BOOM!!

BOOOOM!!!

A loud ear-shattering explosion resounded through the mall. The building shook as people screamed and took cover. Noah hugged Alice as the wave of dust and small pieces of debris came their way. The explosion had happened at the exit they were walking to. Luckily, they were still a distance away so they didn't get harmed.

Immediately after the first, the entire mall quaked as six more loud thunder-like blasts happened around various places in the mall. Much further than the first explosion.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Alice was shocked at first but quickly recovered. The explosions were loud and startling, but in the Eternal Battlefield, she had dealt with loud sound attacks and shaking of whole Dungeon Lord Lairs before. This wasn't enough to unnerve her.

The explosions finished as the whole mall was now silenced. A person stood up slowly and others followed. Everyone looked at their phones for information and called emergency services.

Noah released Alice, dusting himself off, he glanced around and cringed, then grabbed Alice by hand again, "This place isn't safe, it seems there are bombs placed around here as well. It's likely those seven explosions we heard were the exits being demolished and were for trapping everyone in."

In the glance he had taken around the food court, Noah had seen more dynamite wrapped up and stuck onto the curved windows of the food court. They had been placed in a cavity between the window frame and glass, hiding it from sight. Standing far, he was able to get a glimpse of a few peeking out on the other side of the food court, it was barely noticeable. He was able to see a tiny outcropping almost in every other row of windows.

'Do they plan on demolishing this whole place?' Noah thought. If what he saw really was dynamite, then it was enough to demolish this whole place.

The crowd of people got up and rushed out of the food court, Noah and Alice stood in the way as people passed. Before it got too congested, Noah saw the bathroom sign on his left. He then remembered that he had seen an emergency staircase while driving outside the mall around there.

"There should be an exit there, we might be able to escape." Noah then pulled Alice across before the crowd increased further.

As they entered the hallway leading to the bathroom, Alice pulled back. She had been looking around for Kira. "Noah what about Kira? We can't leave without her!"

Noah stopped and looked as well. With the crowd of people dense and messy, it would be hard to find Kira. "You text her, I'll check if there is a way out from here."

Alice nodded, Noah then let go and walked in. Ignoring the bathroom he went for the door at the double door at the end of the hallway. Pushing in, he entered the space designated for staff. A green sign floated above.

Following the exit sign, he stopped near a corner hearing shouting. He peered in. The man in black he had seen before now stood with an assault rifle in front of the door leading to the emergency staircase. Two other men being pointed at by the black gun stood still with their hands up.

A better look at the man holding the gun, Noah saw that he wasn't much older than himself. Just older than 20. He was decked out in all types of tactical gear. Even with the gun in his hand, the man was still nervous. His eyes quivering and so was the finger on the trigger.

His expression was aggressive as he shouted, "Stay the fuck back! If you get any closer I'll kill you!" The employees, terrified didn't move.

Noah seeing the situation thought it would be possible for him to take the man with the gun down. The hall to the door was narrow, but if he had something to throw he could take him out. Then his eyes landed on something behind the man. An explosive stuck to the wall next to the door, rigged to go off as the door opened. It was hidden by the man's body before so he hadn't seen it.

'We can't leave from here either. Who are these people? What's their goal?' Noah was about to leave when one of the employee's phone rang. The man tense with his finger on the trigger pulled impulsively.

Beep! Bang!

Noah's eyes restricted seeing one man fall into a puddle of blood.

The man wearing black pointed his gun at the other man and shot again, then continuing to shoot at the corpse. "Fuck, I wasn't supposed to kill unnecessarily. They'll cut two items from my reward." As he said this he heard a sound. His gun barrel pointed in Noah's direction.

"Who's there?!" The man shouted as he slowly walked forward.

Not getting a response he turned the corner ready to shoot.

No one was there.

...

Noah had left after seeing the man shoot. He didn't want to stay and watch the scene. As for helping those two men was beyond him. They were too close to the gun, even if he intervened they would be immediately shot.

What that man had said after was interesting. It was likely he was talking about items from the Eternal Battlefield. He felt if that was true the situation was dire than he first thought. If the people behind this attack had entered the Eternal Battlefield it would be harder to reason with them because of the fact they would live on in the Eternal Battlefield even if they died on earth.

Back with Alice, she was still trying to call Kira, seeing Noah she said, "Kira isn't picking up, do you think something happened?"

"It's unlikely she's hurt, she probably just can't pick up right now." Noah saw the food court was empty now with people jammed in the way to leave. "She already left the food court, we should leave too, we might be able to find her outside."

Noah and Alice joined in, pushing through and out. A different man in a ski mask stood holding an assault rifle, blocking the way further behind him. Instead had people go down the stairs on his right.

"All of you, go to the centre of the mall." He shouted.

Pulling Alice behind him, Noah joined the line. The line of people went through the mall all the way to the centre. The mall was a long straight building with two wings that you could go to after entering from the main entrance. So they walking towards the centre was where the main entrance was.

The walk was quick, people moved fast as they were regularly threatened by men in ski masks along the way. Noah kept his head low and mask still on while keeping Alice close. Herded like sheep, they arrived at the centre.

They entered the large opening in the mall. Its structure was circular. With the main entrance, still fine, right in front of them. People entered from both sides came in and were told to sit down and be quiet. Noah and Alice did the same. They sat at the back of the crowd, a few more rows and the last of the people in the mall had arrived.

Looking around Noah counted thirty-two men, all geared the same holding assault rifles as they surrounded and monitored the crowd. Eight stood on each side of the crowd.

But the front had the least people standing on guard. Three men had been moved back to stand nearer to the main entrance. Two were together working on some type of computer they had set up. With another wide-bodied man without a ski mask in front giving the commands. So only two of the eight were monitoring the crowd.

The man giving the command took out a communicator and listened to something. He then signalled the men working on the computer to do something.

Lights turned off! The electricity in the whole mall seemed to have shut down. As the centre was now it up by the skylight of the glass dome three floors above them. Then the sounds of shutters closing could be heard in a distance in the echoey mall, declaring they were completely trapped.

One of the men working on the computer held a mic and came forward, "All of you are now hostages. If anyone stands up they will be shot, if you do anything suspicious you will be shot, you do something we don't like you will be shot. Sit still in silence if you want to live."

All the men around pulled up their guns ready.

Then the big-bodied man giving the commands took the mic. another man came with a tall camera on wheels and brought in front of him. Turning it on he went back to the computer he had been using.

The leader cleared his throat as the camera turned on.

A large screen above the crowd had his face on it.

...

Outside the mall, the police had set up a barricade around the entrance. The situation was dire. With so many hostages they couldn't take any risks of charging in. They would also soon get back from the military. The chief officer waited till they could communicate with the terrorists inside.

The large screen over the main entrance turned on and showed the man's face.

The leader of the radical group spoke, "Greetings, I am the messiah who has seen the truth and beyond to save all humans on this planet. With my chosen ones I have come to inform the people of this world of my existence. Before I continue, I shall something to show."

The lunatic looked to the side and the screen changes. A virtual model of the mall is shown with numerous red dots in it. The red dots followed along with the mall's structure, each placed at a similar interval from the other, covering the entire structure.

The people outside and watching online gasped understanding what they were.

The screen then changes back to the leader, this time more zoomed out as he held a thin stick with a red button on top. His finger on it. "For the exodus of my believers from this planet I will need money and resources. I hope that you will donate to further the saving of humanity."

The screen had '$1,000,000 cash per hostage' appear on it.

"I hope we will see through this holy procession silently and compliantly. For I may have to give up on the people here and begin my journey in the new and eternal world sooner than anticipated." He threatened as he pressed down on the red button. Usings the lives of thousands as collateral.

Just as he looked like he was going to press it, a man near the front stood up and sprinted for the exit. He ran straight towards the glass main entrance doors. His speed was so fast that he was able to go past the two men guarding. The glass doors opened sensing him. Freedom was near.

BANG!

A bullet came from behind, straight through his chest. His sprinting body collapsed as it rolled through the glass doors making it out as a corpse.

The crowd in the mall and outside the mall held their breath. Seeing the corpse, many covering the eyes of their children while others covering their mouths to not vomit.

Alice hugged Noah seeing the scene. It was her first time seeing a human die in front of her, it felt completely different to monsters. She wasn't scared rather angry and disgusted by these criminals. She used Noah to calm herself down.

Noah looked at where the bullet came from. It was from the floor above. A man was sitting with a sniper rifle, he had taken the man running down. looked around and three other snipers were placed in different directions to cover the crowd. Making sure no one escaped.

"*clears throat* Now that sinner has been dealt with, I will give all the people watching time to donate. I will send twenty people off every half hour no one donates." A timer appeared at the side of the screen counting down the minutes. The camera panned to show the hostages sitting on the floor in fear.

People around the world watched online from news channels. This attack had gotten global attention immediately. Thousands of people were taken hostage, with an estimated fifty people dead. Everyone was shocked by the gruesome situation.

They all watched from various parts of the world. Seeing crime increase, they felt the end of the world was near. With the news of the Eternal Battlefield dominating the media it was it was the approach of an apocolypse.

...

"Fucking Psychopath..." someone whispered under their breath.

"You stand up. Do you have anything to say to me?" The leader pointed into the crowd.

A young man at the front of the crowd stood with his hands up, "No, I don't."

The leader looked at his underling holding the young man at gunpoint, "Tell me what he said."

"He called you a fucking psychopath," The man said enjoying the moment. He pushed his gun closer as he got ready to shoot.

"It wasn't me!" The young man denied.

"If you said it, own it, you fucking pussy." Bang! The young man fell to the ground.

The leader looked at the corpse and then turned to his underling, "Did I order you to kill him?"

"But he insulted yo-"

The leader pulled out a pistol and shot at his underling in the head. Putting the pistol away. The camera turned back to him, "Both men were a necessary sacrifice for the greater goal. As a saviour of humanity, I do not condone murder. I speak to the people of this world to join me in mission..."

'A complete hypocrite.' Noah thought seeing the leader blabber on and preach. He looked for a reaction from any of the other people around but saw none. They didn't care that one of their own had died. This helped him figure out the complete situation.

These fifty or so terrorists, 32 here and the others still roaming around the mall were just some quick mashed up group that barely knew each other.

Most of them were complete amateurs at using guns, it was obvious from their postures. They also had no idea how to handle this situation adn were just high on power. It seemed like they were young men the leader had paid using items in the Eternal Battlefield to have them work for him. With another chance to live they didn't care about their own deaths. The Eternal Battlefield had already become their real world.

So most of these men were easy to deal with, they might be strong in the Eternal Battlefield they wouldn't be able to react in a sudden change situation fast enough. What would be difficult was the snipers above and the leader in front. Unlike the others, they were all trained, experienced and likely the main force behind this group.

'I need to get close to the leader, if I can do that I can end this.' Noah thought.

He looked around in case he didn't miss anything. Then he noticed one of the men monitoring the crowd had some gear the others didn't. It was hidden by his clothes and was just a bulge on his side.

'Does he also have a detonator?' It was similar in size to one and compared to the others he was acting a bit different. Noah was sure that these terrorists weren't planning on leaving alive, at least most of them weren't. They were also planning on killing most of the people in the mall.

They said the money was their goal, but it seemed like the leader just wanted publicity and attention. Considering they asked for $1,000,000 per person, with more than 10,000 people in the crowd they were asking for 10 billion in cash. They would not be able to transport that much money in whatever escape route they had planned. It was likely that after they achieved a certain amount they would escape and kill everyone inside.

With his eyes grave, Noah thought of a plan. These people had prepared well but they hadn't thought things through.