"God, what a bore...." Robin said with a sigh after checking in with the other agents who were working security outside of the building.
The last few hours or so had been a total snooze-fest as far as the 'beast magic' user was concerned. Just as they had expected, nothing of note was happening at the moment. Nor had anything worth even the slightest bit of attention occurred ever since the fundraiser began. Of course, Robin was no stranger to doing stuff like this; she had been on her fair share of security details before. But this particular tasking had been especially dreadful.
'At least I'm not being badgered by people trying to talk to me about my father.' The woman then said to herself as she lay back on the roof of the building.
The last thing that Robin wanted was for anyone to try and bring up her and Sebastian's father in her presence. She didn't really trust herself not to go crazy on someone if something like that were to occur. Sure, being the daughter of one of the Conley family's power players had its perks, but not nearly enough for her to tolerate being mentioned in the same conversation as him.
There was also the fact that she was in possession of an S-rank cryptid that damn near everyone wanted to have under their thumb. Although she loved her primary companion, Wajo, more than anything in the world, the amount of attention it brought her was a headache that she never felt like dealing with, even when she was busy selling off one of its eggs to someone who was willing to provide it a good home.
'I should've taken some time off like Theo did.'
With nothing else left to do for now, the woman pulled her radio close to her face and proceeded to do another check-in as she watched one of her younger companions circle the air above the venue. The fundraiser would be over in the next hour or so, so the woman decided that it was best to just bear with the boredom for now until it was time for them to call it a day. On the bright side, though, Sebastian promised to grab her a few plates of food before it was time to go. So, at least the woman had something to look forward to when it was time to pack it in for the night.
-(o)-
Back inside the building, the partygoers were busy enjoying a lavish meal while chatting among themselves.
The group of six was all huddled together around their one table while trying not to look like total pigs as they stuffed their faces.
"Told you guys the food was going to be good." Even said in between bites of his steak.
"You certainly did!" Valerie nodded while making her way through her second plate of lobster.
"Man, you sure know how to pack it away, huh?" Elizabeth smiled at the 'fire magic' user.
"With the amount of calories I burn on a daily basis, I need to."
"Gotcha."
"So, Cyrus, how is that enchanting practice coming along?" Evan then asked the 'tree magic' user.
Cyrus paused eating his meal to wipe his mouth before responding. "Pretty well. I'm able to use the mana disruptor now. Ayako let me try it on her a couple of times, and it was a success."
"That's good to hear. You should be ready to move on to more of first-level stuff now."
"I recommend trying the paralyzer." Elizabeth then added. "It's one of my favorites."
"Noted."
Now it was Freddy's turn to speak. "It's still crazy to me how great your mana control is. Most people need way more than just a couple of weeks to master a basic enchantment."
"I appreciate the compliment."
While the others continued to talk, Maria couldn't help but look around the banquet hall as if she were searching for something. Something didn't feel right to the young 'beast magic' user. It was like the whole energy of the room was off for some reason. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something weird in the air.
'Maybe I'm just imagining things.' The raven-haired woman thought to herself before deciding to shrug the feeling off and go back to her food. 'If anything happens, my companions will alert me to it. Besides, there's a ton of other 'beast magic' users in here.'
The party continued on like this for the better part of ten minutes before a few of the other guests got up and started mingling with one another. It wouldn't be long before it was time for the group to leave, so everyone was happy with simply letting things play out until then.
-(o)-
"You guys smell that?" Sebastian asked his two partners while stretching his legs out against a nearby wall.
"Smell what?" Ayako asked the bearded man with a curious look on her face.
"That weird, flowery smell."
"Nope!" Skylar shrugged while scrolling through his phone. "Maybe it's an air freshener or something. You know how sensitive that nose of yours is."
"Maybe...." Sebastian replied, albeit a bit unsure of himself. Like most 'beast magic' users, the man's senses were leagues above what most humans were capable of, especially when you factor in the benefits that came with controlling canine-type cryptids. He was certain that this particular odor wasn't there a minute ago, but he surmised that it might've been some special fragrance that ran through the building's AC system.
-(o)-
About fifteen minutes later, the group of young sorcerers decided that it was time to take their leave. The six of them quickly got up and began making their way to the door while grabbing a few to-go plates on the way out. Right as they got halfway down the hall, they all stopped to say a few words to their boss.
"We're heading out!" Valerie declared as soon as her aunt came into view.
"Alright, see you guys on Sunday." The Chief said with a friendly wave.
"You too!" Freddy replied with a friendly smile.
"It was nice seeing you again, Chief Zoe!" Evan then said to the woman. "You too, Lucas."
"Tell Elaine and the others that I plan on dropping by the house on Wednesday. It's sucks that I couldn't go with them to the awards show, but hey, you know how it is."
"No problem!" Elizabeth said to the man.
Just as the group was about to walk off, the sound of shattering glass suddenly caught everyone's attention.
"Fuck...." One of the men in the crowd said while holding his head.
"You okay?" The guy's friend asked him just before he fell to his knees.
"Headache."
"That's what you get for drinking so damn much." Another woman joked. "I told you about trying to keep up with sorcerers when it came to chugging back the booze."
"No, it's not that, it's-"
"Hey, what the hell?" Another man shouted from the opposite end of the room.
Everyone then looked back to see the sight of a woman who was now face down on the floor. At the same time, a small group of agents and event staff were in the process of rushing to her aid. Before anyone could inquire as to what was happening, every non-sorcerer in attendance suddenly started fainting right where they stood.
"What in the world?" Was all that Chief Dunbar could say before Maria suddenly shouted, an action that caught everyone off guard due to it being totally out of character for the young woman.
"What the fuck?!"
"What's wrong?" Chief Zoe whipped her head around to ask the woman.
"Something's not right." Maria began to explain. "There's something in the air. Some weird flowery smell that wasn't here a second ago. And it's getting stronger."
"She's right." Lucas then said while taking off his glasses. "There's some type of gas filled with mana particles flooding in from the vents. I don't recognize them either."
Just as Cyrus was about to say something, Robin's voice caught Chief Chandler's attention through her earpiece.
"Boss, we got movement outside the main gate!" The Vice Captain quickly stated.
"What is it?!"
"Five semi-trucks are coming in hot from the road! My companions don't sense any mana coming from them, but everyone driving them are sorcerers!"
Years of experience in both military service and DPA operations suddenly kicked in for the brunette woman. It took the Chief all of five seconds before she was able to put the pieces together and figure out what was going on. Once she did, the woman quickly composed herself before barking out orders to everyone in the building.
"All agents, get ready! Someone's moving on the venue! We're being attacked!"
"Someone's flooding gas in the building through the AC unit!" Chief Dunbar then declared. "Three of you head down to the maintenance area and figure out what the hell is going on!"
"You can't be fucking serious?" One of the agents said in disbelief before he and two others began rushing down the other hallway.
The Chief continued to give out her commands. "Someone secure the wounded! The gas is magical in nature. We don't know how long it'll take before it starts affecting us, but we need to get everyone out of here."
"Shit...." Freddy cursed. The glasses-wearing teen suddenly started feeling lightheaded, and his vision was getting blurry.
"Hey man, you good?" Cyrus asked his friend with a concerned look on his face.
Before anyone could get another word out, a loud crashing sound could be heard from the direction of the main gate, followed by another. Just then, every sorcerer in the building suddenly felt dozens of new mana signatures appear out of nowhere. And immediately after, the sound of gunshots could be heard from outside.
"Robin, what's going on?!"
-(o)-
"Multiple hostiles just released a bunch of cryptids in the yard right outside the gate!" Robin shouted just before she put up a mana barrier in time to avoid getting hit by a mana bullet. "I think they had the trucks lined with lead so that we couldn't detect them!"
The scene on the outer perimeter of the building turned into a complete madhouse in a matter of seconds. At the moment, dozens of cryptids were running freely around the premises while the guys in the trucks were shooting their guns at the agents assigned to the area.
Neither Robin nor anyone else had seen this many rogue cryptids all congregated in one place like this before. And to be honest, their sudden appearance was starting to mess with their senses a bit due to all of the new magical signatures in the area.
"Die, fucker!" One of the agents shouted to Robin's left as he punched through the chest of one of the cryptids that tried to attack him.
"Lozen, come out!" The 'beast magic' user then declared before a large, green, and brown bird-cryptid with six wings and a long beak materialized out of her body. "Start blowing these things back to the gate. We can't let them get close to the building."
The bounded cryptid did as it was ordered and immediately started using its 'wind magic' to create a powerful gust of wind that was strong enough to start forcing the rogue cryptids to fly back toward the direction of the trucks.
The woman was trying her best to get an accurate assessment of the situation, but she instantly got distracted when another loud crashing sound came from the other side of the property.
'Another attack?' She thought to herself just before turning her head around and gazing at the sight of three more similar-looking trucks bursting through the fence and making a beeline straight to the building.
-(o)-
"Chief, you got incoming! Three of them!" The woman's voice said to Chief Chandler in a frantic tone.
Fortunately, Chief Chandler had the wherewithal to alert everyone about the oncoming threat. "Everyone get down!"
Just then, the building began to rattle as one of the trucks hit the far side of the concert hall with enough force to push it through the wall. The impact caused all of the lights to suddenly shut down and the emergency alarms to begin blaring out all across the building.
"Hey, what's going on?" Solomon Blair looked to his cousin for some kind of explanation. The boy couldn't see anything, and there were a bunch of new mana signatures all around the building.
"Hurry and get one of your creations ready!" Alyssa ordered the boy before pulling one of the roses out of her hair ornament and quickly transforming it into a long whip with thorns across its entire surface. "And stay close!"
Whoever was driving the truck proceeded to hit the gas just enough to cause the back of it to fully enter the building. Once the entire trailer was firmly inside the building, the back opened up before a horde of cryptids began flooding into the lounge area at the south end of the concert hall.
Everyone watched in shock as the rogue cryptids began pouring out of the trailer and running towards whoever was nearby. And in the time it took to blink, every nearby agent immediately went into attack mode and began fighting the creatures off while keeping them away from the rest of the guests.
"Keep them from entering the hall!" Chief Dunbar shouted while firing off a few bursts of pure white mana across the hallway, knocking down two of the oncoming cryptids in the process.
"Keep the twins safe!" Chief Chandler ordered the four junior agents while getting her pistol ready.
Cyrus, Valerie, Freddy, and Maria immediately formed a protective square around Evan and Elizabeth. Naturally, the four were shocked by just how quickly things had gotten out of hand. Just a few minutes ago, they were about to walk out the door to go enjoy the rest of their night. Now, they were in the middle of a chaotic mass of cryptids. Oh, they also couldn't forget the masked gunmen who were now jumping out of the truck behind the line of cryptids.
"McKenna, watch out!" Cyrus shouted the moment he sensed a dog-sized flying cryptid approaching them from above.
"I got it!" The woman said before jumping into the air and punching the creature so hard that it turned to dust upon impact.
The moment the woman's feet hit the ground, another cryptid came bursting through the nearby window. One that looked to be some sort of mix between a cat and a pig. With all of the chaos going on around them, neither of the four young agents was able to notice it before it was only about ten feet away from them.
Just before the creature could try and attack Freddy, a beam of yellow light pierced the cryptid's head.
"You okay, Price?" Lucas asked the 'dark magic' user after releasing his mana.
'So that's 'light magic', huh?' Cyrus thought to himself. It was his first time seeing that kind of magic in action.
"I'll survive." Freddy replied in a shaky voice. "I think the gas is starting to get to me."
More mana signatures suddenly appeared outside the building. A little over two dozen if everyone's mana sensing was as good as they hoped. Whatever the hell was going on, it was clear to everyone inside the building that the situation was just as bad in the surrounding property.
For someone to have this many cryptids at their disposal was nothing short of insane. And how they were even able to move this many was a complete mystery to them. They could only assume that Robin and the other agents were having just as hard a time as they were, if not worse.
That being said, as far as the four junior agents were concerned, they had to focus on what was right in front of them. Based on what they could see, the other agents and a few of the partygoers were making quick work of the cryptids that were still trying to make their way into the hall from the connecting lobby. However, it seemed like even more were coming in from the opening left by the truck.
"I'm going outside!" Chief Dunbar announced as he began floating in the air. "My magic's too dangerous to use in here with all these people around!"
"Go help Robin deal with whatever the hell is going on in the front!" Chief Chandler told the man.
The group of six then watched as the Raleigh Chief zoomed past the horde of cryptids while expertly firing off a barrage of mana bullets at every cryptid he came across along the way. The moment he flew out of the now-destroyed wall, the brunette woman looked back at her subordinates.
"Get them out of here, now!"
With a set of quick nods, the group began rushing towards the western side of the concert hall. The four agents maintained their protective square around the twins, however, Evan used his magic to create a barrier around the group large enough to cover all of them.
"And here I thought it was going to be a boring night!" Evan quipped with a nervous smile on his face. Sorcerer or not, this was his first time ever being in a situation like this. Hell, he had never seen so many cryptids in one place before.
Elizabeth was quick to scold her brother. "Is now really the time for jokes?!"
"Freddy, how are you doing?" Cyrus asked his friend.
To be honest, the guy wasn't looking too good. Freddy was objectively the weakest of the group when it came to his mana capacity and overall strength. Cyrus quickly surmised that weaker sorcerers would be the first to be affected by the gas that was probably still circulating through the system. Which meant that the 'tree magic' user himself would probably be the next to start feeling the effects.
"Don't worry 'bout me. I may not be as tough as the rest of ya', but I reckon I can manage." The 'dark magic' user said with a shaky smile as his deep southern accent began to poke out.
The group rounded the corner and began running down the connecting hallway toward one of the rear entrances. However, just as they were about to pass the nearby staircase, another cryptid came bursting through the window.
"Is that a fucking manticore?!" Valerie shouted in disbelief.
The creature currently staring the group down was massive, roughly the size of a fully loaded truck. The cryptid had the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, and a large set of bat-like wings protruding out of its back. Almost instantly, the group could tell that the creature was A-rank based on the absolutely disgusting mana that it was putting off. And judging by the stance it was now taking, they could all tell that it was ready to turn one of them into its next meal.
Without even the slightest bit of hesitation, the manticore leaped into the air and attacked them. The creature's magically enhanced paw was powerful enough to completely shatter Evan's mana barrier. Before the creature could try another attack, Cyrus quickly created a barrier of his own just as it tried to leap forward.
Valerie was quick to take advantage of the opportunity presented to her and rushed forward while pouring a significant amount of mana into her fists. With the beast momentarily stunned, the tall blonde delivered a devastating punch to the thing that sent it flying back into the wall on the far side of the hall. Unfortunately for the woman, that punch wasn't strong enough to kill it. In fact, it seemed like it made it angrier more than anything.
As the manticore took its time to get back up, Valerie then leaped back to where the rest of her friends were standing. And as soon as she was back, Evan erected another mana barrier. One that was much stronger than the previous one he made.
"Any ideas?" The tall blonde then asked while removing her jacket and pulling a folding knife out of her back pocket. The woman was now regretting not bringing something bigger with her, but this was the most that she would've been allowed to get into the building with, aside from a pistol.
"Cyrus, can that funky magic of yours weaken that thing?" Evan asked the 'tree magic' user.
Cyrus gave the 'wind magic' user a confused look.
"I already figured out that your magic has some sort of special property to it. Just answer the damn question!"
Cyrus hesitated for a moment before responding. The manticore had just stood back up on its feet and looked like it was getting ready for another attack.
"It can." The freckle-faced teen nodded. "But I need to get hold of it. And my trees are too slow for it."
"Valerie, do you think you can hold that thing for a few seconds?"
"Of course I can!" The 'fire magic' user nodded, just the sound of a few gunshots echoed through the building. In truth, the young woman wasn't entirely sure, but she wasn't about to look weak in front of everyone.
"Alright, Valerie's gonna try to keep that thing in place while Maria backs her up. That'll give Cyrus enough time to do what he needs to do. Once it's captured, Elizabeth and Freddy will put a barrier around it."
"Sounds like a plan." The 'dark magic' user nodded.
'He really is a genius.' Maria couldn't help but think after quickly assessing Evan's strategy. Not many people were able to think on their feet like that.
Before either of the four agents moved, Evan and Elizabeth suddenly placed their hands on all of them. Fortunately, everyone was still standing pretty close to them, which made what they were about to do a lot easier.
"Enhance!" The twins then declared while activating their enchantment.
The moment they did so, all four agents felt a sudden rush of mana spread throughout their bodies. So much so that they immediately felt stronger than what they did a second ago. The twins had just used some of their mana to give their protectors a significant boost. A temporary one, but one that should be more than suitable enough to deal with the threat before them.
'Hell yeah!' Vaeries smirked as she watched the manticore begin to close the distance between them. 'Thank God for enchanters.'
'So this is what it feels like?' Maria thought to herself as she flexed her fingers a bit. Her body felt lighter and tougher all of a sudden. Even her companions were feeling more energized from the portion of Elizabeth's mana that they had just received.
'Alright, let's do this!' Cyrus told himself as he pulled one of the redwood seeds that his mother gave him out of his pouch.
The manticore then once again leaped into the air as it tried to take another swipe at the group. However, this time, Valerie was able to match its speed and meet the creature in the middle. In the time it took the 'fire magic' user to close the distance, Maria was able to summon Asmodeus and Ajax and have them assist her. The two cryptids were now moving faster than they ever were able to before.
With her newfound strength, Valerie was easily able to grab hold of the manticore's front paws and hold the creature up on its hind legs. All while avoiding the creature's large fangs that tried to take a bite out of her face. And not a second later, the two snake cryptids took hold of its other two legs and tail before they both bit down on it. The manticore then let out a pained roar as it tried to use its wings to get away from them. However, Valerie was still able to keep it on the ground.
With his window of opportunity now open, Cyrus chucked the redwood seed at the manticore's head with the speed of a professional baseball player. The glowing green seed zoomed through the air before hitting the manticore right between its eyes. And once it made contact, it began to branch out all over its body.
"Move!" The 'tree magic' user then shouted, giving Valerie and the two cryptids enough time to get to a safe distance before he spread his creation all over the manticore's body. "Oak Binding!"
Everyone watched as a genuine redwood tree began to encase the entirety of the manticore's body. Naturally, the creature tried its best to escape from its newfound prison by flying away, but Cryus had managed to cover its wings just in time. Normally, such speed and precision wouldn't have been possible for him. But thanks to the boost he just got from Elizabeth, the speed of his spellcasting has increased significantly.
"Barrier, now!" Evan then commanded.
"Perfect Cube!" Freddy and Elizabeth both said in unison before using their powers to form a perfect purple and brown cube around the manticore large enough to cover its entire body.
The group then witnessed the most bizarre thing happen.
Right before their very eyes, they all watched as the manticore quite literally began to shrivel up right in front of them. Cyrus had his magic's special property on full blast to avoid taking any chances. And it showed based on how rapidly the manticore's body began to deteriorate.
"What in the world...." Maria said out loud as the redwood tree grew within the confines of the cube, up until the point where the only thing they could now see was the creature's head.
They all stood there in silence as they watched what was left of the manticore's face prune away before the creature began to crumble to dust before them. The moment it was officially dead, they stopped sensing its impressive mana signature altogether.
"You can absorb mana?" Evan asked the moment his brain pieced together what he had just witnessed. Leave it to the group's resident genius to figure something like that out after only seeing it one time.
"Yeah..." Cyrus replied with a slight nervousness. This is definitely not how he wanted things to happen. But there was really no point in lying to everyone right now, especially with the situation that they were all currently in. "Well, technically, my creations can absorb mana. But I can control how much they take in."
"That's insane." Valerie couldn't help but say.
Maria couldn't help the thought that popped into her head. 'So that's what got Asmodeus and the others all riled up? His trees can absorb mana. I've never even heard of something like that before.'
"Wait, so that's what's so special about your magic?!"
The six sorcerers all turned their heads around to see Alyssa and Solomon Blair standing roughly twenty feet behind them. For a brief moment, the group wondered why the hell they weren't aware of their presence until now. But considering all of the mana signatures currently scrambling their senses to high hell, it made sense that they weren't able to feel their presence.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" Valerie was the first to ask what everyone else seemed to be thinking.
"We saw you guys leaving, and Chief Chandler told us to catch up with you." Alyssa quickly explained. The woman was still holding her rose whip in her hand, and her hair was now frazzled compared to what it was at the start of the night.
'You've gotta be fucking kidding me...' Cyrus mentally dragged his hand across his face. This was just perfect; now his secret was officially out. Not only were his friends now aware of what he could do, but so were the two Blair cousins. He was going to need to come up with a plan on how to deal with this situation later.
"I can't believe we just watched you guys take out a manticore." Solomon Blair then said. The boy had a particularly nasty-looking Venus Flytrap hanging off his shoulder and covering the entirety of his left arm. It was no doubt the product of his 'carnivorous plant magic'. "That was awesome!"
"Can we save this for later, please! I feel like I'm about to pass out." Freddy asked. The guy was indeed starting to look a little woozy.
"Agreed." Alyssa nodded. "Whatever they're pumping through the AC system is starting to make me feel dizzy."
With nothing else needed to be said, the now group of eight made a beeline right for the nearest exit. They were well aware of the fact that there were more cryptids outside the building, but the priority right now was to get everyone out of here as soon as possible. They can deal with whatever else was waiting for them when they got there. And with any luck, they might be able to avoid any more chaos.
'I knew I should've stayed home.' Maria thought to herself as she brought Ayala out to help with protecting their two new charges. The young 'beast magic' user was sure as hell looking forward to finally getting away from this mess once and for all.
-(o)-
Info Card: Mana Sensing
The ability to perceive the presence of mana in one's surroundings is a basic trait among both sorcerers and cryptids.
This extrasensory skill enables individuals to detect living beings by the unique energy (mana) they emit. For sorcerers, this capacity typically emerges at the moment their magical abilities first awaken and is often described as a low buzzing sensation at the back of the skull.
While the range of mana sensing differs from one person to another, most sorcerers are capable of refining it over time. Through consistent training, they can expand how far they're able to detect it. On average, a beginner sorcerer's mana sensing range spans anywhere from zero to fifty yards. Despite these natural limitations, the ability allows for surprisingly precise readings of how much mana another entity carries.
Sorcerers who possess the 'wind magic' attribute are frequently noted for having stronger-than-average mana perception skills, though the reasons for this are still not fully understood.
Though not exact, the experience of sensing mana has often been likened to the human sense of smell. While it doesn't allow for pinpoint identification of specific individuals, it does make it possible to distinguish between species. For example, the mana given off by cryptids is generally distinct from that of humans.
Notably, the chemical element lead (Pb) can completely block mana from being sensed, making it useful for concealment or protective shielding in certain environments.