4/9/2019

  5:30 PM

  Vaillant Residence, Colemond, TX

  The garage door opened. Daniel's F-150 Raptor exited the driveway. He parked it outside, exiting as the garage closed its doors.

  "What do you think?" Solomon asked. His shirt was covered in engine oil.

  "I love it. Maybe we should open a new auto shop."

  "Woah…Slow down. This was my first project. I need more experience before I can say yes."

  Daniel chuckled. "I wasn't being serious."

  "Well, I am," Solomon said. His desire for knowledge was hard to contest. He summarized everything about the new upgrades. It took a day to finish on a high risk. All of the new features were qi compatible. New tires built with high loads and high ratings similar to a space shuttle. The chassis was reframed to prevent minor dents and embraced high resistance against projectiles and explosions. For magical resistance though, that could only be certain once the truck heads out on the mission. The best part of it all was mileage changes. Being qi compatible, as told by Solomon, most things affected would be either great or terrible. Today was the former. Going to the gas station won't be a hassle anymore.

  Mother Elaine glanced over the F-150 Raptor truck. She was a little jealous because she would come out to the garage sporadically, checking Daniel and Solomon doing work on the truck. Daniel knew she wanted to get one because cars and vehicles were like her prized possessions. Upgrading it would elevate her ego. So, he thought to let her request be last.

  "When are you going to get mine next?" Mother Elaine asked.

  "I don't know, unless you want to take the high risk of getting it totaled or failing to run."

  "I could always rent a car."

  "You're right, but hold off on the thought. We don't even know if my truck is going to do what it should until I drive it out there tonight."

  Solomon came right up. "Shall we get back inside? Everyone is getting prepped up."

  Daniel and Mother Elaine headed back inside the house. The former was also soaked in engine oil and sweating showers. His long sleeves and pants were soaked. He went to take a shower, joining everyone in ten minutes.

  10 Minutes later.

  Daniel came out refreshed. He joined everyone in the living room. There were about fifty people standing or crowding the first floor of his residence. About a hundred more were around the neighborhood.

  The table that replaced the coffee table was stacked with ammunition, weapons, and Daiyu's homemade soft drinks filled with necessary amounts of rasalt. Daniel took two bottles, putting one in his pocket. "I'm taking an AR-15."

  "Just a heads up, this is specialized for qi use only, so you don't need ammunition. However, you need to use qi. And if you don't have it ready, then it's useless," Lian said.

  "Can I do a quick test?" Daniel asked.

  "Go ahead."

  Daniel went to the backyard. For the sake of not hitting the neighbor's lawn, he looked up and aimed right to the sky. He pulled the trigger. Nothing came out of the barrel. "Darn it." Another attempt failed. "Lian?!"

  Lian flashed out to the yard. "Didn't work?"

  "No," Daniel said, shaking his head. He pulled the trigger one more time, and a faint sound came out of the nozzle. "Why is it not working? It went well with the sword, but nothing with a rifle."

  "Let me see…Were your hands filled?"

  "It should be." Daniel looked at his hands, finding them to be loaded with qi underneath his skin. "Yeah, my hands are."

  "Hmm…Try again," Lian said after reviewing the rifle. She handed it back to Daniel.

  Bang!

  "What the? What did you do?"

  "You forgot to do the switch tab over here next to the empty magazine," Lian said, pointing to the spot.

  "Oh, whoops. Is this Jacob's idea?"

  "Partially."

  Daniel continued testing out the rifle. He got called by Lady Bian for being too loud, ending the quick test.

  Heading back inside, Daniel switched off the tab and went into the kitchen, opening one bottle of the soft drink. Empress Cai was there washing her face.

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  "How's the first group of refugees doing?"

  Empress Cai threw the napkin into the trash. "They are fine, it didn't take them long to adapt…You hired them for security. I think that eases them into this new world."

  "I scheduled for the next group of magic wielders to arrive in two weeks. A few hundred at best could come."

  "Can you cut that by half instead for next week?"

  Daniel paused. "You don't want to hold off?"

  "I mean…This city has a lot of things to do. We do weekly small increments. The faster we can get to our goal." Empress Cai walked out of the kitchen, loading up her tactical belt. "Can you help? My hands are full."

  "Sure." Daniel went to her back and tightened up the belt. "Ok, that should be all set…Alright, I'll keep the weekly schedule."

  "Thank you…Listen, leave the logistics work to me. You do what you always do."

  Looking at the time, it was ten until six. "Time is clicking. We have ten minutes."

  Four hours for tonight were set aside for the mission. Twenty subjects were confirmed to be an obstacle to Daniel's future plans of leading the city. The same report that made Mayor Burman the official conspirator to assassinate him revealed a long list of private donors. They funded his wealth and lobbied for extravagant spending. A lot of money at the spot.

  Tonight was the day all were gathered at the same venue, which had opened not long ago.

  Daniel drove right up to the parking lot and had no hard feelings. Because it was a private event, most of the spaces were empty. Keeping it subtle, everyone who came with their vehicles parked within a reasonable distance.

  Loud music played inside could be heard out in the parking lot. Everyone was summoned by Daniel's truck.

  A hundred-twenty magic wielders were present. Most were from the first refugee group.

  “There are definitely more than twenty people inside that venue. I want to make one thing clear. Only take the twenty for capture. Don't touch anyone innocent. If someone or something that isn't part of the twenty but is hostile, take them out. We don't need any loose ends. Are we clear?”

  Everyone understood and split up. Because it was a large venue, encirclement was in place. More than a hundred surrounded the building. Daniel was floating right above, waiting for the ten to land on the roof in circular formation. When they did, he dropped down at the formation's center of origin. "Are you guys all ready?"

  "Ready when you are, sir."

  Daniel leaped up a few feet, gaining weight on his feet. He then thrust down, tearing the entire concrete roof. He and ten men dropped in. As planned, they interrupted a lively party. Rains of rock killed the stage, shattering it into half. Daniel summoned his sword. He performed a diagonal slash, unleashing a force wave that wiped out the wall of the ballroom.

  Loud cries broke out in the wrecked ballroom and the halls. Mother Elaine drifted through the halls and entered the ballroom with her personal company. She took a few security details with her, slamming down to the ground.

  The tables smashed. All the guests and attendees of the ballroom went for an escape until it was too late because the encirclement strategic action was completed. Many magic wielders were outside doing the blockade. A barrier was summoned around the building as a precautionary measure.

  Solomon came from the main hallway with his sword, carrying two deceased security guards. He threw them across the ballroom. Their bodies splattered into red paint on the wall. He walked up to Daniel. "Shall we get them?"

  "Do it now," Daniel said. He then called his phone to Empress Cai, telling her to pace it up to the ballroom. After giving the call, rumbling sounds echoed like a ruthless storm. He looked at all of the ballroom's guests.

  Lian was standing on the tarnished stage, headcounting the number of guests and the targeted donors. She flew away from the spot after finishing. "A lot of people. Your papers said eighty, but this is a hundred. Are you sure there are twenty suspects, or are there really more?"

  "The total guest attendees aren't always accurate because this is a privately owned venue. And there are more than twenty suspects, but their wealth isn't great enough to join them." Daniel pointed up. "Tell the magic wielders outside to get in the building and move the barrier as close as possible. We are going to do housekeeping when Empress Cai steps foot in this ballroom."

  He watched Lian leap up and heard her voice commanding the magical wielders. The barrier narrowed like a fist clenching. Not for long, all hopped in from the ceiling. Empress Cai arrived with thirty other magic wielders. They captured about forty more attendees. Lian did the headcount again, reaching the twenty objective.

  Solomon and Simon ordered two tables to be cleared and directed all twenty suspected donors to gather around. After all, they were forced to their seats, Solomon magically strapped them.

  "What the fuck are you?" An older man with a white moustache and a bald spot asked.

  "Oh, that's right," Daniel muttered, taking off a metallic facial mask. "You recognize my voice?"

  "That's bull. The mayor won't do this kind of—"

  "Nah, that's a bull on you. I never agreed with Mayor Burman's policies to begin with. He was dumb enough to let me work for him."

  “Then what about this venue? You two collaborated with us.”

  “That's all in the past now. Y'all just want to exploit things in this city, and because of that, Colemond is heading towards a huge debt…Jesus, why am I even telling you this anyway? You guys are not going to be here tomorrow anyway."

  Daniel went on to ask if there were any magic wielders present with teleportation mastery for a large crowd and put them to bed. Ten raised their hands, so he gave them orders to send the innocent guests back home. When they were about to depart, Daniel stopped them with one more question about memory removal. Bad news, none of them had that capability.

  Empress Cai and Hilde offered, if they could, which Daniel accepted. He watched them do quick hand gestures. Hilde performed it first, followed by Empress Cai, and a flash of light summoned the entire ballroom. In two seconds, all innocent guests and ten magic wielders were gone. The latter flashed back in the next.

  The twenty suspects were the only ones left in the ballroom. Some felt desperate, trying to plead with Daniel. The latter didn't give in, so he summoned a chair and sat down. "The truth is...I've already suspected something was odd in the budget and Mayor Burman's behavior for the past year, but I didn't have the clearance to do anything about it.

  "But that's not the worst of all. The worst was that you guys are worth more than eighteen billion dollars. And records showed your accounts have been used to get me in the grave."

  Silence.

  Daniel stared intently and waited for one of them to talk.

  "Mayor Burman…never liked you as a friend. He used you as a scapegoat and—"

  "Enough," Helda said, thrusting her blade right to a middle-aged man's throat. She jerked her sword out and went for a slash, decapitating his head. Blood gushed out of the lifeless body, sprinkling the table. Naturally, she took over the conversation from Daniel, deciding how to handle the nineteen left. "I have a few personal questions for each of you, so lets get this over with, shall we?"