The thug leader jumped up, a yellowish aura surrounding her. She adhered herself to a nearby wall using her power, out of reach of his wolves, at least for the moment. She then brought out a strange crystal sphere covered in a silver matrix and threw it at the ground in the thick of the shadowy horde of wolves.

A magical explosion, like a blueish wave of energy, washed over the alleway. Like a mana induced EMP, all of Van’s magic and all the wolves he summoned, as well as any ongoing spells simply dispersed into thin air. The turn of events were so shocking, everyone but the thugs and their leader stood still, unable to comprehend what just happened.

“Listen well boy toy. I don’t have the time to deal with you.” The thug leader growled. “But remember this…” Her eyes narrowed darkly. “Once I know who you are, I’m coming for you and your stupid friends. You’ll regret messing with me!” She hissed.

She then took out another sphere and threw it downward, creating a massive explosion of light and sound, filling the area with a dense fog. A few seconds later it had dispersed and all the thugs, including the ones on the ground were gone.

Van blinked, wondering what the hell just happened. What was the object that dispelled his magic? And why did they flee instead of taking the opportunity to attack them when their defenses were down and they were confused by all the light and sound?

It was then that he realized that his magic was already back. Whatever dispelled his power seemed to only last a few seconds before returning things back to normal. He had a theory that whatever it was that obstructed his magic, it couldn’t deal with more powerful and more tangible spells, only the weak mass produced kind.

More importantly, he turned to check on Luna and the others, who seemed to be doing okay, though a little confused still. Their guard still up, looking at the rooftops and any crack or door in the alleyway that could have allowed the thugs to escape from.

Seeing that they were doing fine, he turned to Anna, who was still standing guard on Magnolia and quickly made his way towards them.

“Are you two okay?” He asked, inspecting them for any cuts or bruises. But other than looking a little worse for wear, and very tired, Magnolia seemed fine, with Anna showing the most exhaustion and bruising.

“I’m okay.” Anna said, looking at Van still a little tense, searching her surroundings. Once she realized no one was coming back, she finally let her shoulders relax a little and reiterated her words. “I’m fine.”

Van gave her a nod and turned to Magnolia who seemed like a cat given the fright of its life. Her body shivering a little and her eyes widely scanning every little shadow like it might just jump out at her. “Hey… You okay?”

He gently tried to get closer and reach out with an offered hand. But that only served for him to be the focus of her fear for a good long while before she finally seemed to have pulled herself together.

“I-I’m fine. J-Just give me a second…” She ignored Van’s hand and slowly tried to stand straight and away from the wall that her back was against, but her body would flinch or shake in spasms every so often for no reason. At least for a few seconds until she finally got control over herself and forcibly stopped her shivering through force of will. “N-Now if you would excuse me, I’ll be headed back to the dorm.”

She didn’t even look at him directly when she said that. Simply started walking out of the alleyway as if in a trance, using every ounce of willpower she could muster to walk forward. Everyone was silent as she made her way out, looks of concern on everyone’s faces. When she was about to pass by Luna, Luna called out to her.

“Magnolia… I’m-”

“Don’t Talk To Me!” Magnolia snapped in a hiss of a voice. Making Luna flinched.

Magnolia then stopped and took a deep breath and let it out, not looking Luna’s way. “I didn’t mean to snap… But don't talk to me right now… I’m… Used to stuff like this happening to me… It’s not the first time… It won’t be the last… It's just… Takes me some time to… Get back to normal. I just need some time alone… Please…”

The whole time her head was down, her hands gripped tightly on themselves, refusing to look anyone in the eye. She seemed frozen in place, as if she wasn’t sure if she should go or stay.

Van looked sadly towards Magnolia and then turned to Anna, giving her a nod.

Anna received the silent message and walked over to Magnolia. This time it was her that offered a hand.

Magnolia looked at the hand as if it was a snake that was going to bite her. But upon noticing who it belonged to, hesitantly took it in her own. Anna then proceeded to guide her charge back to the dorms with all the grace and gentleness she could muster.

Van had a feeling that if Luna didn’t do anything now, it would be a long time before Magnolia ever warmed up to her. But at the same time if she did something wrong, it would worsen the relationship between the two perhaps forever. In times like these, even he wasn’t sure what to do that could help smooth things over.

But just as he was thinking that Luna rushed up to Magnolia and gave her a hug with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry Magnolia… This was all my fault. I don’t know why I sometimes do the things I do. But I should have just told you everything back at the dorm.” She then took a step back. “I promise you. I’ll make it up to you someday. I swear on my name.” Resolving to fix her mistake.

Magnolia was surprised by the sudden hug, her whole body stiffening, but when she realized who it was and why, she simply gave a silent glare back. It wasn’t one with anger, just a glare filled more with annoyance than anything. At most she acknowledged Luna’s words, but didn’t do anything else. Anna then got the hint after a while and proceeded once more to guide Magnolia back to the dorm in silence.

“Hmm… Don’t know if that helped or did nothing…” Van thought after he watched the interaction between his wife and Magnolia. It didn’t seem to have made it worse at the least, so he supposed it was fine. Though when Luna did something like that out of the blue he had a little heart attack.

As Anna slowly made a turn and disappeared from outside of view, Van decided that now it was time to do some investigation. He brought Kiki and Nikki over, thinking that they might have an idea of what it was that negated their magic, as well as any other ideas on what had transpired here.

Kiki took a look at what little remained of the crystalline sphere that was cracked on the ground. It seemed that whatever it was, like the thugs, was picked up before they fled. Or at least most of it, only a few crumbs and pieces of the strange object remained. Leaving behind a few silver slivers and shards no bigger than his pinky finger behind. Considering what little he saw was left, it must have been expensive.

“An MPD…” She muttered.

“What’s that?” Van asked.

“Mana Pulse Disruptor.” Nikki answered, leaning in to get a better look at the device.

“Like an EMP?” Van thought. “How does it work?” He asked.

“I’m not entirely sure…” Kikia admitted. “But from what little I do know, it was designed in collaboration with both Fandor and Malor. They are the ones that pioneered something like this.”

“Why would they do that?” Van asked, though he could already see the military applications of such a device. What he was really asking was, why would Fandor want to work towards such a device, considering they were nowhere near the technological level of Malor.

“I think the answer is actually fairly simple.” Kiki said, turning a piece over in her hand. “Vampires seemed to use magic for every little thing. You animate corpses to work for you, reinforce your structures with runes and mana, use blood pacts and other means to have near complete control of your minions, which also include silent transmissions so long as they are in range of their master… You create golems, probably have the second biggest train network right after Malor, and can even further supplement your forces with creatures conjured through pure magic. Such as your shadow wolves. Not to mention you have the highest number of sorcerers and mages in the known world. Even I, someone from Malor who takes pride as being a citizen of a nation of mages, am forced to admit to that.”

She then turned to show him her raised brow. “Why do you think Fandor would be interested in such a device? Too, even if only temporarily, put a stop to your magic?” She gave a look like it should have been obvious, though not in a condescending way, more of an amused one.

Van guessed he really shouldn’t be surprised by this revelation. In hindsight if he gave it some thought he already would have come to the same conclusion as her. Though he did want to hear her opinion and view on it first.

But just as quickly she showed him her smirk, that it dispersed and she looked back at the object with a more discerning gaze. “The real question though…” She muttered. “Is what is it doing in Alcray? And how did a random thug on the street get her hands on it?”

Van looked around. “Now that I think about it… After all that commotion… Where are the guards? And why did they simply flee if they had something like that up their sleeves?”

“Didn’t the leader say something about finding out who we are? Perhaps she just wants to make sure you're not an important noble or something. If you're from a big house, getting rid of you might be more complicated than she would hope for.” Nikki said thoughtfully.

Van nodded, already thinking in his head the same thing. “And if we are too big… Perhaps she could use her connections to get rid of us if not herself.”

“You think those thugs might have powerful connections?” Kiki asked, unsure how a bunch of street thugs could have someone important backing them up.

“If this device is has hard to come by as you said it is, then no doubt they must know someone, right? How hard is it to get this device exactly?” Van asked.

Kiki shook her head. “Technically they should have just gotten out of the testing stages. We haven’t even worked out a proper prototype. At least… Not officially…” She said hesitantly. “Which makes it even weirder as to why they have something like this…” Looking like the broken device in her hand was more than just a simple enigma.

Van thought about that, then took one last look around, trying to figure everything out. But after a few minutes, he hefted a sigh and gave up. “Well… At least she’s going to get in trouble with whoever sold or gave that device to her.”

“What makes you say that?” Kiki asked.

“If I simply used such an important device for something so trivial, that might be investigated by professionals or those who know about it, I would get in real trouble. Right?” Van answered.

“Maybe not. Afterall, who other than a few people in all of Alcray would know of such a device even existing in the first place?” Kiki answered back.

“That’s true… It’s the perfect tool to pull off some of the perfect crimes. Makes sense why she would try to pick up as much of it as possible, like she did her companions…” Though Van couldn’t help but feel like there were a few pieces he was missing. The leader of those thugs seemed to be the overly cautious type, always seeming to have a device or item at the ready, and then turning tail at the first sign of a real challenge. She didn’t strike Van as the type to leave such important evidence behind unless forced to…

“Well… whatever the case, let’s not linger here any longer. I don’t want the guards to finally decide to show up and get sent for questioning.”

“Definitely.” Kiki nodded. Putting away the pieces of the broken MPD in her bag and getting up. “Let's get out of here.”

Van looked over to Luna who was listening in, but hadn’t spoken up since she didn’t feel like she would be able to contribute anything to the discussion.

“You two go ahead. I’ll take Luna around the town for a bit longer.” thinking about how it would be awkward if they showed up after Magnolia after just a few minutes' time. “Oh,” He turned to Kiki. “I would also like a few pieces of that device if you don’t mind.” Extending out a hand.

Kiki and Nikki hesitated and both gave a quick look towards each other. So fast that Van wasn’t sure if it wasn’t his imagination. But gently Kiki gave him a small portion of the broken device she took away. “We’ll research some of this and call some of our contacts and come back to you with anything we find.” She said amicably.

Van thanked her and made his way to Luna, taking her hand into his own. “Let’s go Luna. We can still enjoy our day. Don’t worry, let’s take our time before going back home, okay?”

Luna gave him a small nod, still feeling bad and blaming herself for everything that happened.

“We'll go with you.” Kiki and Nikki said.

Van turned surprised, he had thought that after everything that happened they too would want to go back to whatever place they were staying at and rest for a bit. “Are you sure?” He asked.

They both nodded.

“We still have a few things left to do.” Kiki said with a shrug.

“We’ll even show you around the marketplace, we’ve already found the best places with the best deals!” Nikki said with a smile.

“Not to mention you’ll probably need someone like a guide to help show you around.” Kiki added. “So if there was something you wanted to get, we’ll help you get it.” She then gave a smirk. “This might be your only opportunity, we’ll make sure to cut some stellar deals. No one can beat our haggling.” She said proudly.

Van smiled. “Thanks, I’ll appreciate the company.”

The group then left the alleyway in a slightly better mood than when they first arrived. Whatever might happen when they go back to the dorm could be left to worry about later. Now it was time to get some great deals!

Though if they were aware that they were being watched as they left. Perhaps they wouldn't have tried to so quickly forget and move on…