We have company

"What do you mean by Academy?" Fenrir demanded and his disapproving scowl suggested he was not content with his fate being decided by others.

"We'll talk about that la-" Noah started but his words were interrupted by an abrupt bang against the back of the armoured vehicle.

The vehicle swerved a little from the impact and the Garrison soldiers gripped the edges of the benches to steady themselves.

"Bloody great," Noah pressed a red button on the panel installed on the vehicle's back door. The screen lit up with a visual of the outside that showed five pursuers behind them.

They gave chase on modified bikes that were powered by mana jewels that left a trail of blue energy in their path.

"So the bastards followed us," Noah tapped his wrist communicator. "We have company."

Yun made his way to the screen and analyzed the pursuers that were dressed in black leather gear and bike helmets.

He noticed that their bikes were equipped with smaller-based gun turrets fitted onto the back.

And they constantly changed their lanes while two of them increased their speed to match the armoured vehicle's pace.

They closed in and drove into the vehicle on both sides which caused another sharp jerk.

"Deal with it," The Second Division Captain replied sternly. "We have incoming from the front."

"How many?"

"A horde of Clay Golems," Ascian reported before the communication line went silent after a beep.

Noah banged a fist against the door but he composed himself and slid open the separation window where the driver was seated.

"I need you to keep this vehicle running steady, Shikuro," Noah nodded at the young man. "If they come in with a bang you keep driving. We'll handle them."

"Don't blame me for any accidents," Shikuro grinned and tightened his grip on the wheel.

"That's a lad," Noah closed the separation window and faced the others."Shion, Raze, and Rayene with me on the roof."

"Aye, sir!" They said in unison.

"What about me?" Yun clenched his fists.

"Take care of the trainee," Noah ruffled his hair. "I know you want to help but without your gear and weapon, you still can't control your mana."

"Right," Yun agreed reluctantly and the four Garrison climbed up to the roof of the vehicle via the hatch.

Fenrir gritted his teeth but there was nothing he could have done. In his current state, he was no more than a dead weight that would hinder them in the action field.

"Who are they?" He questioned Yun.

"Earlier, our Captain received a report that the South Gate of our defences was breached, so he headed out. For the past three months, we suspected that there was an opposition of humans with supernatural abilities like us in the Garrison," Yun explained.

"What is their goal?"

"We've never directly encountered them before but we always do have casualties when the surveillance squad is sent out. Noah was tasked with locating their base, but like every other day there was no progress."

"We didn't expect that they would suddenly come out of hiding," One of the other Garrison said. "The name's Trajann."

"How large exactly is Nazirein City that their base couldn't be located?" Fenrir shifted himself into a more comfortable position and sat upright.

"We're living in an Apocalyptic era boy, with the strange phenomena and introduction of something mythical such as magic, anything is possible," Trajann crossed his leg over the other. "Judging by the fact that the South Gate was breached they pursued to follow us back to the other Gate."

"No," Fenrir clutched onto his stomach. "This is a distraction. They're likely already ahead on route to the other Gate you mentioned."

On the roof of the vehicle, Noah's eyes rapidly scanned the pattern and movements of their pursuers.

"We need to change our course," Noah stated. "They're just slowing us down, they're not using any weapons to attack."

"They're here to keep us distracted," Rayene said as she eyed the pursuer that rammed into the vehicle from the right side.

"Wait," Noah stopped her.

Raze's cyan eyes widened and glowed. He scanned the area around the pursuers in a grey-scale vision and detected an additional black mana jewel embedded just above the tires of each bike.

"They're using mana barrier fields," Raze informed.

"So they came well-prepared for any attacks from Shion," Noah deduced.

"They found me troublesome," Shion said dryly. "They did their research of us pretty well."

"Lend me your eyes for a bit, Raze," Noah unholstered one of his flintlock pistols.

Raze placed a hand on his Vice-Captain's shoulder and Noah's sable-shaded eyes lit up. He received the same visual as Raze did earlier and individually pinpointed the black mana jewels on each bike.

He aimed the flintlock pistol at the leader's bike at the exact angle of where the black mana jewel was situated.

"Rune sequence activation," He uttered.

A white circle that glowed with black engravings that looked different from the one he used before appeared at the barrel base of the pistol.

The circle rotated when he released a blue bolt of lightning from the pistol.

The bolt targeted the black mana jewel directly and the white circle with engravings disappeared when Noah said, "Lightning connect."

The single bolt branched off into smaller bolts, almost like volts of electricity connected in a circuit, they extended and attached themselves to the black mana jewels on each bike.

"Lighting burst," Noah fired another bolt that was violet in colour.

The mix of lightning elements created a crackle and electrocuted the riders on each bike.

They squealed and lost control of their bikes when the black mana jewels shattered from the sheer force of the electrical energy.

Their bikes crashed as the engines short-circuited from the influx of foreign energy.

The vehicles capsized with an electrical sizzle and the riders fell off along the way.

"Shion, this one's yours," Noah holstered his pistol.

"Dimensional prison," Shion uttered as he extended his hand and dark violet in swirling motions opened in the space around each pursuer that lay on the ground.

The dimensional openings sucked each of them into its space and dissipated.

"We'll take them back for questioning," Noah turned to face the direction in which the armoured vehicle was headed.

"They didn't put up much of a fight which is really concerning," He tapped his wrist communicator. "We've captured them. How's the situation there? You should have been right in front of us but I don't see your vehicle."

"They separated us," Ascian responded. "I have casualties on my end."