4/24/2019

  But it did go wrong.

  The state and federal government went wild by doing a full blockade of the city on the third day (4/20). By this point, Julius had made the American Mage Federation officially operational, and thousands of mages were deployed across Colemond's borders.

  Protests became nationwide as more posts and phone camera footage showed the mages confronting the blockade. It seemed more people were moving towards the idea of magic and were interested in the knowledge of qi. Most were in cities or among the youth. There was another side that was against this new lifestyle idea.

  For the rest of the world, they won't take it seriously as it was not happening in their countries. Most remained skeptical up to this point, thinking it would calm down.

  Well, jokes were on them because on the seventh day (4/24), the one rule Julius told everyone was revoked. He repeated it to everyone, and the American Mage Federation was one simple sentence. "If one of us or we get attacked first, the declaration of war is official, you'll have full authority to destroy."

  Julius already expected it would start. When he sat in his home office watching the live screens, he didn't think that it would take four days after the city blockade to start wrecking.

  Either way, the war has begun. One wound from a fellow mage was justified. Because the fatigued driver drifted for a second, that idiot in a tank fired a round.

  The call was sent to Empress Cai, and she told Julius. He gave the go-ahead.

  East Colemond covered a portion of Interstate Forty-Five. One issue was that the interstate was the main gateway to get into the city. There were other routes that went west: (CH1) and north (CH2), but it wasn't the optimal highway to go through other parts of Texas. Not enough lanes and accounting for the traffic, they would be cluttered and held back.

  A possible solution was to upgrade the west. Commuters rarely go through Chandler. The part where drivers descend into the town was the last of the Colemond Highway One (CH1). Beyond that was street level. From Chandler to a different interstate, which was I-35, would take about fifty miles.

  It was tough to decide. Julius published a public poll for only his citizens. It was a locked and secured poll. After two hours, he got his answer.

  "Burn it," he said to the comms.

  Julius stood up from his home office and exited the residence. He heard constant explosions and gunshots. It reminded him of the days on the battlefield. Now, he was back into a war lifestyle as the Commander-in-Chief of the American Mage Federation.

  He flew out to Interstate Forty-Five. Plumes of smoke everywhere. Sounds of tanks fired away. Mages deployed magic and demonstrated a high concentration of qi back to the military formation. The decision to burn part of the interstate hasn't reached the national news.

  Lian had been on the field for at least an hour. Julius was looking for her. When he found her throwing a tank into a convoy of jeeps, he went for a hard landing. Julius crashed right into a medium tactical vehicle, instantly killing ten. He thrust his feet right on the rear, forcing one end into the dirt. Afterward, he flew to the front and pushed, folding the vehicle in half. The dead bodies were trapped inside.

  Julius jumped on top of it and repeatedly bounced on it, like at a trampoline park. He didn't stop until the size was reduced to like a big toy.

  Lian saw him from afar and flew right to the spot. "What are you doing?"

  "Oh, good, you're here. Nothing, just testing." Julius leaped off and grabbed the mashed ball of what was a former medium tactical vehicle. Blood was dripping out from the little openings. "These drivers on the interstate don't know that the traffic has been cut. Can you do telepathic communication for all of them? And have some of the mages assist you in getting traffic out of here."

  "That could work. I'll see what I can do," Lian said, then flew away.

  An Apache helicopter convoy swarmed the scene. Julius' mouthplate formed, and he looked in the distance at a couple of them firing rapid bullets like a rainstorm. "You fuckers." When two apaches were two seconds away from lining up parallel, he threw the blood-dripping metal ball right to them.

  Kaboom!

  "Jackpot."

  Whirll!

  Julius turned around. And a rainstorm of bullets was fired. He teleported away from the spot. Now, above an Apache helicopter, he summoned his sword Valence and descended, going for the rotor blades. He sliced it clean and fired a qi blast right to the tail rotor, effectively disabling the Apache from going anywhere. It dropped downward. Julius grabbed the fuselage and put it on the ground.

  Before it touched the flat plains, he fired a beam right through the cockpit, killing the pilot. When the fuselage dropped to the ground, Julius descended and ran to the cockpit. He pulled it open and threw the dead pilot out of it.

  He wanted to keep the fuselage for the American Mage Federation. A few took an interest in Earth technology and wished to build and use it. As commander-in-chief, he would do everything possible. Command and scavenge.

  As he was about to pick it up, multiple rounds of rifle gunfire were fired. A few pierced the metal, and one hit Julius on the back. It was a tickle, but a good shot. Julius turned around to see who shot him.

  A familiar face, he thought. The guy fired again. One hit his forehead, only for the bullet to drop. Julius dashed right up to him and grabbed the rifle by the barrel. One clamp broke the entire weapon. He punched the guy right in the stomach and grabbed his neck, lifting and throwing him down to the ground headfirst.

  "It’s unfortunate that we have to meet at this occasion," Julius said while still grappling with the man's neck.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  "Who…Urg…Are you? Bastard."

  Julius let him go, but not before firing a spell to keep the guy down on the ground. Legs were magically strapped.

  "We used to be on one tour in the Persian Gulf back in 2013 to stop those damn runes and rocks. I used to be that guy with a cowboy hat. A weak boy looked for therapy and turned into a maniac."

  "No. No! That's bullshit. You don't even look like him."

  Julius summoned water, washing the debris off his hair. "Who says having magic forces you to stay the same?" He looked at the guy and briefly changed his face to an older appearance before he was medically discharged.

  The man's facial expression broke. More on the frustration side. "Damn you, bastard. Daniel, you traitor."

  "No major. Don't get it twisted. One of you attacked first. The rule was that if you guys attacked first, we would have the reason to push and declare war. The war is on…Unfortunately, we crossed paths again. But to be honest, I expected it." Julius' sword flew right into his right hand. "Because I hated your guts since the first day of the tour."

  Slash!

  Kaboom!

  No hesitation. And…He perished.

  Julius resumed focus on the fuselage and lifted it up. He flew right back to Colemond.

  There was a military base built right outside the neighborhood's border. Julius descended and sped fast to an empty hangar, where a few were expecting relics or a stock of tech.

  "I came with a gift."

  He let the Apache fuselage's wheels gently land on the floor.

  "Thank you, Commander. This is a start."

  "I'm sure it is. You'll be the first to get everything processed. It'll keep you busy and entertained. And no worries, we are hiring someone to handle new recruits, and you can talk with them about the right candidates for your team. Good luck."

  Julius went back to work. He thought a little bit about when he killed the major. Those memories were horrific. The aggression he put on the unit, and himself, should never been enforced, but at the time, Julius was still a weak boy. He didn't fight back. Killing him on the spot was the payback. Ironically, that wasn't satisfying.

  He flew over the plains and swarmed past the burned Interstate 45. When he saw fellow mages on the field, Julius glided down into the scenery, dodging rounds of explosives. Bits of dirt flew into his face while speeding through. Heat swarmed his entire back as he was about to do a landing like a plane. His arms moved in the opposite direction, pulling him into position. The feet hit the ground first, tearing up the ground, and the dirt and powder struck his face.

  There were multiple soldiers spread out, and a lot of tactical vehicles rolled in. At least a hundred men in this region alone.

  Julius met up with the mages. They gave him clear details of hotspots. He thanked them for the intel and took one hotspot to his right. One medium tactical vehicle showed up with a group of Humvees. Julius wiped all the dirt and soot off his face. With all of it in his hand, he looked at the soldiers getting out of their vehicles.

  [Skill Count: 23] +1

  棒球

  Julius turned the dirt and soot into a behemoth. He tossed it up and swung his sword, striking it. The boulder passed through the cast Hanzi. It broke off into thousands of black bullets, piercing the Humvees and a medium tactical vehicle. Smoke was emitted from inside. Flames emerged from the engines. The soldiers were trapped and shot to death. Julius then fired a laser beam, finishing the job.

  Kaboom!

  One hotspot down. More to go.

  Four Hours Later

  It was about sunset. Hundreds of Millions of dollars down the drain in one single battle. Lian took the second-to-last hotspot. Julius set off the last one with warm goodbyes. He cast 千稻雨輪.

  [Skill Count: 24] +1

  He then added two more Hanzi, 血液. A bigger wheel of rice swords revolved around his torso. The swords turned red after he added the two Hanzi. Red gloves were formed on both hands. All the swords were exerted, breaking the wheel. Julius' sword, Valence, shone in red light. Every red rice sword entered into the blade, enlarging Valence into a gargantuan display and might. Its usual qi color changed to red from sky-blue.

  Julius went double-handed on the handle. His sword illuminated like a sun in red. He swiftly went for a vertical slash, obliterating the last escapees.

  The slash caused a great scale of damage, leaving a wide opening. A measurement would be conducted later to see how deep it went. From the sky, Julius saw only a deep void of darkness. Safe to assume at least hundreds of feet.

  Julius steered away as Valence shrank to its original size, and his red gloves disappeared. The mouthplate untransformed. Julius reconvened with the deployed mages and others at a camp setup near the interstate. Everyone was soaked in either blood, debris, or other mess.

  Julius cleaned off the operations table as someone was coming.

  Tess, who was an absolute madlad, came in with her large duffel bag. Her head was covered in dried, nasty blood. She took thousands of photos and recorded many hours of footage. When she placed the duffel bag down gently on the table, the qi dispersed from the surface of the bag with a clap-like sound.

  "That was too much to grasp," Tess said while her mouth was drooling blood.

  "You'll get used to it," Julius responded and summoned a bottle of water. "Here, have some to replenish yourself…So, I heard you did it with how many cameras?"

  "Sixteen cameras and ten hard drives equaled twenty terabytes of 4k footage." Tess took off her suit jacket and let it rest on the chair. After folding up her long sleeves, she opened the duffel bag, revealing it to be ARRI’s ALEXA SXT camera. And next to it were the ten hard drives.

  Tess lifted the SXT camera from the duffel bag while Julius took out all the storage drives. Using her magic, she summoned fifteen cameras.

  The ARRI’s ALEXA SXT was in Qiao’s large duffel bag because she liked to lift large cameras for long periods. A habit from her filmmaking career and former studies. Before owning an SXT, she owned a Sony 55 and brought it with her, too. It wasn’t customized, and she was planning to get it done in the future. Julius observed all fifteen cameras Qiao summoned.

  The price that sat on the table was beyond one year’s worth of earnings. The SXT alone was at least sixty-five grand, not counting extra costs from the agency’s customized upgrades. Next to the SXT were six Sony Alpha a7 III (~$12,000), 5 GoPro HERO5 Black, 3 Canon EOS Rebel T7i (~$2250), and one Panasonic Lumix GH5 (~$2000). All sixteen cameras were used during the Fall of Interstate 45. Qiao used her ALEXA SXT and had to trust herself to use the other fifteen cameras simultaneously and not break them. Luckily, she came back with them unscathed. There were many photographs taken, and quick clips were recorded from the fifteen cameras, while the long footage was all on Qiao’s ALEXA SXT.

  Mother Elaine arrived with her phone. "I'm surprised you managed to do all of this."

  "No ma'am. I thought I was going to fail," Tess said with a dry throat. She took another sip of water. "I could do seven, but I never went up to fifteen while holding this big ass camera."

  "You should celebrate with lots of liquid," Empress Cai said, walking from the other side of the camp. "Taking a lot of photos and recording ruins your throat, right?"

  Tess nodded with a shrug. "A good dinner would be great. Only until we finish digesting these photos."

  "Fine. But where's Solomon? Or the collection guys?"

  "They're already going ahead with scavenging the materials. We will join them later," Julius said as he sat down on a chair. "Now, it's time for all of us to review these. The hidden treasure awaits."