When Leon entered the diner, he instantly spotted the duo that had invited them to model for the show later that night. Andrew instantly spotted the two of them and waved them over to their table.
"Merry Christmas." The black haired man smiled widely.
"Same to you." Leon nodded with a small smile, while Michael simply nodded.
"We came here early to wait for you. We didn't get a call last night, so we were thinking you might not be up for it anymore. Are you still up for it?" Rowan asked and held up his cup of coffee to his lips.
"Yes, we are. We were just quite tired. It was a long journey to town." Michael nodded his head and called over the brown haired boy from the previous night. He ordered two cups of coffee before turning his attention back to the two men in front of him.
"That's great. We should head to the studio in an hour to start preparing. We can also get some preliminary shoots with you two." Andrew grinned. He was really excited for the chance to get the two to model for them.
Meanwhile, Leon and Michael were conversing mentally.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt'Time is running out. When are you going to settle your business in this world? The sooner you do, the sooner we can leave this world.' Michael told Leon.
'After the show that you deprived me of.' Leon replied. He had already decided to tell Megan who he was, and that he was fine, in order for her to move on. James too. The three of them were all close.
'Very well, then.' Michael did not rush him.
Bang!
Just then, the doors to the diner slammed open, its sound drowning out the ring of the automatic bell.
"Everyone, down on the ground!" A team of five armed men barged into the diner, wielding guns of various types. Leon was not much of a gun person in his previous life, but he could easily identify a couple of Uzis, and a Scorpion EVO 3. The remaining two guns were rather foreign in his eyes. They looked quite strange, and a faint orange light glowed underneath the gaps of the guns.
Instantly, the people in the diner dropped to the ground with screams and yelps of fright. One of the men rushed into the kitchen and after a bit of time, he came back into the diner while holding a gun to James' back. In front of James was Megan, who had a frightened expression on her face as she was nudge forward.
The two of them sat with their backs against the counter, looking around with fearful eyes. The brown haired boy was also brought to sit down with them, while the last man joined up with his comrades.
Ding!
The bell above the door rang out as a lean, dark haired man, with an eye patch over his left eye, walked into the diner. He swaggered in with a gun slung over his shoulder. Like the two guns Leon was unable to identify, his gun also glowed faintly.
'Is that... Mana?!' Leon asked Michael with shock. They were sitting with their backs to the wall, beside Andrew and Rowan. As soon as the men had barged in, they had chosen not to react. In fact, Michael had already noticed them before, but Leon had not because of his scatterbrained state ever since the night before.
'Yes, took you too long to notice it.' Michael replied.
'But... How?'
'Have you forgotten what I told you about already? Every world contains mana. It is just that the mana on Earth is so faint that it barely affects anything. That will change over the coming centuries and millennia, but already, some can harness what little exists.' Michael explained to Leon. He was not surprised at the sight of mana infused weapons.
The development trajectories of Earth and Datar were vastly different. Because of an abundance of mana, Datar's development leaned towards the magical aspect, forgoing almost every advancement in its technology. Meanwhile, because of the lack of mana on Earth, its development had always been pointed in the technological aspect.
The one eyed man nibbled on the butt of an unlit cigarette as his single eye swept over the interior of the diner. It only took him moments before his eyes settled on Andrew and Rowan; it seemed like they were his targets.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHowever, there was no way he could miss Leon and Michael, as their looks were too eye catching. So he immediately assumed the best. That they were models!
"Andrew Higgins and Rowan Michael. So nice to see you here. From now on, you are my captives." The one eyed man grinned and told his men to capture the two men. Then he turned to Michael and Leon. "As for these two, you must be models working for them, huh? I guess I can ransom a neat sum out of you too." His grin widened as the two men with the glowing guns stepped forward to grab Leon and Michael.
'Should I?' Leon asked Michael.
'Go ahead.' The God gave his approval.
Whoosh!
Bang!
A sharp sound rushed through the air, before the body of one of the men was sent crashing into the wall, unconscious. Leon stood in the man's spot, his eyes fixed on the second man.
"What?!" The one eyed man stumbled back and held up his gun.
Ratatatata!
Bullets blasted out of the muzzle with a bright purple flash of light. Purple flames trailed behind the bullets, but they all came to a harmless stop a foot away from Leon, all floating in the air, as if an invisible wall kept them at bay.
"N-no!" The man slapped his other subordinates and they also opened fire. Leon's eyes narrowed, and the world slowed to a stop as his thoughts were far faster than their actions. He knew that if he let them fire the bullets like so, then many people would get injured, and some may even die.