Chapter 388: Let's Dance
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis.
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Quinn prepared his magic as he thought about the situation he was in.
Aksel Thorn's talk about the risk of breaking the secrecy laws was real. Even though the park wasn't a popular population spot, it was still in London, the most populated city in the country. Any commotion that leaked out would reach the massive non-magical population, further alerting the authorities. That snowball would roll down the slope to reach the ears of DMLE for a team of Aurors, Hit Wizards, and Obliviators to arrive at the scene to contain the mess. Which Quinn was sure neither he nor Limax wanted to happen— it was an element that'd get both of them in trouble they wouldn't even want to touch with a long stick.
The fight hadn't even started, but Quinn was already regretting his choice. This wasn't his previous brawls as the Invisible Vigilante, where he could create as much commotion as he wanted— he had to be careful to not attract attention. . . which meant that he had a paper ceiling above his head that was very easy to tear. It was better for him to be in a spacious place, away from curious eyes, where he could let his magic work freely. The current location was tilted in favor of the Limax group.
'It's okay; not all is bad,' Quinn thought, 'I have the element of surprise. . . and I'm a West.'
Without warning, Quinn broke into a sprint and ran towards the tree nearest to him, ducking just in time to have half a dozen spells miss him. He hid behind a tree and again regretted one of his decision to set up a spatial-locking ward; it would've been better to escape rather than fight them head-on. By the time that thought ended, half of the tree trunk had been turned into splinters about to break apart.
'Time to move.' He triggered body magic and rushed out, threw a zig-zag in his path, and ran towards the nearest person with a shield that took the brunt of three stunners and multiple anti-shield spells, which surprised Quinn— Limax was looking to really take him out quickly. His shield held up, and he continued to charge the nearest man. Quinn shot a disarming spell at the man— but surprisingly, the man countered it and shot a point-blank stunner in Quinn's face.
Red exploded in front of Quinn's eyes. The Limax member in front of Quinn smiled with victory, but the next second, the red spell shrunk down into a point between Quinn's hand. Quinn raised his foot, front kicked the man a few steps back, and then returned the stunner back into the man's face, knocking him out cold. Before the man could even fall, Quinn used Empyrean ropes to pull him up and then used the body as a meat shield that took five stunners in the chest.
"Friendly fire?!" Quinn yelled as a taunt from behind the man's body. "I thought a mercenary group would be better than this."
Limax members' eyes followed as Quinn dropped the man to the ground, and when they looked up, Quinn was gone.
"He's still here; find him!" yelled Aksel to the team. Four members cast magic, and the entire area was flushed with a wave of blue. Aksel kept his eye peeled as he swept the area to find a momentary blur running towards a tree. "He's running East! Niel, the tree to your left!"
Neil turned to the tree with a savage smile. His wand vibrated with screaming magic that was unleashed towards the general area with a Latin incantation.
"Niel, don't— !" Aksel's attempt to stop was drowned by the loud crack of the tree being uprooted and then split in the middle, followed by being blasted into a grenade of splinters. "Neil! What the hell are you doing?! We need him in one piece!" He hastily turned to Lucas, "The sound?" Lucas nodded, and Aksel sighed in relief.
"He'll be fine; the kid is good with magic," Neil waved it off. The dust settled with the falling leaves and what left was the remnants of the once brutally murdered tree. . . but no sign of Quinn. "Is his Disilluisionment somehow still on?" said Neil as he cast a spell to check. His expression changed faster than a Snitch on its wings; he yelled out, "He's not here! I didn't get him!"
All Limax members armed themselves with spells on the tip of their tongues. A silence passed through the fall leaves beneath them as twenty veteran mercenaries scoured their surroundings. A crunching of leaves sounded out, and everyone turned to watch as a Limax member fell to the ground. Immediately, all tensed their nerves. . . they were two out.
"I want a reveal," commanded Aksel. On his order, bursts of the counter-illusion spell were sent out; however, unlike the last time, there was not even a blip of distorting movement on the ground.
"AaaaAhH!"
Everyone turned to see one of the Limax member's legs disappear into the red-yellow canopy of the tree. Aksel held his hand up in a fist to stop everyone from bombarding the tree. Lucas swung his wand, and every single leaf on the target tree fell. . . and along with it came tumbling the unconscious body. Everyone stared at the fall except Aksel, Neil, and Lucas, who flushed the tree with a gust of freezing winds that froze icicles on the naked tree top. There was no one there.
"Be attentive—"
A muffled groan was followed by a thump in the dry leaves. Eyes widened as they pointed their wands to their fallen comrade, who had been standing right in the middle of the formation. There wasn't need for an order for the surrounding people to riddle the area with a torrent of spells. . . alas, the magic just passed through.
"Where is the brat?" asked Neil heatedly. Unexpectedly, the answer arrived immediately.
"I'm here, don't worry. . . " The Limax team got startled as Quinn's voice sounded from seemingly everywhere. They looked around to no avail. The voice continued, "Let's end this, Mr. Aksel. I can't return home, and I'm sure all of you have more important things to do—" Aksel gave a glance to Lucas, who nodded and stealthily began casting magic "— let's make a small commotion here; a contained explosion will do, and then all of us leave— you can go back to grandfather and tell him that you found me, but because of the explosion, you lost sight of me and had to leave before non-magical eyes got here. . . after that spend a couple of days looking for until you declare that I can't be found. . . put some rookies on the busywork of trying to find me while the experienced squad can leave for more important work. How about that? Seems like a sound plan."
Lucas nodded to Aksel and got a nod back. "We can't do that, Quinn. It would undermine us in the eyes of your grandfather. We have a reputation to uphold. I have many people working under me who have mouths to feed; I can't have the firm's image be tarnished. So, please come out."
Aksel gave the signal. A spell escaped Lucas' wand and hit its target. The vacant spot suddenly had a wide-eyed Quinn facing multiple wands; he immediately raised his hands in surrender.
"Let's not make this more difficult than it has already been, Quinn," said Aksel, taking out a pair of thick cuffs from his vest. "I would rather have put these on instead of taking half a dozen stunners in the chest. Please believe me, taking any more than five takes a month and a half of complete bed rest and some nasty medicines to recover from."
Quinn wrinkled his nose, his raised hands clenched into fists as he struggled with the decision. He locked eyes with Aksel and softly shook his head. A split-second later, there was a spell in Quinn's hand, but before he could cast it, he was hit by multiple stunners.
Aksel sighed at Quinn's prone body on the ground. "Wands at ready." He stepped towards and crouched near Quinn's body, but when he raised his hand to touch Quinn, it passed through it as if Quinn was a ghost. Aksel's eyes widened as he stood up and turned to freeze.
At the very back of the group, Quinn was gazing at him. He stood behind one of the Limax members with one of his hands just beneath her nose, holding a vial of yellow potion that entered her body through the nose in the form of fumes, while his other hand was on her temple casting some magic.
Quinn let her go, stepped back, and vanished into thin air as if melding into the surroundings, all the while still staring at Aksel.
"Lira?" Aksel called to his subordinate, who had her head bowed. The woman named Lira raised her to reveal glazed-over, hazy eyes. She raised her wand up as the rest of the Limax team turned towards her. Aksel took in the scene for a moment before he yelled, "On guard—"
Lira, with all her power and skill as a veteran mercenary, cast magic on her teammates, who weren't expecting to be shot at by one of their own. In the mere ten seconds that she had before she was spelled down, Lira took out four of her teammates.
"Fuck!" spat Neil, whose spell knocked Lira out. "That's it, kid! Come out, and I'll only break a few of your bones!"
As if responding to his words, four red spells manifested in the air— right in the center of where the Limax members were standing. The four spell-lights zapped away and struck four people in their chest, sending them flying a couple feet. The initial spells hadn't even hit their target when four more appeared and launched themselves at yet another four Limax members.
Aksel, Neil, and Lucas, who hadn't been targeted, all immediately let out some severe spell-power to the origin of magic. A bright shield was immediately erected in response to their spell, but the Limax-founder's magic tore, ate, and shattered the shield to strike the caster.
Quinn immediately became visible, slapping his sleeve, which was on fire. "Shit, shit, shit, I liked this suit," he said in a tone not suitable to the situation. He looked up at them and spoke, "Well, it's only four of us up now. Me and the original gang— reminds me of the afternoon in Denmark when we first met."
"What did you to her?" asked Aksel with a tone void of any previous softness.
"Organized chaos," said Quinn, smiling proudly. "Potion of madness combined with some suggestions planted in the front of her mind. I pointed to a direction, and her honed instincts did the rest. . . don't worry, neither Ms. Lira nor I used any lethal spells; everyone will be up and running within a week of rest." He again raised his hands, "You don't have to look at me like that. You're here to arrest me against my will; I had to retaliate. . . Listen, I'm sorry that you had to be involved in this family dispute, and if it's any consolation, I think you're on the right side— it's just not the time for the wrong side to be defeated." Quinn pointed at the knocked-out bodies and continued, "Isn't this enough? This would be enough for grandfather to get off your back. Believe me, if you tell this exactly as it was— he'd thank you and tell you to rest."
Aksel shook his head and continued to do so for a moment. "We are taking you home today; there's no other way to it." Lucas stared a Quinn with a face that could be confused with a statue, while Neil looked like he wanted to kill and drink Quinn's blood.
Quinn rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck,
"Let's dance then."
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Quinn West - MC - I like to tango.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - NBA Final Game-5. 27-16 for GSW. End of Q1. I bet for GSW.
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Chapter 389: COLD
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis.
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"You don't want to fight me, Mr. Aksel," said Quinn, in one final attempt to diffuse the situation. "Three of you can still call this off; take your injured companions for some much-needed treatment, and I'll make sure you cannot find me again." He kept an eye on three mercenaries who slowly walked around, forming a boundary that seemed to be some sort of formation.
The three had apparently decided on an answer as a flashing spell zapped from Lucas' wand. The magic made the invisible shield around Quinn light up in an electric blue. The shield's blue tinted Quinn's vision the same.
'Hmm?' Quinn furrowed as he sensed something, but before he could even pinpoint the cause, a spell corroded his shield, causing Quinn's breathing to flare as he felt a sledgehammer like force slam into him. As he flew back through the air, his thoughts fell into place. His eyes glanced at Aksel— the man had shot a blue-colored spell using the shield's tint as a camouflage.
Quinn was still surprised when he hit the ground, but the rib-rattling impact that flared the pain snapped him out of it. His magic flowed into the ground beneath him, and the earth rose up to form a dome that was again immediately blasted into smithereens from the force of the spells. Quinn squeezed his eyes closed and hissed as some dirt from the explosion entered his eyes.
'I need to stop using earth as a cover,' he exclaimed while cleaning his eyes using magic. Just like before, he sensed some magic and hastily pulled up two layers of protective shield that came in use immediately as spells torpedoed into it, trying to drill through to reach him. The spells were one of the most powerful he had ever faced. . . but even the combined force was weaker than one of Voldemort's Fiendfyre whisps.
He got into a one-knee kneel and steadied himself. He recognized that the current situation was more dangerous than the time he was pursued by the three Aurors. The veteran mercenaries in front of him were much more trained and experienced in the art of combative magic.
'They have years of experience over me.' He acknowledged the fact, but it didn't mean that he had nothing. 'I have magic on my side.' Listening to his command, Quinn's magic rushed forward to do his bidding. Quinn's shield disappeared, leaving an open passage for the Limax's spells— but they could even inch forward, a wave of power rippled out, ripping the magic apart. There was so much energy in the spherical wave that Limax three pulled up shields to not be blown away.
By the time the magic had passed, and the leaves had settled, Quinn was not to be found in his spot. "On guard," said Aksel, his eyes darting across the place. "He's still here. . . I can feel it."
<"Is that the so-called seasoned veteran's intuition?"> Quinn's voice echoed in their ears as it had done a few minutes prior. <"If it is, spot-on; I'm still here. Though the real question is—">
"—where am—. . . ."
Neil's wand twitched, and he abruptly-yet-preparedly turned to his right to stab Quinn with a conjured silver dagger that passed through his body as if he wasn't there and subsequently turned into mist.
<"Oh, that was quick. . . your sense of magic fluctuations is good, Mr. Neil. You turned before I could surprise you with the whisper"> Quinn's voice again echoed. <"Let me share a fun fact about me. . .">
A sudden wind cutter whistled towards Lucas, who flicked his wand to counter it. The sharpness of the wind was taken away, but he couldn't stop a large gust of wind blowing in his face, pushing back his hair and cheeks.
<". . . I'm not experienced in face-to-face fighting. . .">
A huge metal ore conjured over Neil's head that he immediately suspended in the air, but before he could cancel the conjuration, the ore turned molten, and Neil had to spring up a shield for protection. The molten ore dripped and sizzled down the shield until it suddenly cooled down into solid within a second. Neil canceled his shield only to be left surrounded by a strange metal ring.
<". . .it's not my forte. As bad as it sounds. . .">
Two earthen hands sprung out of the ground and grabbed onto Aksel's feet, who in retaliation turned five feet of the land around into a crater, flattening the appendages into dust.
<". . .attacking from the shadows is more in my forte.">
The Limax three founders took in sharp breaths as they felt an obscene amount of magic flooding the vicinity. It was as if someone had opened the flood gates. Their instincts screamed at them to be vigilant; they immediately stabbed their wands into the earth to meld the earth into domes around their companions before taking an active stance. There was a gust of wind here and a crunch of leaves there. . . but what bothered them was the unnatural silence that accompanied the overwhelming magic that prickled their skin; it was as if something was dampening the travel of sound through the air.
Then it started.
From all around the area, spells started to barrage over the Limax three. Magic with a real kick came from everywhere; even the sky wasn't spared as magic rained down upon them. The Limax three immediately got to work conjuring shields, countering the magic, and lending a hand to others, working like a well-oiled machine. If it was a movie, they'd be making comments like— 'It has been a while,' 'You're getting rusty,' 'Do you remember Baghdad'. . . but it wasn't a movie, and no unnecessary words were exchanged between the three as they defended against the magic.
"Aksel," spoke Lucas, "north, two."
Aksel didn't even think to confirm and turned to shoot a packed Bombarda towards the exact direction Lucas pointed to. The spell grew in size and burst near a tree, exploding and taking a bite out of the trunk. A figure darted out from within the smoke and dust, and Aksel shot two quick spells towards it, while Lucas didn't even look in that direction and aimed one explosive spell in the opposite direction.
"Spotted, eleven!" Lucas informed as his magic made contact with an invisible figure.
Quinn, the said invisible figure, dismissed his shield and shot three quick bone bruising spells towards the Limax three. He followed with an illusion that looked like a smoke bomb while himself slipping up into the sky. Quinn raced to think of his next attack when he noticed the state of the area. . . there was too much destruction, and he could even see white smoke that had started to rise up. . . even with all parties holding back, it was only a matter of time when people would notice. He looked down and bit down on his lower lip in thought.
He watched as Lucas pointed toward him in the sky for Neil and Aksel to shoot at him. 'Was it worth the risk?' He wondered as he dodged and started to move around to not let them pinpoint his location. 'I wouldn't know if I don't try,' he decided and dropped down in the middle of the three.
"Are you giving up?" asked Aksel rhetorically as he shot a spell towards Quinn.
Quinn didn't reply. He swept his hand, and magic spread out. A ring of neon-red flames started to burn on the ground around Quinn. The Limax stepped back, not letting the flames touch them— leaving only Quinn inside the circle.
The flames were made from Empyrean. The most versatile magic in Quinn's magic arsenal.
"1927, Lestrange Mausoleum," announced Quinn, confusing the others, "Gellert Grindelwald used Protego Diabolica to test the loyalty of his followers and kill a number of his enemies, most of whom were Aurors trying to arrest him. He asked them to step through the circle— those who were loyal all passed through without harm, and those who weren't, perished— it was all very much poetic, step into the circle to prove if you were part of the Dark Lord's circle. . . but I digress. I can't case Protego Diabolica here for it would attract too much attention and destroy the park. . . and I myself don't have the confidence to contain the spell, I have only practiced it once, almost crisped myself to death. . ."
The red flames burned brighter; they grew as if someone had injected extra fuel into them. The flames tilted outwards as though the wisps trying to like the Limax three, who were worriedly glancing at their companions. But if they looked closer, they would've noticed how the red-fire wasn't burning anything.
". . . But that doesn't mean I can't take inspiration," continued Quinn. "I cast this magic as a tribute to him. . . to his magical prowess, to his shrewdness, his charm, and everything that made him great. . . terrible, but great."
Empyrean was a magic of magical constructs that could take any property as long as the caster had the power and knowledge to make it happen. Until now, Quinn had used it as weapon and platforms. . . but today, he was going to try out the real potential. He breathed in cold air into his lungs, and the red flames rose up to seven feet.
Aksel readied his wand to cast magic and was shuffling through the spells in his repertoire when he felt. . . cold. He looked down at the base of his feet and saw a layer of ice wafer spreading out towards him. He looked to Lucas and Neil and saw them stepping back, noticing the ice on the ground. The air chilled, and the Limax three felt the cold penetrate their clothes.
Aksel's eyes widened when a wisp of flame sprung towards him. He swiped his wand to extinguish the fire. . . it didn't work; the fire, which was supposed to fizzle into sparks, continued forward and engulfed Aksel's arms. He watched in panic, expecting to feel the heat, but found his arm going numb and his face being bombarded with a cold gust. His pupils shrunk when he realized what was going and without hesitation, he cut off his jacket sleeve and cut off his glove. He jumped back away from the flames, all the while trying to bend his arm only to fail to even feel anything below his shoulder.
"Get rid of the affected clothes, quickly!" he yelled. Neil and Lucas followed the advice and got rid of anything that had the flames, which emitted a chilling cold instead of heat. "Don't treat it like normal fire— it is some sort of cursed fire. It's cold—"
The cold flames grew like a wildfire, and within moments, the entire area was burning with the fire. All Aksel could see was red. He breathed out cold mist with his eyes trembling at the enormous amounts of magic that had come to occupy the space. It dominated all his senses. In his decades of experience in all sorts of places on the planet, he had never felt so much magic commanded by a single person. Then he had a glimpse as the fire parted for a moment, and he came face-to-face with purple eyes glowing. . . and unlike the red flames, the eyes burned hot.
And that was the last memory. . . purple eyes and the overwhelming feeling of cold with everything in his vision turning black. He went down not being able to even think properly. . . and hearing the faint voice,
"It's okay. . . everything's going to be okay."
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Quinn West - MC - This won't kill you, but it ain't gonna tickle either.
Aksel Thorne - Limax - Too much magic!
Lucas - Limax - Master tracker.
Neil - Limax - C-Cold. . .
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If you have any ideas regarding the magic you want to see in this fiction or want to offer some ideas regarding the progression. Move onto the DISCORD Server and blast those ideas.
The link is in the synopsis!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Just like always,
Review, comment, add to the library, and share this fic.
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