Rin stepped through the door into an industrial maintenance room with high ceilings overhead cranes hung down half way to the floor there control remotes hanging a few feet from the ground he occasional spark flaring off the old and rusted motors. Rin surveyed his surroundings. The dim flickering lights made it difficult to see but that didn't hinder Rin. He was surrounded by rows of ten ton cylinders. The contents were not important but after a few years of working in the waste industry Rin couldn't help himself.

  “ Hydrochloric acid.” Rin mumbled to himself reading the label. The cylinder was old and the identification label was a little hard to read but the simplistic labeling made it easily identifiable. As Rin walked down the rows of hydrochloric acid containers he couldn't help but feel like someone was watching him. He eventually came up to a set thick steel door, a small amber light softly illuminating the control panel. The control panel was an old analog keypad with a single keyhole to the side. The labels were faded but Rin had worked in areas that required a more low tech approach. Pulling out the keys he took off the crocodile man's corpse he started trying each and every one. The still moment and empty space made him worry. Every movie he had ever watched had moments like this. That always led to a horrible fight. He eventually found the correct key and inserted it, turning the key over.

  Old rusted gears began to move and the faint scent of burning motor coils could be smelled. The ozone smell hinted at this door having been used recently. Based on its age it should have smelled of rust and metal shavings. Slowly the door opened and Rin frowned.

  “ You guys could have just opened the door for me. I just spent the last five minutes finding the right key.”

  A group of five men stood with rifles leveled at Rin's chest, each one whirled to life with a multi hue glow. Blots of Fire, lances of Ice, spears of Rock and bullets of wind all spewed out. Fights were decided in moments instances that could be quantified and measured in milliseconds Rin had learned this in the time he spent inside the astral dungeon fights felt like they lasted for hours but only lasted a few minutes. Rin instantly recognized the guns they were using. They were a simple mass-produced magitek rifle, one that absorbed the mana from its user, forming it into a simple spell obfuscating the need to chant and allowing for rapid fire attacks. Without thinking, his body moved the spikes in his body. Me and his movements sluggish and as a result a Lance of ice clipped his leg as he moved out of the attack, the ice rapidly grew across his leg hindering his movement even further. He quickly kicked the control panel, shattering the ice, restoring his mobility, he regretted not grabbing a random piece of junk to use as a weapon. The barrage of spells stopped giving him a moment to dash in. His strength gave him a near superhuman burst of speed. However, his dexterity wasn't anywhere close enough to match it. He crashed into the first two men taking them both to the floor. The others hesitated not wanting to shoot their allies. Rin grappled with the two men delivering a quick knee to the face of one and wrestling the rifle from the other. He used the rifle as a cudgel swinging it out with all the strength he could muster. The butt of the rifle connected with the closest of the standing men. The carbon fiber stock shattered against the man's knee, the stock splitting away as the man's knee buckled backwards and he screamed. The two men that remained standing decided friendly fire was an acceptable outcome to kill Rin and began firing off a volley of magic spells. They understood that they were no match for somebody trained like an adventurer would be but suppressed and without magic he should have been no problem. The fact that he was posing so much of a problem and such a short time period scared them.

  Liliandra couldn't watch as Rin was attacked. The mysterious man sat there laughing boisterously watching the screens. There had been multiple exits to the room Rin had found himself in and unsure where he would go. This man ordered his soldiers to post up outside of each one. Why he didn't send them in in the first place puzzled her. She couldn't help but lament the fact that she was once again captured. Waiting on Rin to save her, she turned to the others and gave them an assessing gaze. She needed to distract herself and wanted to make sure that her friends were okay. Despite the explosion, she didn't feel any pain. The only pain she felt was the chafing of the cuffs and the extension of her joints as she hung. Looking at her friends. She couldn't see any wounds, the suppression spikes prevented her from pushing out with her mana completely shutting off her aura ability So she couldn't take a deeper look but she deduced that they must have had healing magic cast on them.

  “ Why us?” Sophia asked, her gaze was sharp as she glared at the man. The man paused in his laughter and turned, his face was handsome, filled with youth but mulled by scars his head had been freshly shaved, the stubble of hair growing back on his bald head.

  “ You know why, hero.” The man said “ if you can't figure it out that much then maybe the goddess chose wrong.” Standing up the man grabbed a knife from inside his sleeve, he walked over to Sophia.

  “ If this is about the mark of the wolf, then you don't need her. Let her go.” Sophia gestured with a head movement towards Liliandra. The men casually glanced over and began picking at dirt from under his nails with the knife.

  “ Have you not realized it? She has the potential. She might not have one now but a few weeks or months. Maybe even a year she'll get the mark of the fox and then you'll find the one who bears the mark of the bear forming your ragtag team of heroes.”

  That's bullshit “ Douge shouted “ There's no fucking way You could possibly know We don't even know who has the mark of the bear. How can he be so sure she'll get the mark of the fox?”

  Anger flashed across the man's face and the knife disappeared from his hands Liliandra, unable to see what happened, only figured it out once Sophia screamed in pain. With so much speed that it was incomprehensible to her own enhanced vision that man stabbed the knife into Sophia's leg. Sophia gritted her teeth, cutting off her scream of pain.

  “ Your part of the cult of the Void aren't you.” Sophia said, her voice trembling. The man pulled the knife back out and pressed it against her abdomen slowly pushing it in. Sophia thrashed around her teeth clinched as she tried to not scream.” Douge and Liliandra watched on in silence; they knew whatever they said might cause any of them more pain.

  “ Bingo, you know those rift relays from tresh where not cheap you guys not only had the gall to live through the transformation but even kill the demon we placed there” The man went silent watching as the blade split flesh and sank hilt deep. The man let out a sigh.

  “ The Demon king isn't pleased with Rin at the moment and does want him dead but I couldn't help myself. Watching him struggle to live after his parents death was the greatest time of my life. My only regret is that I wasn't the one that killed them.”

  The man turned away leaving the knife inside Sophia. He watched the monitor as Rin used one man as a meat shield against the volley of spells. The man's flesh ripping off, burning to ash or freezing and shattering.

  Kenji Iwatani was a student at Husnt Academy and that obstinately made him an adventurer, His mana reservoir was low and despite having stranded the academy for nearly a year he had yet to see any growth in that regard. His last contract was with a random team and he had left the academy to complete it around the same time as Rin during that contract he had been useless only able to kill a monster if his teammates curated the right moment for him. He felt like a burden and had ultimately decided to give up and join the magic administration he would become a researcher and craftsman. Alvarez's proposal excited him but he wanted Rin's option. When he found out Rin and the rest of his team went missing he decided to stay in the academy until Rin came back. If. He came back. The moment Valder came to him and told him that Rin was fine. He jumped at the opportunity, only defined as big as bully Prime Douge or just Douglee was now one of his friends but surprised him even more was the apology he gotten and the genuine concern for his well-being. When you explosion happen Kenji watched as a plume of fire engulfed Rin and Douge didn't hesitate he wrapped Kenji with his own body spikes of earthen rock shooting up from below their feet to encase them, but this all happened in seconds and Douge wasn't fast enough The explosion tore through his meek attempt at a defense, but Kenji was thankful. The pain he felt now could have been so much worse as he sat beneath a pile of rubble. Presumably a piece of rebar protruding from his stomach. He hadn't moved and what felt like hours as he tried to regain his strength. The rebar was thankfully preventing any blood from seeping out of his body. The bones in his legs felt shattered and broken as a stone laid on top of them. He could hear voices around him. He was hopeful at first but as he listened he knew if he was found it would only be trouble.

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  “ I'm telling you.” One of the new voices said. “ That we're not going to find the fifth body. The boss said that it might have been completely destroyed. The only reason the other survived is how strong they are.”

  “ I know.” Another voice said. “ I'd rather be home watching some old kung fu movies right now.”

  “ Kung Fu? Like that movie fist of the immortal dragon.”

  “ Yeah that's a good one but I'm talking about ippa man the first one in the series.”

  “ Oh back when they were still produced on Earth.”

  “ Yeah that one get me wrong. I like the new age Kung Fu movies, but something about a man with no magic fighting for his life gets me going and all those movies were produced before the cataclysm.”

  “ Hey what's that?”

  Kenji could hear the two men getting closer and closer. His chest hurt as his heart tensed up, his palms became sweaty. He didn't know what he would do but he was sure he would be killed.

  “ If that's him I get to put the knife in his chest.”

  “ Only fair, you spotted him.”

  Correction. He knew he would be killed. The single piece of rubble that created the small space for him to breathe started to move, the air in his lungs seized as his mind raced; he could hear the men grunt and groan as they struggled to remove the rubble. Time stopped as the rubble was pushed to the side, Kenji could see both men looking down at him with smug smiles on their faces. Kenji clinched his eyes ready for his fate.

  “Child.” A sweet, charming and benevolent voice spoke out to him. Slowly Kenji opened his eyes. An ethereal man in a tightly trimmed suit made of clouds floated above him. The man smiled at Kenji. His smile was sorrowful but also happy in a strange mixture.

  “Zephalus?” Kenji said in a breathless voice.

  Zephalus the god of wind. One of six gods in his pantheon. Zephalus was a known recluse and the fact of him appearing now had weight. Weight that Kenji did not miss.

  “The one and only my son. I have not stopped time but only sped up your perception so only speak once I'm done talking.” Zephalus said. Kenji nodded as way of response

  “I am here to grant you power. I can not heal your wounds for interfering in mortal affairs on that level is restricted to me and is the realm of the lesser gods. All I can do for you is give you my blessing.” A fox made of wind sprinted up jumping off the head of one of the thugs prancing on the air around Zephalus coming to a stop on top of Kenji's chest.

  “ I cannot with good conscience. Give you this power without telling you why you have been picked as you were not my first choice. The one I have watched since their birth and had chosen has had their strings of fate severed and there is nothing I can do about it. For a time their strings were pulled taut and they have finally broken so I must choose another and that means you. Take this power, survive this encounter and don't be racked with the emotional guilt of what you need to do..”

  The fox settled in slowly seeping into Kenji's body. Blending light appeared on his shoulder. He could feel the well of manna as a new reservoir was opened. Could feel the new elemental affinity he achieved. As the god disappeared, he voiced a silent sentence, one that Kenji understood fully well. As soon as his perception was brought back to normal Kenji shouted a spell out, surprising the two thugs.

  “ Winds and flames of the cosmos heed my call come to me as I command you to do nothing more and nothing less than what I command form and protect.”

  A whirlwind of fire and wind combined creating a tornado of flames. The tornado flew out engulfing the two thugs before it flew past them coalescing into a single point. A small salamander-like creature with wings appeared; its long sinuous body was made of flames that were stoked by cosmic winds. The beast let out a heart-wrenching shriek as it leaped at the two men, its claws of flames burning and cutting into them. Kenji watched as it clawed and ripped, eventually killing the two thugs. A strange connection to the creature gave Kenji a strange feeling, he could feel the flesh and bone of each man break under his familiar's touch. The creature calmed, spreading its wings and slowly drifting down to lay on top of kenji. He nuzzled his chin and looked towards the rebar impaling him with a huff flames spat out of its mouth melting the rebar. Kendrick felt no pain from the molten middle as it seeped out of him cauterizing the wound.

  “ I can feel what you are. You're a dragon. A child of Helios and Zephalus. One born to fly.” He weakly lifted his hand to pet the creature. It nozzled into his touch.

  “ How about a name?” Kenji said he knew the moment he got up he would see the bodies. He wasn't ready for that and wasn't ready to deal with the guilt. Even if it was his familiars doing he summoned the family and his bond connected to him in ways that he didn't know he could be connected to .So he procrastinated.

  “ How about red.” The dragon chirped happily.

  Valder and Alverez stood inside a police investigation van that was parked on a nearby building to the crumbled remains of the whole city scape building. This was the largest terrorist attack in Xulun City history blocks have been blown up causing damage but not irreparable damage. This explosion had so much force that it destroyed all 500 floors of the cityscape building along with Valders villa. The tall walls still stood and it was as if a building shaped hole went straight down. Thankfully none of the other city scape buildings were damaged, however countless untold deaths were still being counted. The police force was conducting a search from top to bottom going floor by floor finding survivors or in the more common case corpses. With all of his influence and power he was still not allowed to go down and conduct a search himself. The police force had restricted access and all he could do was wait.

  “ Really Valder There's nobody in the city that could stop you. Let alone the both of us. We should just go down and search for ourselves. We're familiar enough with their aura that should only take a couple of minutes.” Alverez was flipping one of the many rings he wore between his fingers and action he often did to help calm his irritation.

  “ I know, but we must follow the laws and listen to those that enforce them. I've already gathered some information and I have with confidence determined that they most likely are no longer down there.” Valder looked around. The van was empty as all police personnel were currently outside the van giving him and his teammate a place to talk.

  “ What do you mean?”

  “I went and talked with Engrosa, I knew she had people investigating the kids so I figured she might have some insight. She in fact did and I've determined that this has been an attack by the cult which most likely means they've wanted them alive.”

  “ Hmmm” Alverez grumbled and then nodded “ So we wait for the police to give us dispensation to go down and search. There will most likely be residual mana that I could track, but that doesn't stay for a while.”

  “ I know, but the authorities are scared of us and breaking their trust can cause even more problems, the chil.” Valder paused Mid-Sentence, both him and Alvarez perked up looking towards the ruined remains of the city scape building.

  “ That was.”

  “ A divine aura just for a moment.” Alverez rubbed the bridge of his nose as he finished Valder's sentence” I should have never accepted this responsibility.”

  “ But we did. Contact Hazel I get the feeling we are going to need her help with what is to come.”

  Alverez snarled, bearing his teeth.

  “ Hazel.” Alverez said his voice filled with stone and flint