Silent Night

The meeting with Regent Suryo, General Rico and James Randalls have started. Alex told them the exact locations of the Pillars in Central Java, West Sumatra, South Sulawesi, West New Guinea, and Bali. Alex will be in charge of the one in Bali, the one in Sumatra will be the Regent's base. The Regent will also assign his generals the task of sending soldiers to clean up the other two locations.

As for the one in Central Java, it will be a little bit complicated.

Indonesia has a population of 270 million, about 60%, which is around 140 million, live in Java. Alex told the group that the current government will not survive. There are too many people that will not survive the plague and that includes the President and the Vice President. Alex hopes that General Rico, a high-ranking police officer, will be able to uphold public security and save as many people as possible from the capital city and people around western Java. The Randalls will take care of Surabaya city in the Eastern Java. After 3 months, they will need to bring the survivors to the Doomsday Pillar in Central Java. This will be a very difficult task.

Overall, the Regent will be providing support through army soldiers and weapons, James Randals will be supporting by providing supplies and General Rico will be pushing with the government support. Alex also requested General Rico and the Regent for support in the Bali police Headquarter and an army base.

The meeting lasted for 3 hours, it was already midnight and it was time to go. The next time they meet, if they managed to survive, it will probably be in a few months after the apocalypse started. Before leaving, the Regent had a private conversation with his granddaughter Aria. It seemed to be a difficult situation for her, but Aria still chose to help Alex as promised.

The next day Alex decided not to leave Singapore for another night, he stayed in one of the private cottages in Sentosa Island Singapore. Many of the guests from yesterday tried to contact him but he refused. There was nothing else he was willing to share with these people. Alex met with Jerry and Aria to discuss a few things, and after a few minutes, they both left.

24 December, it was Christmas night. For the past couple of years, Alex had been attending church on this night with his family, but not this time. Tonight, he had other things planned, it was also for his family's sake. Alex stayed alone in the villa right next to the beach. The sound of the wind and the crashing of the waves was very peaceful. It was a silent night.

22:00 At night

Several people wearing a black outfit surrounds the villa where Alex is staying. They walk swiftly with almost no sound at all. These are a group of Ninjas. They are Japan's mysterious mercenaries. Master in the art of fighting called ninjitsu. Their existence in the modern world is still somewhat a mystery. They specialize in spying for information or political assassinations. Tonight they are coming for Alex, unfortunately for them, he is prepared.

Seven hundred meters away from the beach, there's a boat facing the villa.

"One, two... Five hostiles confirmed. They are approaching. Right now, they are 10 meters away from the villa. Target locked, permission to take the shot."

"No Aria, hold your fire, I can take care of this."

Alex already knew that after the event, especially showing off the spirit stones, there will be some group of people who will want to steal it from him. He was actually waiting for it.

Three ninja warriors have managed to walk inside the villa, while the other two are waiting outside as backups. Ninjas are masters in using a short sword, two of them walks slowly into the bedroom door. Upon opening the door, a force of wind suddenly comes...

BAAMMM

A punch comes out and hits one of them in the face, the other two ninja jumps out to the back. The ninjas that are outside swiftly run inside the villa. Alex slowly walks outside of the bedroom, right now, six of them are within the villa's living room. The space of the living room is about half the size of a basketball court. But with all the furniture, it somehow feels tight inside.

"I've heard that Ninjas are masters in close quarters combat. I really wish to give it a try."

SLASHHHH... SLASHHHH...

Two of the ninjas move swiftly slashing their katana. Alex manages to dodge it.

SHHHHTTT... SHHHHTTT...

Two more advances together to fill up the empty space next to Alex. Alex is now completely surrounded.

"Are you boys here to kill me or capture me?"

"...."

"Hello, are you guys mute? You guys really are the best assassins!"

He is about to counter-attack when Aria suddenly reports to Alex,

"Alex, more are coming."

"How many?"

"Just one, it's a woman. I think you will not like this… The person approaching is Christina."

"..."

Alex finally stops playing around, he needs to finish this group of assassins or it might endanger his friend. Although this group of assassins is better in hand to hand combat compared to the special forces soldiers, they are still no match to Alex. He's a high stage Mortal Realm with medium grade movement techniques, include the 10 years of combat experience and his storage ring full of weapons, these assassins definitely do not have any chance in winning against him.

Alex dodges one of the ninja's attacks with the hexagram step, the side steps, and uses an elbow.

BAMMM!

Taking his short sword while at it, he turns around and slashes the other 2 ninjas at his back. He then jumps up and throws the short sword to stab the fourth ninja. Four experts of ninjutsu martial arts are down in less than three seconds. The fifth ninja standing on the back cannot believe what he is seeing.

When Alex is about to attack the last ninja, the door suddenly opens. The fifth ninja is surprised and he draws his sword to slash the person who has just entered through the door.

Alex is startled, he takes out a gun from the storage ring, but it seems that he is not fast enough...

The ninja's movement is swift and slashes even faster.

When Christina opened the door and she was shocked upon seeing the scene...

SLAASSHHHHH.....

SHHHHHTTTTT..... SPLATT...

The sword is coming straight to her as if trying to reach out to her, but the ninja's head explodes before it even reached her. Blood splashes on the door, some also splashes on Christina's face... She is stunned, she is about to scream when Alex suddenly grabs her and makes a hand sign not to make a loud noise. Alex then takes her to the sofa to sit.

"Great shot Aria."

Alex praised Aira, she did a headshot from seven hundred meters passing through the window on a slightly moving boat.

Aria answers,

"Don't be too comfortable. I spotted three-speed boats moving to your location. ETA two minutes, at least a dozen hostiles. Should I take the shot?"

"Negative. Draw them in first."

Alex, kneeling in front of Christina, says,

"You came at a bad time. Next time, call me first. Did you ate the stone I gave you?"

Christina, unable to speak, only shakes her head,

"Do you have it with you?"

She nods, "Good, eat it now and hide. Go to the bedroom and stay there, more people are coming."

"Alex, I counted 18 of them. They seem to be amateurs, based on their clothing and weapons. I am 80% sure they are related to the Somalian pirates. They are only 50 meters away from your location. How do you want to proceed?"

Alex calmly answers, "I will stay here to distract them. Proceed with the shooting starting from the back. Jerry, you will pick off the ones that are isolated. We will not kill them. Only disable them..."

"Ok."

"Affirmative."

The result of the battle was obvious. Aria disabled her targets easily with her snipping abilities. And with the darkness of the night, Jerry's knife skills and speed were uncanny. None of the pirates had seen him coming when they approaching the villa, 18 hostiles were down in less than 3 minutes.

Aria stayed on the boat as a lookout. Inside the villa, Alex and Jerry tied up all 22 hostiles, Christina also saw the mercenaries. Alex didn't bother to interrogate them, they were mercenaries after all. They probably didn't know anything except how much money they will be paid.

Christina was still confused, she wanted to visit Alex because of what she had heard about yesterday's event from her parents. The Alex her parents described was not the Alex she knew. Seeing this bloody scene, she somewhat understood that he really did change.

The spirit stone she ate has taken effect, she is now a middle stage Mortal Realm Spirit Enhancer. Christina is a unique Spirit Enhancer with talent in fire. But she has never experienced combat like Jerry or Aria, thus her talent is dormant. Now that she has reached the middle stage, once the Doomsday comes, it would be easier for her to train her talent. Alex told Jerry to drive Christina back to her home.

With what had happened, she somehow believed what Alex told her to be the truth, she moved closer and hugged Alex... Then she left.

Alex is worried about her safety too. He hopes that she will be able to survive the upcoming disaster.

Once Christina and Jerry are no longer in sight, Alex faces the 22 mercenaries who only cares about the money. He considers pirates and assassins as lowlifes in his book. What he is about to do is not going to be too difficult for him. Alex takes out the amulet of the sun from his storage ring. A slaughter has been concluded that night.

Aria has seen the scene from afar, she can see what Alex is doing and she feels troubled about it.