4 - Amen.

Without wasting any time, the wolf released the skill that it had been preparing and howled. The air around the wolf, suddenly turned ravenous and started swirling around it at very high speeds. This was clearly a powerful skill!

The winds pulled everything around the wolf, making the area even more chaotic. Shards of nearby metal that flew inside made the whirlwind even more deadly.

The two unknown agents were both prepared for a trap, but they still ended up getting caught in the massive AOE skill!

However, the scar face was not affected by the whirlwind's pull at all! His body was bulging with muscles and it seemed to be too heavy to be affected by the winds!

The tattooed man, on the other hand, was slowly being pulled into the vortex. He reacted swiftly and grabbed his left hand. He then bent it at an unusual angle and tore his hand apart. The bone in his wrist shattered due to the force and pieces of muscle, fat and nerves dangled from where the hand was supposed to be. Surprisingly, there was no blood dripping from his wound!

After throwing the decapitated hand at the whirlwind, the tattooed man slammed the broken wrist into the ground. The bone protruding out from the wrist did not break and went straight through the concrete floor. The hanging flesh around it also started to crawl down the bone and merge with the ground. This prevented his body from being dragged in by the whirlwind.

The decapitated hand flew inside the whirlwind and was instantly shredded apart by the metal but the pieces of bones and flesh still managed to pass through the whirlwind. It seemed like an invisible force was pushing the flesh towards the centre!

The pieces of flesh splattered all over the fox's face and slowly started merging together. It squirmed towards the fox's eyes and tried to crawl inside his body through his eyes, ears and mouth.

The fox was taken aback at what was happening! It shook it's head violently in hopes of getting rid of the flesh. Instead, this caused it to lose focus and significantly weaken the whirlwind!

Seeing this opportunity, the scar face drew out a glowing dagger from his belt and launched himself at the wolf. He didn't seem heavy like before and appeared right before the wolf.

The wolf was still struggling to remove the squirming flesh and bones on it's face but it stopped suddenly when it felt a cold sensation on it's neck.

The scar face had sliced it neck cleanly and the wolf fell down on the floor in a bloody mess. It's face was stabbed and gouged by the pieces of bones and flesh, so it could neither see nor hear anything before it died.

The fierce battle was over in a single minute!

The flesh and bones on the dead wolf, slowly merged back into a hand. Then it propped itself on it's fingers and crawled back to the tattooed man like a spider.

The tattooed man picked it up and attached it back to the broken arm like a building block. The wound on his arm squirmed as it tried to rejoin the hand back.

It was a very disgusting sight and the scar face clearly expressed it with his face. He then turned to a fat man who was lying in some trash and grinned,

"Well, well, well.....seems like your plan didn't work as expected huh, pig."

Arnold who had been stabbed by many metal shards was grimacing in pain. The wolf had betrayed him as expected but his plan had been to escape as soon as he could.

The plan had failed terribly! He was thrown away by the whirlwind before he could escape, and had landed on a pile of rotting waste!

Before the wind pulled him again, he used his all powers to increase his weight and managed to barely stay rooted, even after adding his initial weight. He had been thanking his past self for giving him a fat body when metal shards suddenly stabbed him from all sides.

He had screamed but the whirlwind was louder, so nobody heard him. The only thing he could do was suck up the pain and cover his face.

Now, after the whirlwind subsided, he was still at the mercy of these two rogues. This was a very unlucky day for him!

Arnold was about to give up when he suddenly remembered an object,

'The ring! The broker said that it was extremely powerful! If it can just save me, I won't mind losing a finger or two! Or even my whole arm!'

He endured the pain and made a grab for his pocket.

But before he could even reach it, the scar face threw his dagger and stabbed his arm. The fat man screamed as the scar face searched inside his pocket and pulled out a pale white ring.

All hope was lost for Arnold!

He had lost too much blood during the whirlwind and the only reason he was still moving was because of 'hope'. When the ring was taken away from him, he lost the last string that kept him alive and immediately breathed his last.

The scar face immediately realized what the ring was and laughed.

"Ho! A forged ring! Hahaha! And a high rank one too! This useless pig finally proved to be of some worth!"

The tattooed man also saw the ring and approached towards it to get a better look.

He seemed to quite intrigued by the small carvings on the ring.

Scar face saw this and passed the ring to the tattooed man.

"You know anything about this?"

He didn't know who this agent was and had just assumed to be a friendly, since the tattooed man was not showing any hostility towards him. He was wary of the freak but he also wanted to seem friendly. Who knows, the freak might just plan on killing him if he got irritated.

As he passed the ring to tattooed man a small thought popped into his head.

Something had seemed very off since he had arrived at this place. He didn't notice it during the fight but it was starting to seem more obvious now.

'Why had the wolves been chasing those two idiots? Were they after the forged item? Then why had this tattooed wierdo come to this place? Isn't he way too friendly? Was he hunting those two goons? Or was he hunting the wolves? Or was he also after this item? The residents should have woken up due to the noise but no one had come?'

Too many questions!

He himself had come due to a tip off about something rare being smuggled here. The rare item was definitely the ring, so the information seemed to be true.

"Oi weirdo. Why'd you come here anyway?"

The tattooed man returned the ring and looked angrily at him,

"I hope you are joking. I've done my part of the deal. Take the ring. Just give me the amulet."

'What? Amulet? Deal?'

The Scar face turned pale as he realized what was happening. He was a part of a 'clean-up'! Someone had deliberately brought everyone here to wipe them all out. Killing the wolves and the goons had just helped them make it easier!

He looked at the ring and his eyes turned wide when the various carvings on it had suddenly started to glow.

"FU---"

Before he could even finish his sentence, the ring engulfed the entire area with bright white light. An invisible wave of energy emitted out from the ring and traveled across the compound. It obliterated everything on it's path and abruptly crashed at an invisible wall, before it hit the buildings. The invisible wall did not falter but the crash was powerful enough to send out a small, harmless shock wave beyond it.

After the light faded, only black soot remained. Everything, including the playground, metal junk, rotten waste, etc; had turned into black powder. The concrete floor too, had turned black and had started to crumble.

------------

A middle aged man had been watching all of this from the top of a building, five blocks away. He was quite tall and wore a neat brown suit with a matching overcoat. His black hair that had white sideburns was softly swaying in the cold winter winds. His face was sharp and expressionless but his grey eyes had a cold feeling in them.

He seemed satisfied with the outcome and muttered a few words before starting to walk back towards the stairs.

Two illusive and invisible domes slowly melted away in the sky. One had been covering the compound where the fight had taken place, and the other had been covering a radius of one kilometer.

As the smaller one faded away, one could see that the compound hadn't been affected at all! The garbage, metal junk, and the playground were all in the same place as they had been before the battle!

Their was only one difference.....none of the people who had fought, were there! Nothing! Not even their clothes and weapons!

When the man reached the stairs, he suddenly stopped and stared far away, towards Red Rock Street. He felt that something big had just happened over at that place.

------------

--- East Cinter --- Red Rock Street ---

Geo moaned as he stepped inside the bathtub.

He had just received a brutal scolding from his maid, Helen, and had been forced into an interrogation.

The story that he told her was completely different from what had actually happened, but it wasn't too suspicious. She then ordered him to immediately take a bath.

Geo was very thankful that Helen had gone easy on him. Usually, she would keep scolding him until he melted in front of her.

The hot water slowly eased Geo's mental and physical fatigue. A lot had happened today and he was just too tired to do anything. Closing his eyes, he started thinking about the events that had happened after class.

After thinking for sometime, he was sure that he had seen and heard the lights and footsteps.

It was the first time that he had ever experienced a paranormal event!

All the fear from before had turned into hope and delight! It seemed like there was still hope for magic or at least something similar to it!

' There's a chance of it being a hallucination but that's highly unlikely. After all, they would have turned back and seen me fall immediately, if I was the 'only' one who shouted. The sound of footsteps and the torchlights had probably made it seem too real. That's why they didn't even bother to turn back.

The question now is, what type of magic existed here. Illusion is the most probable one but how is it cast? Moreover....'

--------------

Geo opened his eyes when he felt a hand shaking his shoulders.

"Geo! Wake up!"

A lady with a kind face was smiling at him. It was Geo's mother, Ula Potter. She was still wearing her work clothes, a plain grey dress and a matching coat. It seemed that she had just arrived from work.

-----------

Ula had a very common appearance but she had her own charm. At first glance, she was a very quick tempered and bold lady. Always fighting fire with fire, but if one spent enough time with her, they would see that she was in fact, very kind and caring.

Geo's father, Kimmen Potter, was quite the unique person himself. He was a tall, stoic man in front of friends and acquaintances, but a kind and friendly person among family and relatives.

Geo's mother liked this personality about his father. She said that it makes her feel special.

At the dinner table, Geo's father would sometimes bring up the story of how he had noticed his wife's personality and won over her heart. His mother did not mind this, but would try to stop him at the embarrassing parts.

For example, the time when his mother got angry at his father for spending too much time with another girl. She had refused to speak with him for the whole day, and only came out of the house in tears when his father shouted from the street that the girl was in fact, his cousin sister.

------------I

Geo yawned and rubbed his eyes. He had fallen asleep before realizing it.

"Get up quickly now. You'll catch a cold."

Geo quickly got up and had just started to step out of the tub when he realized that he had done a terrible mistake. He was completely naked!

"UWEEEEEHHHHHH"

He screamed like a girl and quickly sat back down, splashing the tub water everywhere.

His mother who had been standing near the tub also let out a small scream before being drenched in water.

Her kind expression had suddenly turned furious!

'Shit!'

These were the last thoughts that came to his mind before facing his mother's wrath.

---------------

Slumping on his bed, Geo let out along sigh.

He had just finished eating dinner and was having a minor headache.

His mom had remained angry throughout the meal and scolded him even after he apologized. His dad, on the other hand, had laughed and said that his son had finally grown up to feel embarassed. Geo's mom rebuked him saying that there was nothing mature about this, but his dad had just laughed.

He only shut up after receiving a furious glare from his wife.

Things proceeded like usual after that. They talked about their day and gossiped about their colleagues. Helen had already left so there was nothing that they couldn't rant about.

Geo, who was exhausted from all the scolding, had returned to his room soon after dinner.

He got up from his bed and went to his study desk by the window. The books that he had brought today were stacked together with his other books.

He was about to arrange them when one of the books suddenly glowed brightly!

It was the thin book from the religion section! The section that he had deemed to be useless!

Geo was surprised but delighted! He knew that this was the key to why he had transmigrated here!

He wanted to observe it for a moment but the light was rapidly fading away.

After taking a deep breath, he said a small prayer and touched the book.

"God from this world....Please don't kill me. Amen."

_______________