Chapter 2

“Ryuki... Yagami... ?!”

Yukino stumbled as she read the name. The man before her was of moderate height with fiery red hair and suited like a he was part of a biker gang and struck no solid memory in her. She didn’t quite remember him, but the rest of the information that came into her vision through the glasses filled in the blanks for her. However, that just gave even more questions than answers as what came up was something that couldn’t, or rather shouldn’t, be possible.

Name: Ryuki Yagami, Age: 22, Sex: Male, Height: 172cm, Additional notes: Witnessed a magical incident, memory wiped and relocated to Poland from Japan. No noted magical ability.

Even stranger, it started to list more records of him before blacking out and being replaced with ‘Restricted Access.’ Yukino had no time to ponder this as the man before her started to walk toward her.

***

I watched as Yukino stared at me in confusion. Even through her sunglasses, I could see her eyes and how they quivered and narrowed. I knew she didn’t remember me, why would she? I was just another cog in the ever-turning machine that she dealt with on a daily basis. Some part of me had hoped that she would recognize me and remember that she was the one who killed my family without remorse and say not so much as a sorry to me when it happened. For two years, I had built up to this moment. Two long years I learned all that I could about this hidden world of magecraft. I had hoped it’d be grander, a better showing, but as it turns out, these mages and specifically Yukino Kurosawa, were nothing more than a drop in the secret order known as The Secular.

“I can tell you don’t remember me. I don’t know what your glasses say about me, maybe they include all that you did to me. Killed my family, told me in an emotionless psychopathic way that they just died, and then tried to wipe my memory.”

She turned to attempt to flee, but a loud shot rang out from above me on a nearby rooftop. In an instant, she was slammed into the ground as her mana shield absorbed the force of the bullet that had just impacted her back. She struggled to get up and only managed to turn over, crawling away on her elbows as she stared back at me in fear.

“Mana shields are strong. Especially the more magical talent you have. But, from all my research and experiments, even a ‘civilian’ weapon like, say, a 50-caliber round from an antimaterial rifle can pack quite the punch on them. Oh, and if you use those special green tipped ones, they can sometimes even penetrate it.”

I slammed my foot down on her ankle, easily crushing it as her mana shield faded due to the damage she just received and my body being magically reinforced. I crouched down, still holding her under my foot. I held my hand up and manifested my handgun and pointed it at her. She froze in place as her eyes widened in fear as she stared down the barrel of the orange ethereal weapon. She opened her mouth, either to scream or speak, I don’t know which, but nothing came out.

“Now, you’re probably confused. ‘How did he get his memories back after wiping them?!’ Well, here’s the kicker. When I woke up on a bench in the cold, cold country of Poland, I was only confused about one thing; how the hell did I get here?” I leaned in close to her, pressing the barrel of the gun to her forehead. “The thing is, I never forgot. For whatever reason, your trick didn’t work on me. And I was found by a very special group of people, one of which joined me on my crusade against you. And after two years, I’m back, fully trained and ready to kill y-”

A loud explosion rang out as I got thrown off of Yukino and smashed through the wall of the building next to us. I couldn’t tell exactly what had hit me, but it was clear it was a form of multi-elemental magic. As I pushed all the rubble that lay on top of me away with a wind spell and brushed myself off, I heard shouting and commands being given out by a man outside. I looked through the new door that was created in the wall, ignoring the people in the building screaming and examined my situation. More than just a single squad of Magi Officers had come as reinforcements. No, in front of me was more than twenty men and women in the patented dress suit uniforms. All of them, save for one, had the blue armbands on while the man giving orders had a yellow one. I sighed and put a finger on my ear.

“Marie, looks like we need to abort. Get out safely, I’ll meet you back at camp zero-two.”

“Understood.” A monotone voice rang in response within my ear.

Out in the courtyard, most of the mages had spawned their manifestations and were in a battle stance while others were starting to chant and form spells in their hands. I calmly walked out and held my hands up, pretending to surrender.

“Alright, I’m surrounded. I’m coming out peacefully.”

“Don’t move, Ryuki Yagami. You are hereby being brought into captivity for the murder of a Magi Officer, unauthorized use of magic outside The Secular, and for attempting to execute an Officer in public.” The man wearing the yellow armband shouted out in a bold commanding tone.

I rolled my eyes and shoved my hands in my jacket pockets. At this motion, several of the officers flinched and readied themselves for further conflict. I let out a small chuckle at the sight. “Just say I’m under arrest. You Secular people are all too long winded. Here, I’ll give you an example of being concise; catch me if you can.”

Inside my pockets, I snapped my fingers and a large puff of smoke exploded out around me, completely enveloping me. At that instant, the commanding officer yelled orders to attack, and all the mages preparing spells launched whatever they had at me. Some used fire and lightning, others had rock and water, and the more creative ones used earth and fire to spew literal magma at me. However...

“Is that... an engine?” One of the mages blurted out in pure confusion.

In that instant, I shot out of the smoke on top of a black armoured motorcycle. All the spells that were fired at me I easily blocked with a reinforced mana shield as I spun around in front of all the mages, revving the engine of my bike in front of them, before driving back toward the building. I pulled back on the bike, lifting the front wheel off the ground and hitting it onto the side of the wall, and with the use of enhancement magic, made my bike ride up the side of the building.

“How the hell...?!”

“Did he just manifest a damned motorcycle?!”

“N-no! That’s clearly a real bike!”

“So did he summon it?! It’s possible to summon things that large?!”

“Are we going to ignore that he just drove it up the side of a building!”

Several mages shouted out in astonishment, completely bewildered by the feat of magical prowess I had just performed in front of them. Not only easily blocking their powerful spells but also pulling off something that outright breaks the laws of natural physics and pushes the boundaries of what mages thought possible with magic.

“Enough gawking and pursue the target! And someone call the Cleaners, we need to make sure no one witnesses the fugitive! Medical on Kurosawa, too! Move!”

The man with the yellow armband shouted out orders that faded as I drove higher on the building, eventually launching off the top into the air.

You live for now, Yukino Kurosawa. I’ll be back.