The cold night wind of the Cebel continent whipped fiercely across the high concrete roof.
Linease looked down at the sprawling, unfamiliar neon streets, her heart beating rapidly.
Beside her, Chrites adjusted the heavy collar of his long black coat, his glowing blue eyes fixed entirely on a highly fortified structure situated three blocks away.
“We have to go to that nearby building right down there,” Chrites instructed, his magically distorted voice sounding completely serious and focused behind his painted demon mask.
“It is not a public museum.
It is a highly secure facility, a reinforced safe-house locker where the wealthiest elites deposit their most precious assets.
One of the most valuable, precious magical items in the world is currently stored deep inside their primary underground safe.”
“Are we breaching the front entrance?” Vane asked, his tone laced with calm, calculated readiness.
“No, total discretion is required right now,” Chrites replied with a calm, analytical expression as he watched the moving perimeter patrols.
“I will teleport us down to the blind corner of the safe building.”
Chrites raised his left hand.
The dark, liquid shadows pooled instantly around their boots, swallowing them silently.
In less than a heartbeat, the high rooftop vanished, replaced by the shadowed, narrow alleyway directly hugging the exterior corner of the heavily guarded deposit facility.
Peering around the cold concrete edge, Chrites silently watched dozens of highly armed civilian guards patrolling the perimeter with heavy magic rifles.
Heavily armored transport vehicles idled near the reinforced gates, while wealthy patrons wearing expensive coats constantly hurried into the building, depositing their valuables, and going out through the glowing purple security scanners that checked for hidden explosives.
“Your specific task tonight is to save that jewel,” Chrites commanded, looking directly at Linease and Vane with an expression of absolute, unyielding authority.
“Do not let it fall into the hands of the DTN operatives under any circumstances.
You two will slip inside the building and hide in the upper observation corridors.
If there is any kind of robbery attempt, you must get alert instantly and attack.
I will remain right here outside and watch the perimeter.”
Vane nodded his head, his face completely serious.
He turned to look down at Linease.
“Are you really prepared for this, Linease?” Vane asked, his voice dropping to a stern, deeply concerned whisper.
“This is an incredibly precious, high-stakes mission.
If you think you cannot handle the pressure, tell me right now.
It is not a problem at all.
I can do this operation entirely on my own, and I will talk to the boss to excuse you.”
Linease shook her head quickly, her eyes shining with fierce, undeniable determination.
“No, no, nothing like that,” Linease whispered back, her voice full of confident emotion.
“I am completely ready, Vane.
I will not let the organization down.”
“Excellent,” Vane replied, offering a warm, reassuring smile.
Moving with expert stealth, Vane and Linease bypassed the exterior scanners, slipping through a high ventilation access port and settling into the dark, hidden maintenance catwalks directly overlooking the massive underground safe.
The vault door below them was a towering circle of solid, enchanted steel.
For the next two to three hours, the facility remained perfectly quiet.
Outside in the dark alleyway, Chrites leaned casually against the brick wall, completely relaxed.
He pulled his smartphone out of his pocket, loaded up his favorite digital games, and mindlessly tapped the screen to pass the time, entirely unbothered by the waiting.
Inside the ceiling catwalks, Vane decided to utilize the long hours of silence.
“We have time,” Vane whispered, looking at Linease with a highly educational, focused expression.
“I am going to train you in a new magical technique right now.
It is something you can practice silently without emitting any noticeable aura or alerting the guards below.”
“What kind of magic is it, Vane?” Linease asked quietly, her face lighting up with eager, excited emotion.
“It is an advanced combination spell.
You weave dense thunder mana and sharp wind elements together, but you also inject specific particles of raw healing elements into the center core.
The healing particles stabilize the volatile lightning, allowing you to compress the magic ten times tighter without it exploding prematurely.”
“That sounds incredibly difficult,” Linease whispered, her brow furrowing with deep, concentrated emotion as she raised her own hands to mimic his posture.
“Focus your breathing,” Vane instructed, smiling with gentle, encouraging emotion.
“Pull the wind from the ambient air, but draw the thunder directly from your own pulse.
Let the healing particles act as the bridge between them.”
For two grueling hours, Linease practiced circulating the complex magic molecules silently through her internal pathways.
She trembled slightly, heavy drops of sweat pouring down her forehead from the immense mental effort required to prevent the mana from leaking.
Her face remained tightly locked in an expression of intense, stubborn focus.
Slowly, beautifully, a highly dense, completely invisible sphere of highly pressurized cutting wind and sparking, perfectly stabilized thunder formed perfectly between her open palms, humming with contained, lethal power.
“I did it,” Linease whispered, gasping slightly with pure, joyful relief.
“Hold that charge,” Vane commanded, his facial expression instantly shifting to cold, sharp alertness as he looked down at the floor below.
“Someone is coming.”
Down in the primary deposit room, the quiet atmosphere was violently shattered.
BOOM!
A deafening, massive explosion tore entirely through the reinforced security gates.
Thick smoke and shattered metal flew across the room.
Standing in the open doorway was a lone thief wearing a specialized tactical suit.
The thief did not bother hiding.
Moving openly and aggressively, the intruder raised a heavy weapon and fired directly at the massive safe door.
CRASH!
The enchanted steel vault door groaned violently, shattering inward under the sheer force of the open assault.
The intruder stepped through the ruined metal, reaching out to steal the glowing, precious magical jewel resting on the central pedestal.
“Linease, strike now!
Use the cannon!” Vane commanded loudly, his eyes flashing with urgent, lethal emotion.
Linease did not hesitate for a single millisecond.
She pushed her hands downward, aiming directly at the intruder, her face twisting with aggressive, explosive energy.
WHOOSH!
BANG!
The Charged Wind Cannon erupted from her palms.
The compressed sphere of thunder, wind, and healing particles crossed the massive room instantly, slamming directly into the side of the thief.
The sheer concussive force lifted the intruder entirely off the floor, throwing him violently across the vault and pinning him hard against the reinforced back wall of the safe.
Before the thief could drop to the floor, Vane leaped from the catwalk.
Drawing his heavy magical sidearm with the impossible speed of a true Master, Vane aimed at the surrounding structural supports.
His face was entirely cold, devoid of all mercy.
CRACK!
BOOM!
Vane fired a devastating Tempest Thunder Round.
The high-speed bullets were super strong, carrying immense destructive force.
The rounds bypassed the precious jewel completely, leaving the indestructible magical item glowing untouched on its pedestal.
Instead, the explosive bullets struck the heavy walls of the safe.
Highly injured and bleeding from the collapsed debris, the thief scrambled desperately across the ruined floor, trying to escape the crumbling safe without the jewel.
“You are not getting away!” Linease shouted, her voice echoing with fierce, unyielding anger.
She dropped down from the upper level, gathering massive physical force into her right arm.
She executed the exact same downward punch she had used in the academy tournament, but the raw power and momentum behind this strike were ten times stronger.
Her face was locked in absolute, destructive focus.
DOOM!
CRASH!
Her heavy fist collided brutally with the thief’s chest armor.
The impact drove the intruder downward at an incredibly high, terrifying speed.
The floor beneath them completely gave way, shattering into dust as the thief was blasted deep into the foundational rock of the facility.
Despite the devastating crater, the thief refused to be defeated.
Coughing up blood, his face twisting with desperate, psychotic rage, the intruder raised his sidearm.
He was a highly skilled water mage.
Circulating dense liquid mana, he unleashed his ultimate counterattack.
SPLASH!
ZZZT!
“Thunder Water Lightning Strike!” the thief roared emotionally.
A massive, shining torrent of highly pressurized water, wrapped entirely in deadly, crackling yellow lightning, shot upward toward Linease.
The attack shone with blinding, lethal intensity.
Before the shining water could touch her, Vane stepped directly in between them.
His expression was locked in absolute, disdainful calmness.
Vane did not draw his sword or raise his gun.
He simply swung his bare right hand forward, slicing the air with raw physical mastery.
SWISH!
Vane’s bare hand cut completely through the shining water and lightning magic, splitting the complex attack apart instantly.
The lethal magic completely vanished into the dry air, leaving nothing but harmless mist behind.
The absolute power level difference between the Master and the thief was undeniably clear.
Before the intruder could even process the shock, Vane moved.
Traveling faster than the eye could track, his movement looking exactly like instantaneous teleportation, Vane closed the gap.
His face showed nothing but cold execution.
He grabbed the thief securely by the throat with his bare hand, lifting him up and punching him brutally into the thick steel frame of the collapsed vault door.
CRACK!
The heavy impact shattered the intruder’s armor completely, killing the thief instantly in the action.
The precious magical item remained glowing safely on its pedestal amidst the total ruins of the safe.
“Operation complete,” Vane stated, his voice returning to a smooth, calm tone.
Suddenly, Chrites’s authoritative voice echoed urgently through their communication devices.
“Get out of the building right now,” Chrites commanded, his tone sharp, urgent, and absolute.
“Local security reinforcements are surrounding the block.
Move before anyone sees your uniforms.”
“Understood, sir,” Vane replied telepathically with a highly obedient expression.
Grabbing Linease securely by the arm, Vane immediately activated his high-speed movement techniques.
Together, they launched upward out of the rapidly collapsing underground facility, dodging massive falling pillars of cracked stone.
They moved at unbelievable, blinding speeds through the dusty ventilation shafts, finally bursting out onto the empty rooftops and escaping deep into the dark, silent night entirely unseen by the arriving sirens, leaving the indestructible, saved jewel glowing untouched behind them in the smoking rubble.