A deadly silence permeated the air of the coffee shop. People sat in tense, and unbelieving science as they tried to comprehend what exactly was going on. 7 masked men had just burst into the coffee shop on a Tuesday afternoon, threatening the lives of every person inside. They claimed to be the judges and the executioners, some sort of apostles of justice. And they pinned the blame, the cause for their actions, on the 3 magicians who sat in the right corner of the room. However no reproachful gazes were cast their way, because people were still caught up on the fact that there was a seeming terrorist attack, that they would be victims of.
At first there were the screams, and the sounds of chairs hitting the ground as people began to get out of their seats to flee. Scalding hot coffee washed the floor as tables were overturned in the frenzy. It was the start of panic, one threatening to engulf the entire room. However, before the panic could completely take hold, and transform the once peaceful coffee shop into an everyman for themselves war zone, the 7 men moved: quickly and effectively, to squash the disorder. The lead man, the one who had spoken, moved to intercept a lady who was the closest to the door. He moved quickly and without hesitation, slamming his fist into her chest, before tossing her limp and unconscious body to the side. He then aimed his pistol, firing three shots. Two of them were clear warning shots, hitting the ceiling and back wall respectively, but the third shot found its home in an elderly women's leg, causing her to cry out in pain as her body painfully thumped into the ground.
Immediately, everyone else who was beginning to get up, to try and run, or to try and fight, stopped. Seeing what happened to the others had put enough fear into them to stop them from making any hasty actions. By this point, Me, Ren and Homura had snapped out of our stupor and moved to try and solve things. As I got up, I felt the Prescence of someone behind me. I kicked the leg of my chair, causing it to rise a few feet into the air, before I grabbed it while turning toward the man, using the momentum to create a powerful swing that would be sure to knock this person out. However, the large man that was behind me moved with insane speed, ducking below the chair. I let the chair go, allowing it to crash into the window. The chair flew outside but was stopped by a massive black dome that wrapped itself around the entire cafe. The chair crashed into the dome with an explosion of electricity and wood.
So, they've set up a dome to encapsulate the entire area, and have magic sealing tech? Obviously, they're not just run of the mill criminals. The man who had dodged the chair was now coming up for a punch, which I avoided. He threw two more punches which I dodged. After I dodged the third one, I held out my hand, in an attempt to freeze my opponent. It was all muscle memory.
And then I remembered I couldn't use magic. The man threw a punch. I moved to dodge it, but I knew that I would probably be too late. However, just then, Ren grabbed the man from behind, before spinning him around and delivering a right hook straight towards his face, knocking him out instantly.
"Thanks dude." I thanked him while I internally chided myself for the carelessness.
"Just doing what a knight does." I glared at him for the joke. Now is not the time.
Homura had just finished dealing with another one of the men, using the broken off leg of her chair as a sword to fight. "So, what exactly is the plan." She asked.
"Simple. We have to deal with these guys as quickly as possible, and with the least number of causalities possible. Zero, if we can manage!" As I established our course of actions, we turned to face the rest of the men in the front of the room. However, before we could even make our move, we were stopped by the scene that we saw. The lead man was standing in the front of the coffee shop, by the counter. He was holding his pistol to the head of someone.
That person was a girl who couldn't have been over the age of 9. She was shaking in fear, and her face was strained with tears. Her mouth was moving, and she seemed to be mouthing the words, "help me. However, the only sound that came out of her mouth was a low whine. She was seconds away from breaking down.
The site made my blood run cold. Ren and Homura also froze beside me. The man began to speak, and his voice was cold.
"Enough of your struggling. The three of you magician scum will line up by the door, where these innocent people made to suffer will be able to see you." He pointed to the door. "And should you resist..." He pressed the gun deeper into the side of the girl's head, making her grunt in pain and fear.
"Or else I'll blow this girl head off."
***
We complied. There was no other choice. It was that or watch a poor innocent girl get shot.
Once we were in the front, I couldn't stop the frustration from taking hold in me. My fist clenched tightly in anger, even tighter than they had when I had my argument with Raiden. Raiden! The memory of my argument with my brother returned to my mind. I didn't apologize. A dark thought came over to me. What if I never got to apologize? Why did I have to be so..... I couldn't bring myself to admit I was wrong, because I knew I wasn't. That realization didn't stop me from longing for my brother to be here.
If Raiden was here, he'd surely be able to figure it. I thought. Despite all of his flaws, his inability and refusal to let himself be something separate from his mission, his mission to protect me, it was also because of this fact that he was the person that I trusted most in my life. I knew he was a capable brother, far more capable than I could ever hope to be.
No matter what, keep your head cool. Raiden's words from so long ago rang through my mind.
The man who was holding the girl hostage had begun to speak. "All of you that happened to be gathered here today, are not here because of luck. No. You are here because of fate. Because this moment was destined to occur from the very conception of the universe. You are here to Bitness the truth, and the execution of justice!"
The opener to what this man wanted to say was meet with silence. Nobody could tell exactly what he was going on about. He sounded more than just a bit eccentric as he rambled on and on about things like destiny and fate.
He turned to face us, the three magicians from Theta magic academy that stood in the front of the coffee shop. He pointed his pistol to the three of us. "These three represent a plague that was brought to our world. A disease that was allowed to fester, to grow, and to slowly devour our society."
A disease, a plague? Bullshit! I though angrily to myself. Everything that came out of his mouth were lies. Lies that normally, anybody would question. But in this situation, with the hatred that magicians already face; when you told the reason that you or a loved one might lose a life was because of said magicians, even incoherent and illogical rambling would make a sort of sense.
"Because of these children of the devil, you are forced to suffer daily. Remember the actions of the Wizard of Greed? The Wizard of Pride? Millions died because of magic. And millions continue to die because of magically engineered technology!" Mentions of the wizard of greed and pride made me freeze with shock. Everyone had heard of them. The wizard of greed, most famously known for being the wizard who shifted the balance of the world. Brought magicians from the persecuted, to free. However, his greed and need for power did not end there. He did not stop until regular people had become the persecuted, and magicians, the persecutors. He is seen as the one who started this cycle of violence and hatred. And the wizard of pride. A man who was unable to stand the fact that people were scared of him and thought him to be a monster. Unable to stand the fact that people did not revere him like a god. And so, because of his pride, he slaughtered them. Mention of these two vile historical figures, actually gave his twisted argument credence in front of these scared civilians.
"Because of these magicians, this little girl might have to die."
Everything he was saying made me increasingly angrier. One look at Homura and Ren told me that they were feeling the same thing. When the man turned to continue his speech, I tapped Homura, making sure to not catch the attention of other four guards standing watch around the room. Once I got her attention, I gestured to her wand- a dagger that was concealed inside of her dress-and then pointed to the door. I also made a zapping sound effect with my mouth. I wanted her to throw her wand out of the door, and into the dome.
This is because of what I had seen earlier. When I threw the chair outside of the window, I was testing to the dome. The electrical reaction that it had given me in response was enough for me to guess that this was some sort of nano-tech technology barrier. Therefore, if Homura where to toss her wand at it with a loaded magic sequence, and it was able to pierce in even an inch or so, it would be enough for the spell to activate, even if it was really small. This would then spread via the lightning that was caused by the impact of the dagger, would cause a chain reaction which would obliterate the barrier.
Unfortunately, because of the situation, I couldn't get my logic across to her. However, Homura seemed to trust me, and Ren was able to read the situation as well. We were all poised and ready to act. The man was still continuing his speech, and he had reached a climax.
"This world was meant to be inherited by humans! Not magicians. Every single last one of your troubles, one of your woes, and especially the one you are facing now can only be seen as a fault of those half breeds, those devils!" His voice was filled with hatred and venom. At that moment, Homura tossed her wand, which was loaded up with a Lightning magic sequence. The sequence wouldn't activate until it had mana to actually work with.
At that moment, the man spread his arms wide, reaching a physical and emotional crescendo. "Let the bolt of god, the message of the one above, be the sign for you all. Let it be the shock that kickstarts your will to take back what is ours!"
And at that moment, the world was engulfed with lightning, due to the barrier exploding. After that, we were able to close things out before the light could even fade away.