FriendlyDragon To make sure that there is no confusion, I am using "he" here because Yuki is in her male form.
Yuki’s eyes were locked onto the glass doors of a small white building that rested on the mountain side that rose high above the ground before him. He could see it clearly, the sun’s intrusive rays nowhere to be seen as Giant’s Peak blocked it from view.
“We’re right on time,” he said as he checked the time on his watch. “Perfect.”
“Are we going right in?” Yuki turned his head towards Akira whose eyes were on the white building above. “Or is there a certain timing we need?”
“There’s a slight window,” Yuki replied. “It’s not that strict though. Let me see how the timing of this is going to work out. One second.”
He tapped on his watch and a glowing ball appeared in the air.
“Uriel. The press conference is going on right now, correct?” he asked.
“Yes. It started two minutes ago,” Uriel answered. “They’re still doing pleasantries and initial comments. They haven’t gone into the real topic of the conference yet.”
“Estimated time until firing?”
“Possible window of ten to twenty minutes. I will be able to narrow it down as time goes on,” Uriel said. “There is a chance for unforeseen events such as a weapon malfunction that prevents startup or preparation.”
“Chance of that happening?”
“Very low. I wouldn’t rely on it.”
“Could you give me a countdown?” Yuki asked. “You can adjust it as needed. But make sure to notify me when a change has been made.”
“You got it Boss. Have fun out there.”
Uriel disappeared and a timer with twenty minutes appeared on Yuki’s watch. Then the seconds began to tick down.
“Alright then,” he nodded. He raised his voice, speaking to the whole group. “Let’s go. We don’t have much time.”
With that, he knelt on the ground and closed his eyes, well aware of the confused gazes that landed on him. He sent out pulses of mana, analysing the area around himself, especially the mountain. Poking around, he searched for any openings or entrances. After some time, he ran into an inconsistency within the side of the mountain. It was an area that was denser than normal and felt to be made out of metal. He couldn’t quite see what was past it.
‘Worth a shot.’
Yuki stood and motioned for the others to follow him before heading towards the inconsistency. When he arrived, he faced a solid looking rock face.
“Are we going to force our way in?” Akira asked.
“We might.” He stared at the wall, considering his options. He could either climb up the mountain and enter from the building where there were bound to be a number of guards and security, or he could try to break in from the side and hope that the security wasn’t as tight. “I think we will.”
He went up to the side of the mountain and placed his palm against its rough rocky surface. Mana seeped out from his palm and the rock absorbed it like a dry sponge, hungrily eating up the mana he offered. As his mana traveled deeper and deeper into the mountain side, the inconsistency became clearer and clearer. It was a metal door.
With that, he began to search for the mechanism that powered the giant door. His probing landed on a small box that seemed to be radiating mana. He looked around it and found no other boxes or wiring. That lone box seemed to be the only thing moving the metal entrance.
‘This thing runs on mana then. Should be simple enough to open up then.’
Closing his eyes, Yuki began focusing his mana until it surrounded the box. The box resisted his attempts to enter it, but there wasn’t much it could do against the full brunt of Yuki’s will. Once inside, it was merely a task of triggering the right magic circle engraved onto a sheet of metal.
When he withdrew, his efforts were rewarded with a deep rumble that shook the ground. A large portion of the mountain side began to shift. Yuki watched the process of the metal doors hidden behind the rock slid apart with great interest.
‘Impressive. Being able to move that amount of metal and rock with a simple spell. I’ll need to look into that more at a later time.’
He lifted his watch and saw the time. Four minutes had passed by. He tapped on the screen and created a small holographic screen on which he quickly sketched the magic circle that he had triggered to open the massive metal entrance.
‘Alright.’
The screen disappeared when he lowered his arm. Without a word, he walked right through the doors. The others followed behind him without a question. With a flick of his wrists, daggers shot out before he grabbed them by their handles. He twirled them in his hands as he calmly made his way down the hallway.
[You know where to go?] Akira asked.
‘Somewhat. I assume this hallway leads to the main facility,’ he replied. ‘So we’ll just go down here.’
[Should we pick up the pace?]
‘We have fifteen minutes left. Maybe we should. How confident are you in your sneaking skills?’
[You taught me.]
‘Fair. How about the others? What do you think?’
[Erica is good. Sarah as well. Damian might be the problem. I’m sure Zoe and Yuna will be fine.]
‘I thought so. I can manipulate the air around him to keep his sounds contained, but I want to conserve my mana.’
[I can put a dampening spell on him,] Akira offered. [You had to open the door. I didn’t do much yet.]
‘That would be great. Thank you.’
Yuki stopped and turned, giving Akira a nod. She went to Damian and whispered something into his ear to which he answered with a grin. She waved her hand, mana coming out from her and enveloping Damian. When she was finished, she gave Yuki a nod.
“We’ll be picking up the pace,” Yuki announced in a low voice. “Try to keep up.”
With that, he started a jog that soon evolved into a run. They zoomed down the hallway with barely a sound. After a while, the hallway stopped and a massive space opened up before them. The main facility.
Yuki opened up the blueprint of the facility that he had constructed with Uriel with the information that they had taken. He rotated it until it lined up with where they currently were standing. Then he marked their location and took out a pair of glasses. Putting them on, he could see the blueprint off to the corner of his eye as well as the dot that signified where they were. It pulsed gently and moved when he moved.
‘Good.’
His watch vibrated. Glancing down, he saw the time had adjusted. Two minutes were removed, leaving them with ten minutes remaining. There was a message as well.
‘People will be entering the main room to do a routine check before firing of weapon. Be careful,’ it read.
‘Security as well. There should be more people than usual here,’ Yuki thought. ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’
Turning his attention to his team, he pointed with four fingers to his right. Sarah, Zoe, Damian, and Yuna immediately broke away and headed in that direction. Yuki went to the left, Erica and Akira right behind him.
He headed toward one of the three rooms that were used to contain and convert the mana needed to power the weapon. As he approached, the sound of footsteps caught his attention. Without a second thought, he threw himself to the side and hid behind a pillar. He reached out and drew Akira and Erica closer to him while silently uttering a spell. Mana blossomed out from him and surrounded the three of them, obscuring them from the naked eye.
When he finished, a group of people clad in black body armor and holding what looked to be taser rifles marched on past. They scanned the room, some of them looking towards where Yuki was hiding. But their gazes went right past him.
Yuki waited until the group was out of sight before releasing the spell. Then he went right back to the mission at hand. Silently, he navigated his way around the facility until he stopped in front of the room of interest. He peeked inside and found two people in lab coats. They were busy looking at monitors and typing information into a tablet they each held.
Yuki paid them no mind. He didn’t need to be in the room for what he needed to find. Closing his eyes, he sent mana out to search the room.
‘Please be in here,’ he thought as he scanned every section of the place.
He found nothing. The elemental gems weren’t in the room. Only mana could be detected. Yuki let out a sigh.
‘Of course. That would be too easy wouldn’t it.’
He knew exactly where the jewels were now. They were in the center of the weapon with the cannon. He checked the time remaining.
Six minutes.
FriendlyDragon To make sure that there is no confusion, I am using "he" here because Yuki is in her male form.
Yuki’s eyes were locked onto the glass doors of a small white building that rested on the mountain side that rose high above the ground before him. He could see it clearly, the sun’s intrusive rays nowhere to be seen as Giant’s Peak blocked it from view.
“We’re right on time,” he said as he checked the time on his watch. “Perfect.”
“Are we going right in?” Yuki turned his head towards Akira whose eyes were on the white building above. “Or is there a certain timing we need?”
“There’s a slight window,” Yuki replied. “It’s not that strict though. Let me see how the timing of this is going to work out. One second.”
He tapped on his watch and a glowing ball appeared in the air.
“Uriel. The press conference is going on right now, correct?” he asked.
“Yes. It started two minutes ago,” Uriel answered. “They’re still doing pleasantries and initial comments. They haven’t gone into the real topic of the conference yet.”
“Estimated time until firing?”
“Possible window of ten to twenty minutes. I will be able to narrow it down as time goes on,” Uriel said. “There is a chance for unforeseen events such as a weapon malfunction that prevents startup or preparation.”
“Chance of that happening?”
“Very low. I wouldn’t rely on it.”
“Could you give me a countdown?” Yuki asked. “You can adjust it as needed. But make sure to notify me when a change has been made.”
“You got it Boss. Have fun out there.”
Uriel disappeared and a timer with twenty minutes appeared on Yuki’s watch. Then the seconds began to tick down.
“Alright then,” he nodded. He raised his voice, speaking to the whole group. “Let’s go. We don’t have much time.”
With that, he knelt on the ground and closed his eyes, well aware of the confused gazes that landed on him. He sent out pulses of mana, analysing the area around himself, especially the mountain. Poking around, he searched for any openings or entrances. After some time, he ran into an inconsistency within the side of the mountain. It was an area that was denser than normal and felt to be made out of metal. He couldn’t quite see what was past it.
‘Worth a shot.’
Yuki stood and motioned for the others to follow him before heading towards the inconsistency. When he arrived, he faced a solid looking rock face.
“Are we going to force our way in?” Akira asked.
“We might.” He stared at the wall, considering his options. He could either climb up the mountain and enter from the building where there were bound to be a number of guards and security, or he could try to break in from the side and hope that the security wasn’t as tight. “I think we will.”
He went up to the side of the mountain and placed his palm against its rough rocky surface. Mana seeped out from his palm and the rock absorbed it like a dry sponge, hungrily eating up the mana he offered. As his mana traveled deeper and deeper into the mountain side, the inconsistency became clearer and clearer. It was a metal door.
With that, he began to search for the mechanism that powered the giant door. His probing landed on a small box that seemed to be radiating mana. He looked around it and found no other boxes or wiring. That lone box seemed to be the only thing moving the metal entrance.
‘This thing runs on mana then. Should be simple enough to open up then.’
Closing his eyes, Yuki began focusing his mana until it surrounded the box. The box resisted his attempts to enter it, but there wasn’t much it could do against the full brunt of Yuki’s will. Once inside, it was merely a task of triggering the right magic circle engraved onto a sheet of metal.
When he withdrew, his efforts were rewarded with a deep rumble that shook the ground. A large portion of the mountain side began to shift. Yuki watched the process of the metal doors hidden behind the rock slid apart with great interest.
‘Impressive. Being able to move that amount of metal and rock with a simple spell. I’ll need to look into that more at a later time.’
He lifted his watch and saw the time. Four minutes had passed by. He tapped on the screen and created a small holographic screen on which he quickly sketched the magic circle that he had triggered to open the massive metal entrance.
‘Alright.’
The screen disappeared when he lowered his arm. Without a word, he walked right through the doors. The others followed behind him without a question. With a flick of his wrists, daggers shot out before he grabbed them by their handles. He twirled them in his hands as he calmly made his way down the hallway.
[You know where to go?] Akira asked.
‘Somewhat. I assume this hallway leads to the main facility,’ he replied. ‘So we’ll just go down here.’
[Should we pick up the pace?]
‘We have fifteen minutes left. Maybe we should. How confident are you in your sneaking skills?’
[You taught me.]
‘Fair. How about the others? What do you think?’
[Erica is good. Sarah as well. Damian might be the problem. I’m sure Zoe and Yuna will be fine.]
‘I thought so. I can manipulate the air around him to keep his sounds contained, but I want to conserve my mana.’
[I can put a dampening spell on him,] Akira offered. [You had to open the door. I didn’t do much yet.]
‘That would be great. Thank you.’
Yuki stopped and turned, giving Akira a nod. She went to Damian and whispered something into his ear to which he answered with a grin. She waved her hand, mana coming out from her and enveloping Damian. When she was finished, she gave Yuki a nod.
“We’ll be picking up the pace,” Yuki announced in a low voice. “Try to keep up.”
With that, he started a jog that soon evolved into a run. They zoomed down the hallway with barely a sound. After a while, the hallway stopped and a massive space opened up before them. The main facility.
Yuki opened up the blueprint of the facility that he had constructed with Uriel with the information that they had taken. He rotated it until it lined up with where they currently were standing. Then he marked their location and took out a pair of glasses. Putting them on, he could see the blueprint off to the corner of his eye as well as the dot that signified where they were. It pulsed gently and moved when he moved.
‘Good.’
His watch vibrated. Glancing down, he saw the time had adjusted. Two minutes were removed, leaving them with ten minutes remaining. There was a message as well.
‘People will be entering the main room to do a routine check before firing of weapon. Be careful,’ it read.
‘Security as well. There should be more people than usual here,’ Yuki thought. ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’
Turning his attention to his team, he pointed with four fingers to his right. Sarah, Zoe, Damian, and Yuna immediately broke away and headed in that direction. Yuki went to the left, Erica and Akira right behind him.
He headed toward one of the three rooms that were used to contain and convert the mana needed to power the weapon. As he approached, the sound of footsteps caught his attention. Without a second thought, he threw himself to the side and hid behind a pillar. He reached out and drew Akira and Erica closer to him while silently uttering a spell. Mana blossomed out from him and surrounded the three of them, obscuring them from the naked eye.
When he finished, a group of people clad in black body armor and holding what looked to be taser rifles marched on past. They scanned the room, some of them looking towards where Yuki was hiding. But their gazes went right past him.
Yuki waited until the group was out of sight before releasing the spell. Then he went right back to the mission at hand. Silently, he navigated his way around the facility until he stopped in front of the room of interest. He peeked inside and found two people in lab coats. They were busy looking at monitors and typing information into a tablet they each held.
Yuki paid them no mind. He didn’t need to be in the room for what he needed to find. Closing his eyes, he sent mana out to search the room.
‘Please be in here,’ he thought as he scanned every section of the place.
He found nothing. The elemental gems weren’t in the room. Only mana could be detected. Yuki let out a sigh.
‘Of course. That would be too easy wouldn’t it.’
He knew exactly where the jewels were now. They were in the center of the weapon with the cannon. He checked the time remaining.
Six minutes.
