Present day…
The Hon family mansion…
"
You're about to make a fool of yourself
," Jinju approached calmly, his boot resting at the exact same spot where the blue-haired necromancer was last seen before he made a daring jump. "
Don't tell me you're also behind this blood moon eclipse occurring right now
."
"
And what if I were?
" Sayan maintained his stance. One hand was clasped tightly holding onto one of the legs of a humanoid bat-winged vampire-like creature. The other held onto a knife glinting parts of the reddish lunar light. "
Who are you to stop me, huh? Do you even know how much you've put your lives at risk by interfering with my plans tonight?
"
"
The same goes for you
," Bain Wun-Don crossed his arms, complementing his already intimidating military-esque fashion showcased by his hairstyle and eyes that glowed a shade of orange too much to be natural. "
We don't care about who you are. But it seems that the Sirutov and the Akamine have jointly shown their interest in you
," he stepped closer to the edge of the roof. "
That means we'll be the ones asking all the questions, comrade.
"
"
Voice down, dog
," Sayan teased, repositioning himself by reaching for and climbing onto his pet vampire's back. "
Or count your precious barks before they run out. Your choice
."
In the background, hundreds of vampires were rising up from the shadows, materializing from gravestones, dark roses, dirty puddles, and broken lockets. Within a few moments, the sky seemed to be swarming with them, with the magnitude of their arrival being benchmarked by the amount of screams and shrieks being audible all around the compound of the Hon mansion.
'This guy clearly doesn't know how to co-operate
.' Jinju Wan noted, bringing his hand over his chin for a moment, even though he had already made the estimations based on pattern recognition and probabilistic pre-planning. After the three years he had spent cultivating upon himself, knowledge and experience had already married each other with babies of success and skill having repopulated the scars and wounds left over by the past. '
But hey, neither do we. Not that we are here to co-operate either. Heh.'
Jinju smiled in way that onlookers would claim he was the villain instead.
"
I'm feeling a bit generous tonight, dogs
," Sayan continued his mockery as if that was his primary ability and sense of identity. "
Stay out of my affairs and you'll be out of my scope, too. Be a nosy nuisance, and expect to breathe through your skull for the rest of your life. Understood?
"
The fugitive necromancer didn't wait for a reply. Feeling proud to himself for threatening the duo behind him, he and his vampire chauffeur flew out towards the horizon, hovering over the back garden of the mansion.
Jinju had his hands in his pockets. His eyes closed as his face pointed to the ground.
He sighed.
"
See? This is why I prefer dumb demons incapable of speech, Bain
," he looked back up, re-opening his eyes to allow the rays of moonlight strike his grey irises. "
Makes it so much easier to capture and control. Makes your mind lower that guilty feeling, too.
"
"
You bet
," Bain chuckled. He lifted his gun and without even looking at where he aimed, pulled the trigger. Some shrieks and grunts of pain were heard, but he knew they weren't of human origin. "
Sometimes I really wish that the Council just banishes all of demonkind from Earth. We could still hunt and take 'em down ourselves, but… You know…
," he exaggerated his facial expressions while pronouncing the next two words, "
Legal reasons
."
Jinju shook his head, still smiling.
"
Bain, Bain, Bain… my dear buddy
," Jinju wasn't looking at his friend. His eyes were focused on the specific vampire giving Dor a piggyback aerial ride. The irises began to glow in a shade of bright teal. "
Why haven't I met you before those three years? Would've made my life so much easier having a companion who thinks alike
."
"
Dunno, mate
," Bain brought out a pocket radio transmitter. "
But I'm glad that it was late than never
," he activated the device, changing his tone to a formal dialect. "
Sirutov Sergeant Don Bain here. Requesting air support at the Hon mansion
."
"
Sergeant Don, receiving you clear
," the voice on the other side reported. "
Location marked. Live camera feed from your eyes received. AI agents completed threat analysis. Preparing firing solution in T minus 60 seconds
."
"
Do you really need their help?
" Jinju butted in, whispering to not let the others hear. "
You know we're both strong enough to handle it ourselves, right?
"
"
True
," Bain agreed, agreeing with his eyebrows. "
But we aren't monsters, Jinju. Can't eat up all the credits by ourselves, yeah. Haha. Also makes our own muscles relax by outsourcing the labor
." he holstered his gun and cracked his knuckles and neck muscles. "
Gotta save it all up for a rainy day, huh?
"
"
I guess so
," Jinju held out his hand, with an open palm. "
Shaknir
!" a new spear glaive appeared with flash of lightning around his outstretched fingers.
"
God bless whoever discovered the Spark
," Bain commented, seeing what his buddy was upto. "
Literally turns you into one
."
Spark was a unique mineral found only in a realm belonging to the Broodent elves (the same elf species who had first introduced the world of magic and advanced technology to the humans). It was the ultimate universal currency of choice – prized highly due to the extreme flexibility and freedom of definition for what is and what it could be. Spark crystals could be refined into portable blocks for storage. Those blocks were then traded for goods and services, often supplemented by books holding knowledge. The elves loved knowledge, to the extent of teaching and learning activities becoming proportional to selling and buying. Spark could become food, another material, element, a building block, a weapon, or even paper cash if that was what the owner of the Spark block really wanted. Its meaning could only be granted by the wielder, and the best wielder was whoever knew more – limited only by the capacities of their imagination.
Bain took out a sugar cube-sized Spark block himself, commanding it to become a scope for his gun.
A new noise interrupted the atmosphere around the city block. Everyone else looked up in the sky except for Jinju and Bain; they were the ones who summoned it.
"
Bald Eagles in position
," Bain's radio device rang out. "
Hold your ground and restrict flight
!"
A fleet of five fearsome helicopters entered the scene, sliding doors opening to reveal Sirutov soldiers geared up for tackling mass numbers of enemies at once. Some held guns bigger and bolder than Bain's, while others had magical orbs and runes orbiting their hands like mini solar systems of whatever element they controlled.
"
Restrict flight
?" Jinju was the first to look up between the two on the rooftop. "
The heck is that supposed to be? New rules? Since when?
" It was no use commenting from the worm's eye view when the birds were up so high. "
I better hope they have the firepower to match with a warning like that. Some governments tax us for that.
"
"
Relax, Wan
," Bain got into a prone position, lying down on his front while extending a bipod stand for his hybrid automatic assault-sniper rifle. "
You don't have to fret over every poke. Careful not to let your ego run ahead of you. Else, you're gonna trip over
."
"
You're right
," Jinju turned back to locate Sayan Dor, seeing him almost approaching the end of the expansive and expensive lawn yard of the Hon estate. "
But only partially. That would've happened to the 'me' I was before I was rescued by the Akamine
," he looked down to see his himself staring at him from behind a puddle near the wall above him. "
Not to this version of 'me' now. No.
"
Without warning, he leaped off the edge of the rooftop, sending a powerful shockwave blasting dust and roof tile particles radially into the air at his last seen location.
"
WAN, WAIT
!" Bain wanted to warn him, but his mission partner was too fast. Too impatient.
The helicopters opened fire.