Investment #4

Arthur dashed forward across the rough concrete road, following after Alexander. Looking up to his left, just across and above the street, Sabine and vincent's silhouettes could be seen sprinting across the tiled rooftops.

"For people hinted to be over eighty years old, they sure don't look and move like 'em."  Arthur thought, greatly impressed by their performance. 

They spotted and arrived at the edge of the dock, overlooking the dark, murky waters. The yard was swarming with guards armed with bats, pipes, and a few revolvers. Alexander and Arthur crouched down and dodged the spotlights that occasionally came their way until they stopped behind a dumpster.

Arthur and Alexander exchange glances before nodding simultaneously. "He's about to give vincent the signal--" Arthur thought before voices interrupted him. 

"Hey, Did you hear about the change in management?'' A rough, somewhat accented voice asked.

An even gruffer voice replied "Yeah, pretty weird." he said. "I didn't hear anything about a successor. Don't the higher-ups tell us things like that?"

"Shh! The new management is going to hear you! I heard the older ones retired."

Alexander's hand faltered for a moment, and he proceeded to eavesdrop on the men. "New management? Successor? this is bigger than I originally thought..."

 before he could water more time, however, Arthur gave him a pat on the back with a shake of his head. "Don't waste your time. Arthur mouthed. "We can get answers later."

Alexander sighed, before nodding. "You're right." He said, raising his fist as a hand signal, looking over to the building across from them, about where Vincent and Sabine should be.

Atop the large warehouse, Vincent and Sabine were comfortably positioned. Vincent replied by the gleaming reflection of his scope.

"It's starting, finally," Arthur thought, drawing his bayonet with his left hand and a revolver with his right hand.

Raising three fingers, Alexander counted down and Arthur counted down with him."Three...Two...One!"

Bang!

the large round, chambered in Vincent's bolt-action rifle, rang loudly in the night, startling many of the stationed guards.

"Howard's dead!"

"Intruder!"

Alexander took a step back from the shipping container, before charging at it with his fist. It was just a moment, but Arthur could see the magic power gathering in the old man's entire body, enveloping him like a shield. "[ Body Reinforcement ]"

bam!

With the force of his fist, he pushed the crate forward making it cave in on itself, crushing the unlucky souls behind it, probably men talking from earlier.

"T-That was a skill!"

Skills are the movement of magic power within the caster that allows for super-human feats. How could this be different from a magic spell?

Skills and Spells are different in the sense of which where the magic power manifests. If magic manifests outside of the body, it's called a skill; meanwhile if magic manifests outside of the body, it's called a spell.

"Body reinforcement– if I'm not mistaken. For a defensive skill, it was used offensively, how creative."

One of Alexander's words echoed in Arthur's mind. "The greatest offense is your strongest defense, and conversely, your greatest defense can be your greatest offense," he said, about three weeks ago.

Arthur snapped out of his daze and smirked at the loud commotion produced by Alexander's opening attack. The loud crash of the container not only killed a few men, the container crashed onto the neighboring stack, causing it to collapse onto another-- a domino effect.

"It's a pincer attack!" The thugs yelled, in a panic, both form the gunshot and the collapsing metal.

"Call for backup–"

bang!

"No! Adam!"

"I can't let them have all the fun, now can I?" Arthur smirked, sprinting towards the deformed shipping container.

Jumping off the side of it, Arthur landed atop the opposite stack of containers. Hoisting the iron sight upward, Arthur aimed down at the thugs, taking cover from Vincent's deathly precise sniper fire.

The hammer came down on the rotating cylinder, firing off a bullet into one of the worker's heads.

"A-Above us!"

"Shoot him!"

Arthur stepped back and ducked under the volley of bullets. "Their reaction speed is so fast. They're not mid-rank officers for nothing; However, they're not the sharpest marbles in the bag."

The returning fire not only caused them to panic, but the bright muzzle flash coming from their revolvers told everything Vincent needed to know. "Not bad, kid."

Bang! Bang!

Bullets rained down again from his rifle, piercing the wood and rubber obstacles the gangsters were hiding behind.

"We need backup!"

Just as their panic was at its peak, Alexander joined the fray by running through the crates, with bloodied fists.

"W-Where'd he come from!!?"

Arthur watched as Alexander tore through their defensive position, taking all the incoming bullets and continuing unscathed.

Taking a closer look, the bullets seemed to break upon impact with his person. He was shrouded by a soft layer of fire, so Arthur glanced up to Vicent's position to see a red magic circle, shining brightly in the dark. "Sabine is covering him, nice. I guess that means that I can fight without worries."

Arthur swiveled on the ball of his feet, scanning the surroundings underneath his position. To no one's surprise, five groups of about three men approached from where they came from. They were all dressed in pajamas or hastily put on clothes.

"there was a loud sound!"

"Gunshots! Keep your head on men!"

''I think it's time for me to pull my own weight." He thought, aiming at the floodlights and shooting them out, before taking a front-flip leap of faith.

"The lights!"

"What happened!?"

Sabine huffed, maintaining her magic spell on Alexander. "That fool, charging like a bull-- we're not children anymore." She huffed, looking around for Arthur. "Now, how is that boy doing?"

She watched him flip off the container with finesse and confidence, like a gymnast, like Vincent. "He's doing fine." Sabine approved. 

Arthur landed softly on the ground with a bounce of a feline, somersaulting through the air to reduce his momentum. He was standing directly in the middle of the fifteen reinforcements.

Without wasting a breath, he brandished the bayonet while putting away the revolver. "When I was under their training, I never took Vincent for a circus gymnast, but his moves refined for assassination is an extraordinary art."

Arts, or martial arts, are techniques developed for combat without the use of magic.

Arthur sprinted for the man at the back of the group, slashing his throat with one swift move.

Slash!

the man's eyes had not yet registered the dark, but he croaked helpless as he dies. "Uhk....uhk..."

Arthur bristled up, watching the group turn to the smallest wail. ''Shit! I forgot to cover his mouth!"

the foremost man, the man who was dressed the best, turned around at the croaking. "Did you hear that?!"

"Tch, I thought that was quiet-- I should've covered his mouth." Arthur cursed as he threw the knife into the man's forehead, piercing it.

The group of thirteen turned around to see a man, clad in black, with the blood of their comrade flowing by his boots. "Y-You! You're behind this!?"

Arthur scoffed, thankful he took out the men armed with revolvers first. "Time to improvise." He thought, entering a low-guard stance.

"You fucker!"

"You're dead!!"

His right foot was two steps back, making his knees bend slightly and his arms were low on his chest. Arthur bounced with his calves before he observed his opponents. 

"Four metal pipes, six barehanded, and three with nail-spiked metal bats-- Vincent's style isn't suited for group fights." Arthur thought. "I never thought I'd use it so early on."

"[Mixed Martial Arts]"

Alexander sighed, trying his best to wipe the blood from his knuckles. he turned around to look at the carnage he caused, dead gangsters by his feet with their heads or chests caved in. "I'm getting old. That was sloppy-- oh, the spell wore off." He huffed.

Looking upward, we saw Sabine and Vincent make their way down from the rooftop using the emergency stairs. They were alert and attentive, evident by Vincent's tight grip on his lever-action rifle and Sabine's ready wand.

"Where is Arthur?" Alexander asked, turning around to find his protege. 

Vincent and Sabine point to the distance. "He's fighting over there." She said, Vincent following her gaze. Alexander nodded, leading the group in that direction.

Sabine hummed, trying to fill the empty silence. "Are you perhaps worried?" She asked.

Alexander stopped in his tracks promptly, before chuckling. He turned to Sabine with a proud grin on his face and his finger pointing in front of him. "You should be worried for them instead."

Sabine peeked past the man's large stature, curious, only to be amazed at the sight. "Whoa..."

Arthur weaved underneath the fast swings of metal, stepped out of range of fists, and countered. Sabine watched him switch form, throwing moves completely different from the first. It was both chaotic and refined at the same time.

"It's formless." 

Alexander huffed, putting his hands on his hips. "I knew it." He said, both smirking and dismissive. 

"What?" Sabine asked. "What did you mean?"

"He's Ambidextrous. The only reason why he can do something like this is because of that." The large man observed. "Not only that, during our spar-- he was holding back, He was holding back a lot."