With Fuki and Miki-san's company, as well as Shigure checking in regularly to make sure Fuki was remaining stable, I made it through until my last surgery. Before the surgery, Fuki came to bid me goodbye with a child care worker who seemed to also be an empath ability user. That made me raise my eyebrow. So the government knew and had sent a person that Fuki could relate to over?
I asked Shigure but he wasn't sure either.
In the middle of my surgery, I was suddenly roused by the Creator Father, receiving a warning that someone had abducted Fuki. It seemed that they had discovered she was an ability user.
The surgeon was shocked when I opened my eyes and spoke. I couldn't move, but I could speak.
"Fuki! The little girl is in trouble! Someone has kidnapped her!"
Thinking I had been dreaming, the surgeon and nurses tried to comfort me. The anaesthetist put a face mask back over my face again and I struggled against the gas for a long moment, contacting the only other person who could help Fuki right now.
My spirit broke free of my body for a moment but the Creator Father pressed me back in, telling me it wasn't safe for me to do so. Shigure, who was in the middle of a mission received my urgent message and the Creator's message.
I could faintly feel Fuki crying and trying to reach out to me. Despite his mission, Shigure reached out with me to find out from her where she was and what was going on. With our combined mental abilities, we found the room she had been locked in with various other people and children with abilities. It was a warehouse in a port. All of them had been drugged, but due to Fuki's small size, she had been given very little of the drug and so was more awake.
Shigure had me shield the door so that no one would be able to get in and to keep the captives safe while he contacted Shimizu Ietsugu to inform him of the situation. There was no time. The only way to help and save these people was to let the Nihon government confirm that we were ability users. They'd be able to guess our strength just from how the two of us were able to find Fuki when Shigure was in another city and I was at least half a city away from Fuki. I doubted we would have been able to do this in the past. The strength of our abilities must have improved again. I half paid attention to what was going on over there.
"Finally. About time you two opened up to us," the scrawny rooster said from Shigure's side, immediately pulling out his phone to inform someone. He made several phone calls in a row. "Alright, people are on their way. Hopefully they'll make it in time. Our mission is also time sensitive. Please don't be distracted."
Shigure then left me to complete his mission in the fastest time possible so that he could help me if needed. I watched over the warehouse and noticed a large fishing boat arriving. I had a bad feeling and reinforced my shield, informing Shigure via our link. Shigure informed the scrawny rooster and the scrawny rooster informed the relevant people to hurry up.
"They're still twenty minutes away," Shimizu Ietsugu told Shigure.
The human traffickers attempted to enter the warehouse but found that the door was locked. I messed with them using a small illusion so that they wouldn't enter, but eventually a group of ability users approached the door with a sharp glint in their eyes. Sensing danger, I applied multiple layers of illusions but they broke through each illusion methodically, eventually reaching the real door. I only had to hold them off until help arrived. I could do this.
There, they came up against my mental barrier and frowned. One of them attacked the barrier first. Then the second. Then the third.
Having gotten good at mental defences after being attacked so many times, I didn't think they'd be able to break through too easily.
The group of attackers split up to try entering through a different door, forcing me to split my attention while I also reassured Fuki and asked her to stay calm until help arrived.
*"Fuki help,"* Fuki said, sensing how hard I was working, while the attacking ability users directed the normal people to also attack my barrier via the doors with normal weapons. In retaliation, I knocked the ordinary people out so that they wouldn't get in the way.
I paused, not wanting Fuki to help at first, but then decided that perhaps, I should get what help I could. I directed her to see if she could concentrate and find the mobile phones or electronic devices on the human traffickers without affecting anything else.
Concentrating hard, Fuki caused a few mobile phones to explode, causing various people to scream with pain when a hole was suddenly blown into their chest, backside or hip. I saw an explosion come from the fishing ship and guessed it wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon either. An old car parked nearby blew up, the blast breaking down one flimsy wall of the warehouse, causing me to take some damage when I had to protect the captives inside the warehouse from the blast.
Sirens could be heard in the distance. The human traffickers were all in disarray.
The leader of the attacking ability users barked a command and they pulled out electrical gadgets that could mimic abilities.
*"Fuki, there are weird gadgets. Blow them up too!"* I called.
*"Fuki tired,"* Fuki mumbled in a tired voice. *"Fuki's head hurts."*
Well, she had done a lot of work and blown up a lot of things. It wasn't surprising that she would be tired after concentrating for a while. I was going to have to brave this storm alone, although I wasn't looking forward to it. Last time, just that one man with a souped up gadget had been enough to seriously hurt me. Perhaps these human traffickers wouldn't have the latest models and only have those old cheaper ones without much power. I should be fine against those.
Shigure was fighting with somebody at the moment and I couldn't allow him to get distracted either.
Feeling my apprehension, Fuki tried to help further but she was too weak.
*"You did good work, Fuki,"* I reassured her. *"The good guys are on the way. Big sister will protect you. You can go to sleep."*
The weird sensation of the electronic gadgets being used to try and pierce through my barrier made me grit my teeth. They were strong but I was able to deal with it for now. The ability users worked in concert to no avail. Physically though, I felt my nose start bleeding, startling the medical staff in the surgical room.
The sirens grew closer and the human traffickers all decided to try and escape. I stunned and knocked unconscious those I could before they could get far.
None of the cars they tried would start and the boat didn't seem to be working either. Good on Fuki. She had done a great job.
Multiple cars skidded into the parking area, blocking any cars from being able to escape. The human traffickers were taken down one by one.
*"There are explosives,"* the Creator Father warned me. *"The whole warehouse and boat are going to explode. Strengthen and widen the shield."*
*"What?!"* I exclaimed, immediately doing as the Creator Father instructed. I noticed the guardian spirits of various people standing around helplessly. *"Make a shield! Protect your people!"* I shouted at them in the Creator's name. Using words of power, I strengthened and expanded my shield, bracing myself and asking the Creator Father for help all in the same breath.
The guardian spirits sprang into action and more arrived to help protect the people, human traffickers or not. An ability user scowled and touched the electronic gadget that he had attached to the side of his face. Then his eyes narrowed in my direction as if he could suddenly see me. His face twisted with grotesque pain and it seemed that the gadget was draining him in order to target me.
The fishing ship and warehouse suddenly exploded and I could only do my best to hold on and protect the people inside my shield from most of the blast. Unfortunately, that included the ability user who was targeting me. I had a feeling that the charged strike was going to be painful. Just as the blasts died down, secondary explosions went off. At the same time, the electronic gadget flashed.
The ability user died, but the gadget released the attack in that last moment. I barely managed to fend off the explosions and protect the people under the shield. If it weren't for the guardian spirits helping with the shield, most of them would have died.
I shrieked with pain, feeling that burning energy pierce through the shield and my mind like a laser. It was rather reminiscent of the time Shigure and I had defended our city. Just not as big or strong. Even so, it was still extremely painful. I retreated back. Somehow, I managed to keep enough presence of mind to tell the guardian spirits to continue protecting the people.
Although I was deep under anaesthetic, I could vaguely hear the alarms of all the machines going off at the same time and the medical staff gasping when I convulsed on the table. Shigure's shock was felt through our link and he rushed over to support me, almost disregarding the criminal he had captured. Just as well his partner, the scrawny rooster was there to help. Fuki screamed upon feeling that laser cut through me with such searing pain and I quickly cut off any communication with her so that she wouldn't have to feel what I was feeling.
I wanted to examine myself but before I could take stock of all the damage or perform any damage control, I fainted.