"Damnit, what the hell is going on!" Dawn yelled as she got out of the car, fury etched on her face. She punched the bonnet in frustration. "The entire night we've been evading assassination attempts, and on top of that, the Fed might pick up on this!" She vented, exasperated.
"Calm down, Dawn," a man said, emerging from the car. "We've already handled the mess. The group was large and well-coordinated, so it makes sense they gave us this much trouble. We'll proceed as planned and wait out the storm at that place, as always, when things get heated."
Dawn took a deep breath and calmed down, getting back into the car. "Better now?" a mysterious person in the backseat asked.
"I've calmed down a bit," Dawn replied, starting the car and taking off. "You know the damages to the car will be on you," the person at the back noted.
"Chh, fine," Dawn replied in a rowdy tone.
They arrived at a secluded area, and the entourage of six cars entered an enclosed underground parking lot. Everyone got out of their cars. "Fuwuu... I knew those pigs wouldn't be patient, but this..." the mysterious person began, but before they could finish, their face erupted in blood as a mana arrow pierced their right eye. Dawn and the others watched in horror and rage.
"You f..." Dawn raged, a blackish-green aura erupting around her. She reached behind her, drawing two small swords.
"Dawn!" the man cried as the other 20 personnel activated their mana, taking defensive positions.
"Reverse gravity," Ethan whispered from the shadows, forming a giant grey mana circle with a Dwarven Rune in the center. "Chh, hold on to something!" Dawn warned as cars and debris began floating. They enforced their bodies with mana to hold on as the ground cracked beneath them.
Jake zoomed through the air, propelling himself through the gravityless parking lot, targeting Dawn's men. He palm-slammed four men, releasing a lightning spell that fried their faces. Before he could strike a fifth target, the rest had formed mana shields. Jake continued zooming and disappearing into the shadows.
"Floral embrace," Marika chanted silently, entangling Dawn and her men with spiky vines. "Swirling mist," Lindiwe chanted, filling the parking lot with mana-draining mist. Amidst the mist, Dawn heard her gang's worrying cries being slaughtered.
"First you killed my sister, and now you're killing my men!" Dawn screamed, bursting with energy. The pressure from her mana dispersed the mist, revealing her blood-soaked, lifeless comrades. Ethan was about to strike the last gang member when Dawn charged at him. He set up a barrier, but Dawn's strike sent him flying.
"You f**ing scoundrels!" she yelled, her long blue hair floating in the gravity spell. "Spit," Ethan muttered, spitting blood as he stood. "I felt that," he said, already recovering.
Dawn threw a short sword at Lindiwe, who barely stopped it with three ice barriers. She leaped, switching her grip on her sword to a downward hold, and broke through Marika's defenses, holding her in a chokehold.
Jake and Ethan acted swiftly. Jake formed four sharp stones around his fist and punched Dawn, but it didn't scratch her. Dawn was about to stab Marika when her hand was entangled by mana strings Ethan made. He waved his left hand, tightening the strings, but Dawn head-slammed Jake through the floor, snapped Marika's neck, and dropped her lifeless body.
Lindiwe burst into tears, her eyes glowing, and turned the mist into sharp ice projectiles, hurling them at Dawn. "Good, now you know how I felt," Dawn remarked, covered in wounds.
Ethan engaged her in close combat, forming a spear from debris with an alchemy circle. Dawn struggled to hold her own as Lindiwe's ice projectiles attacked. With a final thrust, Ethan cut off Dawn's head. Lindiwe collapsed from exhaustion, dispelling her spells.
Ethan panted heavily, his wounds healing. "She burned her life force for revenge. I'll have to be cautious of this going forward," he muttered. As the debris crashed down, Ethan canceled the reverse gravity spell, picked up Lindiwe, and used a gravity spell to pull Marika's body.
Ethan descended to the lower floor, finding Jake unconscious near the entrance to Dawn's hideout. He raised his hand, drawing a circuit-like magic circle. "A special type of magic invented by humans," he muttered—Code Magic, used in magic engineering. The door opened, revealing Dawn's base. Ethan accessed the computer room to steal all the data and plunder the valuables. He pulled out a rune-etched storage card, helping himself to the spoils.
The way home was a silent one. Though it was a given that not everyone would always come back, it was still a hard pill for these kids to swallow. The hyper train arrived back in South Africa, where the team disembarked and returned to Black Wing's base.
"It seems you encountered a tough opponent," Elaine said, meeting Ethan, Jake, and Lindiwe at the entrance. Her voice was calm but carried a weight of expectation. "I hope you learn from this and grow stronger. I'll have someone else join your team," she added, signaling for Ethan to follow her as she turned to leave.
Ethan followed Elaine into her office, the atmosphere heavy with unspoken grief. "Where's the body?" Elaine asked, her tone clinical.
"It's in the storage card," Ethan replied, his voice steady but his eyes betraying his sorrow.
"Good," Elaine nodded. "Do you want to use it on one of your teammates?"
Ethan shook his head, his expression firm. "I would prefer fusing her mana veins with a stronger candidate. They could boost the strength of someone with potential for greater heights, not those two."
Elaine raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smile on her lips. "How harsh of you. I guess this could be used to entice the others to train harder," she said. "How about a little contest? The winner will get the veins."
Ethan nodded slowly, understanding her intent. They talked a bit more, discussing logistics and potential candidates, until Elaine dismissed him.
The announcement spread quickly: all those not in the top ten would not participate in the match, and the winner would undergo a mana veins fusion surgery. The children were nervous upon hearing this, but some saw this as their moment to rise up the ranks.
In the quarters of Ethan and his team, the atmosphere was dull, weighed down by the grief of losing their friend. Lindiwe sat silently, her eyes red from crying. Jake stared at the floor, fists clenched in frustration and sorrow.
"Training resumes tommorow," Ethan said softly, his voice breaking the silence. "I expect everyone to get done with their feelings by then."
Lindiwe looked up, tears brimming in her eyes. "It's just so hard, Ethan. She was one of us."
"I know," Ethan replied, his own eyes moistening. "She was a combat experiment that perished in combat... Nothing more"
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