Chapter 41: First Contact

"How exactly were you able to pay for a flight to china? I thought we were going to take a train or something." Zatanna said as they made their way through the busy streets of china.

Two kids boarding a flight alone to china wasn't as suspicious as you'd think. It was normal for parents and children to take separate flights to the same place so no one had called them out.

Had anyone tried, it was nothing a subtle genjutsu couldn't fix.

"You've seen me make a generator out of scrap metal and this is what shocks you?" He said, avoiding the question only for her to give him a dry look.

"I liberated a few things from a cocky criminal." He said vaguely with a shrug.

"Uh-huh. You stole it, didn't you?" She said rhetorically, though she didn't sound remotely bothered by it.

"Liberated not stolen." He corrected as he led the way with a map in hands.

Despite just being the leader of a gang, Kenji had quite the pile of money hidden away. Stealing from a thief didn't make you a bad person.

Even if it did, he would have still done it anyway.

They had landed in a city in china called Xi An, the capital of Shaanxi province and also where the ring had pointed them to.

Sora held the small map that he had marked in his hand as he directed them around the city. He had Energy Sensing active as well for precaution.

"We've been walking for an hour already, how much farther away is it?" Zatanna asked as she looked around.

"Not very far. We should soon be at the point in the map. What exactly it is we're looking for is what I don't know." He said solemnly as he looked up from the map.

"I've been picking up faint traces of magic in the air since we left the airport. There's no particular direction it leads to. It just spreads out in all directions." Zatanna chipped in as she shook her head a bit.

They walked in silence as they both used their own methods to scout around them. It was almost an hour later when Sora finally stopped.

"What's wrong?" Zatanna asked seeing him halt only to pause a second later as she too felt it.

"There's a barrier around here. It's also coincidentally the area the ring pointed out on the map. You're the expert on magic, what do you think it does?" He asked as his eyes took in every detail of his surroundings.

"That's not how magic works. The best I can tell is that it turns people's attention away from here." She said as she held a hand to her temple.

"I feel something touching on my mind." She said as she muttered something, the feeling in her head disappearing.

Sora stood unaffected as his Art of the Mind skill protected him against such subtle mental manipulations.

"I think this might be what we're looking for." He said as they looked at the building in front of them.

It resemble an old Chinese palace, at least from the outside. Pushing with his senses, he could feel that the inside was much larger than it looked from the outside.

"We're going in. Be careful." He said simply as they moved towards the entrance which was a giant door that blocked the view of the compound.

*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*

He waited a few moments but nobody came to answer. Zatanna looked at him and shrugged before stretching her hand to knock.

Before she could hit the door, it was opened by a bald muscular man in a black gi that looked like a karate outfit.

"What business do you have here?" He said politely but in a tone that screamed for them to leave.

Before they could speak, the man's eyes opened a bit before he quickly shut the door. A second later, a loud bell rang throughout the compound as the sound of footsteps appeared.

Sora looked at Zatanna with a dry look as she let out a nervous laugh.

"Maybe they're having a meeting?" She said with a small laugh only for Sora to deadpan.

"And you said to be polite. Put up a barrier." He said he forcefully pushed the doors wide opened.

The man behind the door was sent flying away as a large transparent blue barrier formed around the entrance before disappearing.

"We're hidden from normal view now." She said as she nodded to him.

With the doors opened, he could see a crowd of people rushing towards them, all of them wearing similar outfits to the first man.

A man landed at the front of the downed gatekeeper, halting the crowd momentarily.

"What happened? Are we under attack?" He asked as he took a fighting stance with a spear in front of the man, staring at the two intruders.

His eyes landed on Sora whose eyes narrowed.

"What do you want, invaders?" The new arrival asked. He had long black hair tied in a low ponytail and a goatee that dropped a bit.

"Invaders? You're the ones who are coming at us like you want to kill us." Sora answered as he and Zatanna walked forward, walking into the compound grounds.

The man's eyes narrowed as he observed the two. His stance loosened up a bit as he spoke.

"Then what do you want?" He asked, the crowd of people behind him looking ready to fight.

"We're looking for the Red Dawn." Sora said, making his intent known. He didn't fully finish his sentence when a red beam of energy shot towards him.

A blue barrier appeared in front of him, successfully blocking the attack. Zatanna let the barrier dissipate as Sora narrowed his eyes.

"It seems that having a civil conversation is off the table. Don't blame me for what happens next." He said as his body tensed.

"Zatanna, let's go!" He said as he shot forward with her following close behind.

Upon getting close to him, a plain sword appeared in his hand as he thrust it towards the man.

He opened his eyes wide at the sudden appearance of the weapon in his hand. He raised his own weapon to block it but a sudden kick to his head disoriented him.

He quickly recovered from Zatanna's kick as he stretched his hand, shooting a beam of red energy towards the duo who split apart, dodging it completely.

He raised his forearm, blocking a hit from the back Zatanna's heel. He ducked under a slash from Sora's sword only for his face to come in contact with the boy's knee.

Before he could regain his balance, he was raised into the air by an invisible force. By the time he gained his bearings, a large ball of fire was sent speeding towards him.

He was able to brace himself with the red energy at the last minute to dull the damage as the ball of flames enveloped him.

He was sent crashing to the floor as the crowd watched in stunned silence. The man struggled to get up only for a voice to speak loudly.

"Enough!" It wasn't a shout but it was loud enough to be heard by everyone.

An old man in white garb landed in between the three fighters with a cane in his hand. He looked old but yet Sora could feel him full of unnatural vitality.

"I was wondering when you'd show yourself." Sora said calmly, his face not showing any signs of battle.

Everyone was tense at his words as they seemed to hold the man in high regards. Everywhere was silent for a moment, waiting for either person to make the first move.

"Stand down!" He ordered.

In a shocking twist, the old man dropped his cane as he dropped to his knees.

"I apologize for their actions. I humbly welcome you into our sanctum." He said in a calm and respectful voice, shocking everyone present, Sora and Zatanna included.