Chapter 143: Gin vs. Frank

Kaito Kuroba gave his wrist a light flick, and a playing card slipped into his fingers. Koizumi Akako's reaction made him think Fina wasn't a good person.

Swish! As Fina continued to approach, a playing card spun through the air directly toward her.

It was immediately intercepted and held mid-air by a defensive shield summoned by Fina.

The card then dissolved into powder under the friction of magical energy and slowly dissipated.

Kaito Kuroba's eyes widened in absolute astonishment. This was a sight he had never witnessed before, nor could he comprehend it, but it left him deeply shocked.

"Alright, cut it out," Fina said to Kaito Kuroba in the tone of someone soothing a child, before walking over to him and Koizumi Akako, squatting down. "Have you ever seen a bad person bring a child along when committing evil deeds?"

Kaito Kuroba blinked. That logic was sound, though in this magical world, anything was possible.

Fina placed her hand on Koizumi Akako's wrist, sensing the rapidly draining magic within her, and her fingers twitched slightly.

A temporary bridge was established between the two, and Fina used her own magic to substitute for Koizumi Akako's depleted energy.

"Young lady, do the people in your family tend to have relatively short lifespans, and have those lifespans gotten even shorter over the past century?" Fina asked, gauging the rate at which the magic was leaking away.

With someone providing a magical substitute, Koizumi Akako's complexion regained much of its color. She nodded; everything Fina said was true.

Her family members had died off one by one, leaving her as the last remaining shrine maiden.

"Someone in this world is secretly draining the world's energy, and primitive mages like you have become the easiest targets to affect."

Fina explained as she tracked the flow of the magic. "Every time you use magic, your fluctuating aura gets locked onto, accelerating the speed at which your energy is drained. Compared to the world itself, the energy defenses within your bodies are far too weak."

To some extent, Fina herself bore some responsibility for Koizumi Akako's current plight. When she used her magic earlier, she had stirred the magical reservoir of the entire world.

Since Fina had systematically studied magic since childhood, her physical magical defense and control were extremely high, rendering her immune to the energy drain. Consequently, the force targeted Koizumi Akako, who was much more vulnerable—which was why the young witch had suddenly felt such a massive outflow of her magic.

"Who is it?! Who is that person?!" Koizumi Akako asked, regaining a bit of strength. Judging by her expression, if she found the culprit, they would undoubtedly be in for a world of hurt.

"Still searching. For now, all we know is that they are a black-clad organization." Fina's fingers danced across her computer screen as data scrolled past rapidly. The opponent's concealment method was extremely archaic, sharing the same architecture as the already exposed Hydra network, though cracking it wasn't particularly difficult.

"If you find them, please let me know first," Koizumi Akako said with unusual politeness.

"Let me know too," Kaito Kuroba chimed in. His own father had died under mysterious circumstances, and it was entirely possible this organization was to blame.

Fina paused for a moment and looked up at the sky. "Found them. But someone has already gone ahead."

Inside the shuttle cabin, Frank had equipped himself fully, and the target destination for teleportation had been confirmed.

"The policy hasn't been updated yet, so let them make the first move. If you aren't sure of success, report back to me immediately," Vernon told Frank before the transfer.

Frank flashed a thumbs-up, and his figure vanished straight into the teleportation array.

Boom! A pillar of light pierced directly through the ground at the destination.

Unlike previous jumps, this teleportation carried a built-in offensive strike capability.

The outer defenses were instantly breached, and the base's security protocols activated immediately as squads of soldiers grabbed their weapons and rushed toward the site where the beam had struck.

Just as they charged forward and opened fire on suspicion, silver bullets fired directly out from the still-fading pillar of light.

Bang, bang, bang! Blossoms of blood burst into the air as Frank stepped forward wearing dark sunglasses and holding dual pistols.

With every step he took, several soldiers collapsed, and in moments, the corpses nearly choked the narrow corridor ahead.

Bang! A bullet zipped toward Frank from behind.

Frank instinctively jerked his head to the side, but the kinetic barrier he wore activated ahead of his reflex, deflecting the round instantly.

From a sniper perch overlooking the hall, Gin lowered his rifle and pulled a syringe from the drawer beside him.

"Boss! What do we do?!" Vodka panicked, behaving like an ant on a hot pan.

Ignoring him entirely, Gin jammed the needle directly into the carotid artery on the side of his neck. As veins bulged violently across his entire body, the serum was fully pumped into his system.

"Get lost!" Gin barked at Vodka, the instructions of that gentleman echoing in his head: if the base came under attack, especially by an enemy possessing specialized technology, the intruders were to be exterminated at all costs.

Vodka shrank back in grievance. Having served Gin for this long, he knew full well that if he hadn't moved away, the next bullet would have pierced his own skull.

Outside the sniper nest, Frank advanced rapidly, his dual pistols firing continuously as he moved. Aided by his goggle-like visors, the silver rounds anticipated the movements of any soldier attempting to counterattack, eliminating them in advance.

Having completed his serum injection, Gin panted heavily for a few breaths before reaching into an obscured compartment to retrieve a specialized weapon.

This was an energy rifle reverse-engineered from partial Hydra technology, drawing power directly via wireless transmission from the energy extractors located at the lowest level of the base.

Frank, cutting a bloody swath through the facility, suddenly felt his sixth sense shriek a warning. Without any prior indication, he executed a sharp barrel roll to the side.

The exact moment he dodged, a thick beam of light lanced through the center of the corridor, partially melting the walls on both sides.

Such a waste...

That was Frank's first thought after evading the blast. The Clock Tower was relatively strapped for cash these days, and wasting storable energy like that was strictly unacceptable.

Complaints aside, Frank brushed a finger across the ornament resting on his chest.

Holy Silver Dual Pistols, engage!

A silver combat suit with a metallic sheen materialized over Frank's body, enveloping him completely, topped with a matching helmet.

[Armament successful... External targeting components linked...]

[Preset magic array activated... Enemy targeted...]

This was Frank at his full combat capacity. The ornament on his chest was a proprietary magitech artifact manufactured using Hextech engineering.

Lucent Singularity! Baptized in Holy Light!

The protective suit flared with radiant energy as Frank’s figure began shifting directions at blinding speed within the confined space.

Throughout the movement, his twin pistols spat scorching holy light projectiles, one after another, chaining together into a continuous stream in the air.

With his muscles straining and bulging under the serum's amplification, Gin's reaction time sharpened once again. As the holy light bullets closed in, the vintage energy rifle in his hand shifted form, energy venting from its muzzle to disperse outward and form a semi-circular shield.

The holy light rounds struck the barrier, sending ripples pulsing across its surface, though shattering it would take more than a single moment.