Mob Sorcery 2 - Ch10

Chapter 10

The first pack of enforcers rumbled into the alleyway Vince had been left in. His dragon rested in the air above him, tail lashing between the brick walls of the apartment complexes beside him. At the sight of Kaziern’s thugs, Vince popped his barrier.

Despite the sight of him at full power, the enforcers still tried their best. They fired off a series of wizard-tier spells. Textbook stuff: lightning bolts from the sky; water jets capable of rending cars apart; a tornado that carved thick gouges in the brickwork; and even a blinding beam of light that would work as a good movie prop for a space laser.

Vince’s dragon curled around him and consumed every spell before it even got close to him. The enforcers stood there in the aftermath, hands raised as if to prepare more spells. Thin white barriers covered each of them.

They were all demihumans or human enforcers. No lions yet. Far from the elites. Presumably, Luscarne kept them close to her inside the drug lab itself.

“As cliché as it is, this is the part where you run,” Vince said. “Or I can start blowing stuff up.”

“Fuck you,” one of the enforcers said. “We’ve been told about your trick. There’s an entire army of—”

Whatever nonsense they’d been told about his “trick” proved incorrect. The dragon roared fire and that enforcer vanished.

When the flames stopped, a smoldering wreck of a person collapsed to the ground. Vince doubted he was dead, as he’d controlled how much of the flames harmed the man after his barrier burst.

“Great trick, right?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Care to see me do more? How about two at once? Or should I skip right to as many as I can manage, just to prove I can?”

They scattered. Vince hoped they didn’t run back to their friends. If they did, like hell he’d spare them a second time.

Fool him once, etcetera.

Aware of the constant drain of his meister-tier spell, Vince ran down the alley after the fleeing enforcers. Shouting greeted his ears.

“Get back here! You call yourselves warriors of Kaziern!” a booming voice called out.

That would be a lion, Vince guessed.

He emerged onto the narrow street behind the building. Unlike the depot, the street remained shroud in darkness. No oversized lamps filling every inch with sterile white light. His dragon changed that the instant he stepped forward.

The drug lab proved easy to spot. The roller doors at the rear stood wide open, and a dozen lion enforcers stood behind them. Even more uniformed security massed in front of those lions. Catfolk, birdfolk, humans, and even a few rarer types like goats and mice. Kaziern proved themselves to be an equal opportunity employer.

When Vince stepped onto the street, every demihuman spotted him. Nearly fifty magic-using paramilitaries turned to face him, and the humans joined in, aware of their comrades’ enhanced night vision. Spells glowed in their hands.

“Ready your spells,” the same voice from earlier boomed. It came from a particularly large lion enforcer in the rear, who stood some nine feet tall and carried a conductor’s baton in one hand.

Then Vince’s dragon landed in front of him. The unearthly glow lit up the street around him, ensuring nobody missed either him or the huge, mobile spell battery.

“I’m ready,” Vince drawled.

“They can’t hear you,” Fia said. “Less talking, more—”

He used his dragon to start blasting before she could finish criticizing him. Even before he did so, half of Kaziern’s enforcers began sprinting away. They’d seen the others fleeing and understood why now. Vince did his best to spare them.

His best might not be enough, though.

Pillars of flame exploded from beneath the mass of enforcers, large and hot enough to vaporize several if Vince wished to. A flame laser shot out of the dragon’s mouth and slammed into the lead enforcer. Despite the fury contained within it, the lion’s barrier didn’t shatter and instead he went flying out of sight, deep into the building.

The dragon shot forth. A few spells chased it, as a handful of remaining enforcers held firm and tried to fend it off.

This happened almost every time. The enemy tried to fend off the dragon rather than Vince. They misunderstood the threat, thinking that the mass of magical flames could be opposed, as if it were a summon.

Which, Vince had to admit, was entirely the damn point.

So masses of water, ice, earth, and light crashed into the dragon harmlessly. Its coat roared even stronger and hotter, as if powered by the magic being used against it. That wasn’t the case, but Vince liked to give off that appearance.

Within a minute, the remaining enforcers scattered. Most of the non-lions fled. Their uniforms and measly paychecks meant nothing in the face of a spell capable of ending their lives or at least putting them in the hospital for longer than they cared to be.

At some point, a lion tried to lower the roller doors. Vince sent his dragon right through the doors, causing them to melt. With a spin, the fiery conjuration turned the doors into molten wreckage that flew across the street and pooled in corners for the street cleaners to pick up tomorrow.

Vince strode into the office building. Or what had been an office building at some point.

As Nina had told him, these had originally been really old factories. They were tall enough to have multiple levels, but Kaziern appeared to have stripped out any upper floors at some point.

All that remained were row after row of warehouse shelving, the loading bay he’d just entered, and a walled off area at the far end. Vince guessed the wall separated the storage from the drug preparation. Possibly in case of accidents.

“I’m inside,” he said. “No sign of any production here, either. Guessing Kaziern put everything on pause.”

Fia didn’t respond. He opened his mouth to follow up, but was interrupted by someone he’d forgotten.

The warehouse shelving twisted and warped, then shot off from the ground and began to form a body of its own. A titanic body nearly as tall as the multi-story building Vince stood inside.

“You’re not the only one capable of utilizing summons, boy,” the giant lion enforcer from earlier growled.

He waved his conductor’s wand as he strode out behind the growing golem formed from the steel shelving. The concrete flooring of the loading bay peeled away and began to form armor around its skeleton.

Given enough time, Vince figured the summon might be genuinely impressive.

“You’ve spent a lot of time perfecting a bunch of wizard-tier spells,” he said.

“Mastery of one’s school of magic goes a long way,” the lion said proudly, his orange barrier almost as solid as Vince’s own. “I can tell from the power oozing from your barrier that you understand your own magic well enough. Yet where you’ve chosen to chase a higher tier of spell, I’ve worked within the domain I understand.”

Lots of talk. Unlike the last lion with some talent, Vince realized he was being stalled.

Every second allowed the golem to grow stronger. Sweat poured down the lionfolk’s brow as he waved his baton.

Part of Vince wanted to test his strength against his enemy. See who was the strongest.

“I don’t have time for this,” he said.

“No. I’m afraid none of us have time in the middle of a fight for survival,” the lion said, almost sad.

Vince blinked. Then he ducked and threw himself to the side out of pure instinct.

A sword came down and slammed into the ground where he’d been. A foot-wide circle of concrete exploded, sending shards clattering against the walls fast enough to sound like bullets. Vince’s barrier turned them into powder even as he rolled away.

Luscarne stood there, face warped with fury.

“You don’t give your foe warnings, Gaeryl,” she snapped at the other lion.

“It’s no matter. We shall end this,” the male lionfolk, Gaeryl, said.

The golem creaked and raised a fist.

“Not we, all of us. Together!” Luscarne raised her head and screamed.

A dozen lion enforcers charged out from behind the wall in the distance. They all carried magical foci, and appeared to be preparing spells. Yet they needed to run quite some way to reach Vince and the battle.

And his dragon remained all too ready.

“I think you’re forgetting something,” he growled, not bothering to pull himself off the ground.

Flames exploded around both Gaeryl and Luscarne, even as the dragon fired a massive flame laser at the golem. The arm it had raised in the air to crush Vince glowed white-hot for a second, before the fire cut through the mass of cheap, mass produced steel. It exploded upon impact with the ground, nearly crushing Luscarne.

Gaeryl lacked the time to worry about his summon, however. As he tried to wave his baton to control or repair his golem, Vince’s dragon shot toward him. Its tail slammed into the lion and this time the blue flames that consumed him penetrated his barrier.

No time to celebrate. Vince saw one of the lion enforcers dashing toward him, moving nearly as fast as Pola might. Luscarne pushed through the flames on her side as well.

Somehow, she appeared utterly unharmed by them. Her orange barrier glowed as bright as ever and she moved as if aware of her immortality.

“Don’t you lions know when you’ve lost,” he snapped, but kept his distance from the woman.

A flame cage stopped the sprinting enforcer dead, particularly when he smashed into the fiery bars, burst his own barrier, and collapsed to the ground with searing burns. Others tried futilely to destroy the dragon. Flame lasers blew them across the room. At least one collapsed with a hole torn in his torso.

“Ignore the damn lizard,” Luscarne shouted. “Kill him!”

Ah, the magic words he needed. If they wanted him dead, he saw little reason to hold back. Especially as these were Kaziern’s elite.

He pulled his dragon back, letting it coil around him as spells rained down. Focusing, he cast the largest fire cage he could muster.

The ground rumbled around him as Luscarne assailed him with earth magic spells. She stood in the distance, sword plunged in the ground while casting spells. Chunks of earth exploded harmlessly on his dragon. If she attempted to explode the concrete beneath him, it failed as the raw magic exuding from Vince’s spell warded her off. Flames washed over her in response.

Rather than burn, she roared and charged him. Luscarne now tried to physically climb over the dragon, as if convinced she could not be harmed by it. Apparently, that proved true. Even direct flame lasers failed to so much as scratch her barrier.

Yet the raw depth of magical power in his dragon kept her at bay. She couldn’t physically harm it or him, as her actual strength fell far short of anything capable of harming Vince.

Finally ready, his dragon roared and surged forward. The lions shifted to avoid it. Time and again, they’d instinctively move or fire spells at the dragon despite Luscarne’s orders. Vince’s barrier held up to the few times they directly fired at him. Shelves crashed down across the building interior during the chaos.

Eventually, he found his chance. A fire cage sprung up around the enforcers, capturing all but a couple. Those few went down to concentrated fire from the dragon.

And then, slowly but surely, Vince filled the cage with more and more fire using his dragon. The lions crowded toward the center.

Only Luscarne remained alone.

“Enough,” she snapped, and pulled a small egg-like object from within her uniform. “I came prepared for you. Haven’t you realized that you can’t harm me?”

“Obviously,” he drawled. “It’s a little hard to miss after how easily I blew you away last time. Why do you think I focused on your minions?”

She glowered at him, still holding up the egg.

“What? Do you want me to act surprised?” Vince affected a shocked expression and spoke in a high-pitched, almost childish voice. “Amazing. You purchased some amazing magic tool using the unlimited line of credit Houou gave you. It is truly amazing that you have the ability to withstand my onslaught of brute force.”

“Shut up,” she snapped.

“This is Aulfair. I’m aware that knowledge is power, Luscarne. By revealing my trump card, it lets others counter it.” He pointed at the egg. “Let me guess, that’s some sort of endless well of magic? I’m guessing you’re powering your barrier in the same way that building defenses are powered. I don’t think it consumes magic, as I would have felt my spells being sucked up.”

“Close. This is a soul egg, a mystery of the Orient, and one of Houou’s—”

Vince blinked. “Wow. Is that a real one? I’ve heard the genuine ones are worth literal millions. Cursed gods and foxes are trapped inside them and provide an almost limitless power source for the user.”

“… so you know what it is, and how pointless it is to oppose me.”

He stared at the tiny iridescent egg in her hand. It looked real, or at least close enough to the images that Japan, China, and Korea cared to share of the handful of the ancient artifacts whenever they showed them off in museums. Whether they contained actual gods remained a mystery, but movies loved to use them as world-ending plot devices.

Which is why he sincerely doubted one rested in the hands of this idiotic enforcer.

“If that’s a real soul egg, why aren’t you casting super spells using your endless supply of magic?” he asked. “Go on. Take your best shot.”

He pulled his dragon back and let it coil around his body once more.

Silence fell. Luscarne’s enforcers watched from within the cage, as the flames stopped encroaching on them. They wanted to see their boss use the financial power of their backer to destroy Vince.

Instead, she bit her lip. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“Because it’s a knock-off. Some cheap magic tool that fuels your barrier but nothing else.” Vince snapped his fingers and the flames began closing on the lions. “So now we know how this works, let’s make an actual deal.”

“What!?” Luscarne’s eyes bulged.

“I’m an independent enforcer. That means I’m all about deals. This one is simple. You hand me the egg, and I don’t kill all your subordinates.”

Holy shit, he sounded like a genuine villain. Quintus would be so proud right now.

Yet, Vince realized, Fia had yet to say a damn thing. This seemed like the perfect time to chime in with a witty remark.

Luscarne looked down at the egg in her hands, aware that revealing it had been a mistake. The cries of her subordinates grew, as they tried and failed to repel Vince’s vastly superior magic.

“We’ll destroy you the moment you stop,” she mumbled.

“Uh huh. I said that I won’t kill them if you give me the egg. I’m a man of my word, unlike your boss,” Vince said.

“How dare you—" Luscarne stopped herself.

Seconds passed. At least one of the lions’ barriers shattered, but the others pulled him above them to protect their vulnerable comrade.

Luscarne hurled Vince the egg.

The flames vanished around the other lions. Before anyone moved, a flame laser shattered Luscarne’s barrier and turned one of her knees into a cauterized mess of gore.

“Fuck!” she screamed, collapsing to the ground.

“This is over,” Vince said. “Leave. I don’t—”

“Nothing is over,” Luscarne snapped. “The Golden Path is already on their way. We were ready for you. Do you think they aren’t as well? Houou has too much to lose to let you and the stupid wolves win. Yet you have a chance. One that Tobias offered you and you’ve almost thrown aside. All you need to do is let me call him and change sides. There’s still time.”

Vince rolled his eyes. “Good words after your lies earlier.”

“Do you think I’m lying when I say we have a mole in one of Lionetti’s branch families?” She grinned. “Even knowing this doesn’t help you.”

“Fia, you get that?” he asked aloud.

No response.

Panic rose within him. How long had it been since she responded to him? Or said anything at all?

“Is something wrong?” Luscarne asked, her voice tauntingly sweet.

Vince’s phone rang. He kept his dragon around him, but its maw remained pointed at Luscarne. None of the other lions dared to move, but they remained intent on continuing the fight.

He pulled out his phone and saw the caller ID.

Ronin.

“What’s up?” Vince asked, forcing his voice to remain steady.

“Vince, where the hell are you?” Ronin asked.

Panic ran through Vince. No way in hell his friend rang him up like this over nothing.

“Doing a job. Ronin, what—”

“Are you near Lionetti Tower? It’s been hit by someone. Orders have come down to place the area around it on lockdown,” Ronin said. “Somebody used magic to cut the whole area off from communications. It’s some sort of assassination attempt aimed at the Lionetti sisters.”

- - - - -

Commentary: I'll post the battle chapters this weekend, before slowing down for the aftermath, so look out for them.

I suspect a few people saw this coming with some earlier events/clues. I tried to balance out Vince not realizing Fia had gone silent with the combat distracting him, until he finally should have noticed something was wrong. It's a fine balance, as I want to avoid Vince appearing oblivious but also don't want him to be omniscient (and many readers will already be screaming about how Fia's silence is meaningful the moment she doesn't reply earlier).

On the flip side, the egg is a useful way to show how magic tools can be used to shift the balance of a fight. Vince relies entirely on his spells and raw power, but organizations can afford to buy those spells and that power from others. If somebody like Pola had that egg, she could probably be a serious threat to Vince.