That was when I saw someone about my height that I didn’t recognize, wearing a regular Eddington police uniform, leave the building heading towards us. I hoped he’d be the captain, and he proved me right when Torres called to him,

  “Captain.” Torres called out. “These people are saying all hell’s going to break loose later tonight when video game type monsters appear. Also, he wants to prove magic exists and is more powerful than we are.”

  The captain looked us over silently for almost a minute, then turned back to Torres. “What’s this about a live fire demo? Explain.”

  Torres pointed at me. “Your idea, you convince him.” I nodded.

  “I’m William Bannister. I’m a Mage, which means I can cast magic. I believe I know what’s going to happen in a few hours. Possibly when it gets dark. If I’m right, many more people are going to die or get badly hurt.”

  He scowled at me. Obviously, I was saying things he didn’t want to hear.

  “There’s going to be way more than you can handle, even if you bring in the local guard unit. Which you should do anyway.” I stopped for a breath and to gauge his reaction. I didn’t see one.

  “Not going to play poker with this one.” I decided.

  “What happened feels like an online role-playing game. It’s like lots of people play, and I’m one of them. If we treat it like one, we’ll have enough people to protect most of the city and some people in the county. We won’t save all of them. If we, or rather you, don’t, at the worst you could be looking at hundreds or thousands of people dead by this time tomorrow.”

  He glared at me for saying that. I continued anyway, “And a few really pissed off survivors who are more powerful than any of your people.” His face shouted his reaction louder than words would have. I knew he didn’t like me at this point.

  “You aren’t the first one to say we should treat this like a game. They got laughed at. How do you prove your magic?”

  Pointing at the tree over his right shoulder, I said. “Simple. I put up a shield in front of that tree. Both of you make sure no one’s behind it. Sergeant Torres shoots his pistol at it. If my shield can stop all his bullets, I can stop him. Or you. I can also shoot magic bolts while keeping the shield up and I can keep it going…for I’m not sure how long. I haven’t tried yet.”

  At least he turned and looked at the tree. So did others, some who their phones out and had been recording us.

  When he looked back at me, I added the sweetener. “If one bullet hits the tree, I was wrong. No one gets hurt. If I’m right, the shield will trap the bullets. No ricochet.”

  “I still hoped I was right.”

  Stopping, I looked at him, trying not to stare. I wished I knew his name. Something more than captain would help build a connection I didn’t have with him. He wasn’t wearing his name tag. I wondered why. I planned to check his stats when this was done.

  “When you fail. What do you do then?” he asked.

  “The same thing I told Sergeant Torres. We leave and do what we can on our own. I won’t try to fight my way inside. I’d lose. I’m not that kind of stupid.” That finally changed his expression and brought a hint of a smile to his face.

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  “Sergeant Torres will give the signal to start,” I said. “You warn the crowd to stay far back from the area, as he'll be using live ammunition to show magic versus guns. The rest of this is on you. Do you need the proof? Will you help without it? Or is it a no go right now?”

  He clenched his fists, frowned again, and everything about him looked ready to lash out. It was more than obvious he didn’t like me. I didn’t care. It would work or it wouldn’t.

  “Do it,” the captain spat out. “Show me.”

  “Thank you, captain. Please let everyone know what’s going to happen. We’ll begin when Sergeant Torres says so.”

  He spun around and began shouting to the crowd that they were about to witness a magic versus guns demonstration. He warned everyone to stay far away from the area because of the use of live ammunition.

  That drew everyone, including some of the other guards, in closer to see what was going to happen. It looked like more people had taken their phones out to record this. Just what I needed, and wanted. At the same time, I didn’t want it if it failed.

  A quick spell cast let me notice several people with young children who didn’t register on a DETECT MANA or show stats when I tried that spell. That meant there was a minimum age to be changed. Finding out what it was would be vital soon.

  It didn’t take long before the captain had it worked out with Torres and he told the sergeant to begin. I stood about five feet to the side from Sergeant Torres, and maybe two feet behind him. I knew something about gun safety.

  I’d noticed earlier that Ingrid was wearing a watch and asked her to time it from the first shot to the last. She nodded and I think she set a timer. Torres looked at me. “Do your shield.”

  “Yes, sergeant,” I replied and made casting motions I didn’t need to make. Or maybe I did, but I buried them in what I did and said. A pale blue, translucent rectangle ten feet wide by five high appeared about three feet in front of the tree.

  That caused a few people to take a step or two further away from the tree. A few did the opposite.

  “Shield’s up Sergeant. You may fire when ready,” I said. Now I’d find out if this worked. Or not.

  Only then did he draw his gun, and held it with both hands, pointing it straight up, ready to fire. He looked like someone on a pistol range. Glancing first at me, then the Captain he shouted, “Firing!” Then slowly aimed and fired his first round.

  “Earplugs!” I thought. “Got to get earplugs!” My hands quickly covered my ears. I could see the first round hanging in the shield. I’d used extra MANA in casting, so it could take a hundred points of damage before it failed and my MANA pool would support it from there. The shield had 10 Armor and minus 3 damage.

  Looking at it, I could see the damage left. 93 points. His bullets were doing 20 points of damage minus 13. It could hold out.

  Torres rapidly fired two shots, and I saw both shells stick in the shield, hanging in mid air. 79 points remaining.

  “Go ahead, empty the clip. You’ve damaged the shield.” I told him.

  He gave me a worried look. I just nodded. Six more rounds into the shield, and his gun locked open. Nine rounds. 63 points of damage with 37 remaining. The bullets all hung in the shield near the tree.

  “Shadow! Show yourself.” I smiled as she came into view, leaning against the tree with her legs and arms crossed. The bullets hung maybe a foot in front of her chest, just below her neck. There was a lot of talking and shouting among the watchers.

  “What tha fuck! Where’d he come from?” Torres shouted as she appeared. I dropped the shield, and the bullets fell at her feet.

  “Yeah. I forgot to tell you. Not only is magic real, so are ninjas who can be invisible,” “Or unnoticeable,” I added to myself.

  “You said no one would be near the tree,” the captain broke in.

  “Shadow wasn’t. At least not until Torres was done shooting.” I told him. “Then she moved in as we’d planned. Even if Shadow had been there all along, each bullet was doing seven points of damage. My shield had a hundred. Sixty-three percent isn’t too bad, except my maximum MANA bolts could do fifty each to Sergeant Torres, minus his armor.”

  Torres’ face went white. He got the message. He could be dead on my third shot. Maybe the second.

  “Shadow. Please come join us,” I faced the captain again. “Do I need to demonstrate the bolts, or will you help us help you?” We waited while he thought about it.

  “Yeah. They need to know about this inside. That’s more than we thought people could do.” The captain said.

  “Thank you.” I said.

  That was when Shadow joined us, holding out her hand, she opened it. There were nine bullets resting on her palm. “What y’all want me to do with these?” she asked.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov07yLusCKs