Rising Against Fate

The car stopped near the entrance after which Razak got out first and checked the surrounding. He then walked to the other side of the car and opened Alice's door. Contrary to how she got in, she was having a hard time getting up from her seat.

Razak caught her in her shoulder gently and helped her come out. Both of them then slowly walked to the entrance while holding arms. Alice was leaning onto Razak because, even though the distance was short, she was having a hard time walking up to there.

"Welcome sir, miss."

"Thank you," Alice replied to the man's greeting.

A wheelchair had already been prepared for her at the entrance, so Razak helped her sit on the chair. The three of them then slowly went inside.

"So, today I have been instructed to show you around this place. Even though I am new here, I am a veteran Marine biologist. You can call me Jeff."

Nothing about him could be called after abnormal taking his profession and age into consideration. His attire was formal with a black suit over a white shirt. He was neither too thin nor too fat and had few gray hairs on his head.

Even though his appearance was normal, Razak couldn't help but notice a few things odd in his behavior. He was watching the fishes too curiously for someone who claimed to be a veteran Marine biologist.

"How many years have you been working in this field?" Razak asked casually.

He wanted to see how he reacts and responds. Based on that he could decide whether it was just his suspicion or something more.

Jeff stopped and looked towards Razak. No other significant change in the facial expression was observed. "I think… It has been around 25 years."

"That's long. Where else have you worked?"

Even though Razak was asking it casually, it looked like Jeff was taking it interrogatively. This somewhat pointed towards the fact that his claim of such a long experience was a lie. Not just that, when Razak asked the second question, a visible confusion was observed in his face.

"I have worked as a lecturer at Kumo university."

Razak smiled when he heard Jeff's response. What was going on felt somewhat obvious to Razak at this point. The way he was keeping his right hand at standby was a giveaway that he had a weapon in the inner pocket of his coat.

"And do former lecturers at Kumo university carry guns in their coat?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"Stop playing dumb. This is an ambush, isn't it? Why don't you call your men out so we can play it fair?"

The man moved a step back as he took a gun out of his inner pocket and pointed at Alice. "Don't move."

Alice was dumbfounded by everything that was happening around her. She tried speaking but could barely utter a word. But despite how the day she was desperately waiting for a week turned out, she was still maintaining her composure and not reacting in a hasty manner.

Right when the man pointed his gun, eight armed men, who were hiding for ambush, came out and aimed their guns at Razak. Unlike Razak, who was just standing there calmly, the men looked a bit violent. So, instead of trying to engage in a conversation, Razak concentrated the mana in his feet and snapped his finger.

With a snap, it looked like a part of Razak's shadow separated itself from the rest. It then moved to Alice and formed a dark spherical barrier around her.

"What's this?!"

Jeff looked confused, but Razak wasn't the type who would bother explaining his spells to his enemies. At this point, all his plan was falling apart. The girl he was here to kidnap was inside some kind of barrier. He could neither shoot her, nor was he courageous enough to try and touch the barrier and see its consequences.

So, at the end, he just went with what seem the most logical option to him. He changed the aim of his gun from the girl to the caster of the spell that was protecting the girl. Unlike Alice, Razak was of no importance to him, so there was no need to hold back.

Without wasting a single second on a second thought, he pulled the trigger. But much to his surprise, only the sound of the bullet being deflected was heard. The target was just standing there unharmed.

He knew that he was dealing with a magician, but even for a magician, this was something completely unexpected from someone who just recently joined the academy.

"Did you really think that semi-automatic gun would work on me? Let me tell you this, any long ranged frontal attacks are useless against me... My shadow reacts to those even before me."

"Wha— Men, fire."

This was an expected reaction done hastily without putting much thought into it.

At this situation, Jeff could barely think things through. Things should have been perfectly under control based on the information he was provided, so where did things go wrong?

As Jeff was thinking along those lines, his men started firing at Razak, and as they did, a dark cocoon appeared around him and blocked every bullet before they could reach Razak.

After firing several rounds, the men realized that it was pointless, so they stopped.

"Damnit! This shouldn't be happening. I was only told that there was a hired magician guarding the girl. We were never told that someone of this caliber would be with her. Wait—"

It was only then that he realized what was going on. But even though he knew that now, it was too late to turn around.

"So you are only realizing it now. Whoever gave you the contract and arranged everything for you, tricked you. Why would they want to kidnap this girl when they were already this capable? They are clearly trying to judge my strength by using you all as a guinea pig."

As he was saying that the dark cocoon around him slowly disappeared.

"Sadly, for you guys, I have no intention of holding back. Shadow magic, Advanced art 3: Dark slash."

With those words, he unleashed a dark slash with just the movement of his right arm and chopped the heads of the two men standing right in front of him.