Chapter 13) Mug and Thug.

Xavier was still considering Master Kim Sao's sinister words when there was a clanging sound on the other side of the door. The two stepped back as the door hissed open, expelling a cloud of odourless gas.

Someone... two people stepped out from the room before the door closed up behind them. It was impossible to tell who they were because of the black body suit that covered them from head to foot. The suit was plane and simple, with white stripes along the midriff and shoulder area. The suits appeared light but were actually tougher than even kevlar. The face part was a mask with dense slits for eyes, and nothing else.

Master Kim regarded them with a curious smile. "I'm guessing you're not the doctors of this hospital?"

"Eh...doctors normally wear white lab coats." Xavier explained, automatically taking another step back. "Doctors do not carry guns, either."

Yes, the figures had guns. They didn't look like the normal guns Xavier saw on movies, though. These weapons were like the toy guns children played with. The body was transparent, displaying a thick cylinder inside filled with blue liquid. A thin nuzzle connected the cylinder to two holes at the tip. The guns also had all sorts of buttons along its length. Weird, isn't it?

"This area is out of bounds. Retreat or face decimation." The figure on the left said in a gruffy male voice that fit his massive muscular frame. The tag above his chest read his name as Mug. Wait a minute, goons wore identification tags nowadays?

"Oh, we were just looking for the Research lab of this hospital." Master Kim clarified, not at all fazed by the hulking forms before him. Xavier on the other hand, was already calculating the distance from his position to the elevators. Could he make it there in ten seconds?

"This area is out of bounds. Retreat or face decimation." The other figure said in an even deeper voice. He was the smaller of the two, but was still bigger than the two Mystics combined. According to his tag, his name was Thug. So, Mug and Thug? How befitting and ridiculous at the same time.

"It can't be out of bounds." Xavier said, suddenly frustrated. "My mother is in there. This is a hospital! Not a war zone!"

What were such men doing in a hospital? And they were guarding the research lab like something really ominous was going on inside it. Xavier didn't like the thought of that. They could be tearing apart his mother in there, trying to find things in her body that weren't there. They could be testing a new but harmful drugs on her this very moment. Many terrible possibilities filtered through his mind, causing a hotness in his chest that nearly brought tears to his eyes. His poor mother had suffered enough. He couldn't let them succeed at whatever they were doing.

There were always stories on the news of rogue clinics practicing new scientific methods on ignorant victims. Tech and biological companies with their unending research always needed test subjects to try out their experiments. Such experiments were not always legal or logical.

Master Kim Sao patted Xavier's shoulder briefly. "Let me handle this. If you could just give us some space to discuss things more appropriately."

Xavier nodded in understanding and moved to stand in front of the elevator. He was still a Novice Mystic without a rank. His system was going crazy because of that sorry fact. This meant he didn't stand a chance against any sort of foe at the moment, much more the armed and certainly highly skilled ones in front of him. Instead of helping, he would just be on the way or serve as a distraction to the Astral Mystic.

The two goons pointed their guns at Master Kim Sao.

"Follow the kid out of here or you would suffer for it. You have been warned." Mug said. Threatened.

The Astral Mystic offered them a cheerful smile. "Don't worry, guys. I know you're just doing your jobs, hence I won't hurt you. It would be a painless defeat for you."

Thug rushed forward, intending to seize Kim Sao around the neck. Master Kim Sao effortlessly sidestepped and twisted around to deliver a palm slap to the goon's chest. The force of the slap was light but the power from the Astral Mystic's touch was enough to send the goon flying back to collide with the opposite wall. He didn't even moan in pain or take a second to catch his breath. He got right up and pounded back towards Kim Sao.

Mug lifted his gun and fired off blue balls the size of golf balls in quick pulls of the trigger. Master Kim saw them coming. He waved a hand and the air in front of him went dense. Thick enough to form a sort of forcefield that simply rippled as the bullets struck. Mug continued to fire until the canister in his gun was completely empty. But still the Wind Shield remained strong, though there was a pool of blue liquid below it.

"Enough of this." The Astral Mystic declared.

The air around Him ignited with pearly sparks as he pulled the wind under his control. He began to mutter a spell. Sparkly runes flourished above his head as if an invisible hand was writing them down. His face went calm as he clapped his palms outward. The pearly sparks exploded our of his body, towards Mug and Thug who were preparing to strike again. The sparks took hold of their hefty bodies and lifted them into the air. The goons struggled, but with each rune Master Kim spoke to life, the sparks around them intensified, wrapping and coiling around them till they were completely motionless. Stronghold Charm activated.

Master Kim let out a long breath. "That took more energy than was necessary."

"Why didn't you just use your sword?" Xavier asked as he hurried over.

"The power of the sword would've killed them and destroyed a good part of this floor if I had introduced it into the fight." Kim Sao explained. "I try not to use such destructive weapons outside dungeons. The Unicorn Palm Strike I landed on Thug should've been enough to knock him unconscious. It is strange that he simply got up after that. Both of them must've been biologically empowered in some way."

"But what have they got to do with the Research Lab of this hospital?" Xavier wondered.

"They must work for a powerful organization." Kim Sao pointed at the googling blue liquid on the floor. "My system had identified that as a highly acidic substance that reduces human cells to nothing from just a few drops. There's no certified name for the chemical, which means it's an illegal product that the world doesn't yet knows exist." He paused and gave Xavier a serious look. "We are dealing with something more diabolic than we assumed here. Would you obey me if I told you to stay out here while I handle it?"

"My mom is in there. I need to make sure she's ok. I won't forgive myself if I shy away from saving her and something goes wrong." He summoned the Gild Gaters into his hands. "Besides, I have this. And I'm also a Mystic."

"A Novice Mystic who is yet to register at the Academy and who happens to not have a rank."

"How did you know about that?"

Kim Sao smirked. "The same way I knew about the pie in your Aunt's oven and the fact that you didn't know what daggers looked like before the simulation."

"Oh." Xavier had somehow forgotten about the Astral Mystic's mind reading abilities during those moments of hiding crucial details about himself. "I didn't mean to hide any of that. I just felt embarrassed and afraid to reveal them."

"And I'm sorry for invading the privacy of your thoughts. Mind Surfing is an active skill that I can't control when or how it works. It simply exists as a part of me now." He nodded at the daggers. "You have been quite good with them, either way."

"Good enough to defend myself when we get in there?"

"Good enough to do more than that." Kim Sao assured, before stepping in front of the door. "Do you remember how I got us through the glass wall earlier ?"

Xavier nodded. "That's what you're going to do here?"

"Exactly. Which is why you should be ready to attack. Once they see the sparks spreading over the door, they'll get themselves prepared for anything. It's not wrong to see Mug and Thug as just icing on the cake we have to eat here."

Xavier took on a defensive stance as the Astral Mystic began to spread his mana runes towards the door. The created hole had just began to widen when something red and moist shot out from it and wrapped around Xavier's neck.

And before he could raise his daggers to strike or even better, scream in horror, the red something dragged him through the hole and into...