Chapter 379: A Public Demonstration
"Sir, We have reports of an unknown entity of incredible power appearing suddenly in Edinburgh, Scotland.
It doesn’t match any of our previous reports nor the files on any of our subjects from either Alpha or Beta phases."
A slightly dishevelled business man announced as he burst into the office of Noel McGuinness, the CEO of Rift Diver games.
Usually this was the CEO’s private time, and was never to be interrupted by anyone. But this was clearly an emergency. Plus, in his panic over the situation, the man had simply forgotten.
Noel scowled at the man, but didn’t shout. Instead he let out an irritated sigh and held out his hand as he leaned back into the chair.
The man, now fully aware of what he had done, shuffled nervously over to Noel and handed him the secure tablet in his hands. It was already showing multiple street camera views of the muscular giant on his rampage.
The man glanced down at the edge of the desk, where he could see small tufts of hair shifting up and down. The same colour of hair as the CEO’s bubbly secretary.
"Who’s the third party?" Noel asked, tilting the tablet to show the figure of a young woman on the screen.
The man let out a nervous gulp, whipping his eyes away from the hair and back onto the important subject.
"W-we have reason to believe it’s B-017, based on what looks to be the use of Polaris. We don’t know how she managed to change her appearance if that is the case, however."
"Hmm... Well then, Looks like we have a chance to a little demonstration of the most powerful player. Should be good motivation for the rest and help increase sales of D-fuel.
Besides, I want to see what made that bastard so interested in this one in particular. Tell the Enforcers to take the long route, give her some time to give us some advertising."
Noel said dismissively, tossing the tablet onto the desk and leaning back further in his chair as he let out a relaxed groan.
He sat like that for a few moments before looking up at the man who was still standing there.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Leave, and close the door behind you, this isn’t a peep show."
"Y-yes sir." The matter stuttered, snatching up the tablet before hurrying out of the room, leaving the CEO to his ’private business’ as he quickly relayed his instructions.
***
The next car that was thrown at Valerie slowed as it careened through the air, before creeping to a halt and staying suspended in the air, completely halted by Valerie’s outstretched hand.
She clenched her fist, causing the car to crumple into a ball, before launching it back at the behemoth, who simply slapped it away before roaring loudly.
With a sweep of her hand, all of the discarded guns from the various police officers and bots rose into the air. Their barrels turned, pointing themselves at the target so huge that it was impossible to miss, before the triggers clicked.
A hail of gunfire pelted through the air, and the sound of the dozens of guns going off rung out across the city.
Casings clattered against the road, bullets pelted into flesh, and when the hail of death finally ended all Valerie could do was click her tongue in annoyance.
"Mana Skin... I hate it when they have Mana Skin." Valerie muttered.
The Giant lowered its arms, which had been crossed over its face to defend itself. Not a single mark was left on its deep purple skin despite the hail of bullets that had pelted it. Not even a bruise was left. She might as well have been tickling it.
That was the result of its mana skin, and irritating effect of magical beasts coming into their world.
A few of the creatures they had faced had been gifted with Mana Skin, an irritating defence mechanism. How it worked, or even what determined whether they had it or not, Valerie wasn’t entirely sure. What she did know, was that it was part of how these creatures had so easily spread across the world in Ren’s original timeline, as it made it nearly impossible to harm them with conventional human weapons.
Anything smaller than a missile was like a flick to them, and even then it was mainly the flames of the explosion that harmed them, as flames naturally contained small amounts of mana as did every natural phenomena. Natural mana that humans forging techniques seemingly beat out of the metal, if it contained it in the first place.
Mana was needed to harm creatures with Mana Skin. A tiny rabbit could have mana skin and be shot over and over with a high powered rifle and feel nothing, only to die from a light kick of someone with mana in their system.
"So, Magic it is." Valerie muttered again, flicking her wrist and tossing the guns to the ground before she twirled her ’staff’ above her head.
She slammed it down, her eyes glowing bright with the power flowing through her body, as a dazzling geometric array manifested underneath the purple giant.
His face creased into idiotic confusion as he glared at the red lights underneath him. His head whipped back and forth, trying desperately to look at all of the pretty lights as dozens of glyphs rapidly drew themselves into place on the circle.
When the final rune was in place, Valerie lifted her hand and snapped her fingers.
The snap echoed, sounded even louder than one of the gunshots, as she became bathed in an orange light, as was everything around her, as a column of flames erupted from the circle and shot straight to the heavens.
Blazing heat washed over Valerie, the super-heated air playing with her disguised hair and causing it to flicker and dance, as the world was cast in blinding light and deep black shadows.
Everyone stopped what they were doing, even terrified citizens stopped in their escape, when the heat washed over them and turned towards the blazing column that stretched high enough to rival some of the skyscrapers.
Their eyes widen with awe, horror or amazement at the glorious sight, like a god was descending upon the earth. Most of the eyes that were staring changed colour, as hundreds activated their recording features and many found themselves running towards the danger, eager to get a better view of what was transpiring.
After all, who would not want to see one of the first true displays of the raw might of magic, and the talent of one who is truly skilled in Esoterica.
As for Valerie’s eyes, they were cold and calculated, narrowed into slits as she glared at the column of flames and more specifically, at the shadow moving within it.
When that show lunged, bursting out of the flames with a hellish roar, she was already gone by the time its colossal fist smashed into the ground.
She manifested from the shadows a few metres away, dismissing the Heaven reaching flames with a wave of her staff. A smirk danced across her lips, as she twirled the staff and rested it on her shoulder, before raising a single hand and making a beaconing motion towards the enraged purple giant.
"Come and have a go then, If you think you’re hard enough."