerged on the screen of a building and more hails arose with holographic fireworks getting shot into the sky.
"Doctor 9-IO!"
Someone chanted.
The rest didn't know who it was, but it seemed catchy, so they followed
"Doctor 9-IO!"
"Doctor 9-IO!"
The sound got lesser in Lin's ears as he looked toward a conglomerate of flying sky ships that he assumed to be news outlets. He had an idea and raised three fingers and whispered, "Only I can handle these kinds of situations."
A lady who watched the news report smirked as she released a happy chuckle, getting the attention of a Rubix-headed individual. "Louie, what are you laughing at?"
"Oh, nothing Darke, just a veryโฆ interesting person!"
Louie answered before staring into the distance as she brought her hair back with her slightly glittering hand and interest in her moon-like eyes.
"Doctor 9!"