Brockton Bay's Marvelous Mage - Chapter Fifty Two

Time hung in the air for a moment before Olivia, Crow, exploded into action, shooting a pair of feathers at Lung, her cloak flicking out as she moved her arm. Her ritualized outfit was currently in the feathered, simplified form, looking like a particularly deep black cloak with a mantle of feathers around her neck. Most of her face was hidden in the darkness of her hood, with only the barest outline of her jaw, chin, mouth, and nose visible.

The first feather she flung hit Lung's leg and fell to the ground uselessly. The second, however, passed between his legs as he stepped forward, punching into the ground and pinning his shadow to it. Lung lurched as he was suddenly unable to move, Crow's cloak locking him in place. 

Even as the feathers flew at their target, the both of us split up, running in a circle around Lung, looking to stay out of his melee range. At the moment, he didn't appear strong enough to hurt me, but I had no idea how long that would last. It was better to stay out of his hands completely.

With Lung stuck in his position, I jabbed my staff forward as I moved, shouting out the arcane words. 

"Somnum scintilla!" I called out, passing just close enough to the villain to slap the knockout spell directly into the back of his head from the end of my staff. 

The sparking ball of electricity, designed to overload a nervous system and send a person deeply unconscious, was immediately absorbed, sparking down his spine and skull. Still locked in place by Crow, Lung twitched and clenched. Suddenly, he was free, stumbling forward, just managing to catch himself before he hit the ground. 

Three blasts of stun spell, a lesser version of the knockout spell I used, slapped into him from the side as Crow ran around him as well, holding the wand I had given her. Lung sagged even more, and for a moment, I thought we might have him. I skidded to a stop, my staff out and ready to cast the knockout spell again, only for Lung to let out a roar, stomping a foot forward hard enough to crack the asphalt. Crow and I watched in horror as he grew another entire foot in height, metallic armored scales starting to push through his skin, which flaked off and burned away before it could hit the ground. 

"So he reacts badly to attempts to put him to sleep," Crow said with forced, false casualness. "Good to know." 

Oni Lee suddenly appeared between us, his hands already reaching for his grenades. I immediately saw the original appear next to his leader, leaving the clone behind to drop whatever explosives he could. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one with enhanced reflexes, as Crow nailed the clone's shadow to the asphalt, preventing him from pulling any grenades, before slamming her crowbar into his face, the clone exploding into ash.

"Nail them down as much as you can," I said, Crow nodding and already moving. "I'm going to see about doing some damage."

Lung, shaking off the last remnants of our attempts to put him to sleep, whirled around. His body was beginning to elongate, his neck inhumanly stretched, revealing glowing blood and scales under his skin as it pulled apart. 

Once again, we split up, with both of us firing at the pair of ABB capes as we ran. My spark spell, fully charged and launched from my staff, slammed into Oni Lee, who immediately disintegrated into ash. I followed up by firing it again and again at Lung. Before he could move or respond, I could see a trio of feathers appearing on the ground in his shadow, Crow locking him down once again, leaving him an open target.

“Verberare fulgura verius e manibus accensa meis!” I shouted, casting a longer spell through my staff, taking advantage of Lung's inability to move.  

A spinning pyramid of blue arcane symbols appeared around the top of my staff, spinning slowly but picking up speed. A bolt of lighting not much more powerful than my standard blast, launched from the spinning pyramid at the end of my staff and slammed into Lung's locked-down form. The pyramid kept spinning, launching one bolt after another, both the blasts of electricity and spinning getting faster and faster. At some point, I had to stop running to better hold my staff, as the firing became unstable due to the power it was accessing. I cut the spell off after eight or so seconds, my mana almost drained. 

Nearly thirty sparks of electric power had slammed into Lung, blowing off chunks of flesh and armored scales alike. But it was already healing. Even worse, I could see him yank himself free from Crow's feather, the conjured feather bursting into a cloud of darkness rather than fading like it usually did. It had only been fifteen seconds, half the time they usually lasted, but he was already free. 

Lung shook himself off, splatters of blood sizzling as they hit the ground, the massive, slowly changing villain laughing a deep, foreboding laugh. 

"It's not enough," He said, his accent almost swallowed by his transformation, sounding like a handful of wet rocks grinding against each other. "Not enough power. You can't win."

"Nonsense… just need another card from my sleeves," I said, my mana slowly refilling. "Last chance to leave before this gets worse." 

"Bravado. Pointless."

"I'm a wizard asshole. Bravado is half the game." I said with a smirk before standing up straight and shouting. "GOLEMS! ATTACK!"

From one of the nearby buildings, one not taken over by the community, seven large golems burst through doors and windows, sending wooden boards and broken glass bouncing along the ground. 

"Stone, attack Lung! Wood, take down Oni Lee!" I called out, the golems immediately following my orders. 

The three stone golems made a beeline for Lung, the changer gang leader managing to raise his hand strong arm stop the first one, only for his impressive display to fail as the second came up along his side and slammed its stone fist into his ribs. The third golem soon joined them, grappling Lung's arm and hammering its fist into his stomach.

Lung roared again, struggling with the large rock golems, trying to pull himself free. I could see more scale starting to push through his skin, his body quickly becoming less and less human. As he did, I could see the stone golems starting to heat up, waves of heat reaching all the way to where I was. Luckily, with the golem's core as deep in their chests as it was, it would be safe for a while. 

As the dragon struggled, I watched as Crow worked with living wood golems to harras and corral Oni Lee. He had already damaged one golem with a grenade, but now they were using their ranged wands, firing blast after blast of stunning magic. With an attachment to their cores, they could fire a lot more of the blasts than the unconnected wands, so the injured demon was having a much harder time doing anything but dodging. 

I focused back on Lung, who was still struggling against the three stone golems, who were now all glowing a dull red. All of them had cracks and fissures opening up because of the heat, but that didn't matter. Changing states or shapes meant nothing to a golem core. Only removing the material completely from its connection and smashing it to pieces could really damage it. 

Lung did his best to tear and break the constructs, growing larger with each passing second. Eventually, he was able to pull off one of the golem's arms, smashing the arm into pebbles by slamming it into another golem. Still, they fought, punching and hammering their large stone fists into his glowing, scaly body. 

"Stone golems, hold him down!" I shouted, firing bolts of electricity at the large gang leader, blowing off scale and skin alike. 

The golems, hearing my command, stopped attacking and started fully grappling, grabbing and wrapping their arms around Lung, pulling him down. Lung struggled, still growing, fire beginning to spew from his mouth, his mask glowing red on his face. His whole body was on fire, and I could see him slowly starting to overpower the golems. 

"Crow! Lock him down!" I called out, desperately hoping that she could hear me.

I ran toward the burning changer, who spewed fire in my direction, words impossible to understand as his mask melted off, revealing a monstrous, inhuman face, his eyes glowing red and yellow. I leaped up and over him, landing behind him and slamming my staff into his back. Even as the staff caught fire, the crystal pressed against the scales along his spine, I shouted. 

"CAST!" 

My most powerful spell, the same spell that vaporized Alabaster's head, slammed into Lung's back, sparking and splattering his metal scales and flesh. It gouged into his body, deeper and deeper, before punching through his chest. I could see his bones, glowing yellow, already shifted and changed into some sort of organic metal. Lung sagged for a moment, weakened by the damage, before the pain seemed to stimulate his power even more, the man turned monster growing at a visible rate. For a moment, I thought he would tear free of the golems and attack me, until a trio of feathers slammed into his shadow, nailing him to the ground. His muscles, despite the damage I had done to him, bulged as he fought both my constructs and Crow's feathers. 

I prepared to cast another spell, feeling the heat starting to break through my protections, feeling my skin start to tighten. I grabbed my staff, only for it to crumble, the stone cracked and broken from the heat and its final casting. Cursing, I stepped closer, needing to get closer to Lung's back, the heat starting to wear through my resistances, my eyes watering as I chanted, raising my hands in the air.

“Evocabo fulgura ad percutiendum et dispergendum inimicum meum!” I shouted, bringing my hands down and casting the spell.

Rather than firing it off as a massive bolt of lightning, at the last second, I jammed my hands forward, punching through Lung's slowly healing back. He roared and flailed, throwing chunks of molten hot golem around us as I gripped his spine. My hands were burning, sizzling as I fired off my most powerful spell, his spine drinking in the massive electric shot like a gruesome lightning rod, the constant orange-yellow glow emanating from his body tinted blue for just a split second. 

The massive dose of electricity followed up his spine, up his neck, and through the top of his skull, electricity sparking and jumping across his shoulder and limbs as his metallic bones conducted the spell, which sparked and zapped like a biological stun gun. He jerked and spasmed, his muscles fried but the jumping, rampaging plasma. 

When the sparking, arcing electricity finally went out, Lung was still for a moment. Then, all at once, he stopped, his body collapsing forward to the ground. The golems, sensing that something had changed, pulled back, their red-hot bodies sagging and moving slowly, the asphalt below us molten from all the heat Lung was throwing off. A lot of my clothes were burned, and my boots were melting as I stood there. 

Lung slowly began to shrink, even as his body began to heal. I got closer and grabbed his arm, carefully dragging him away from the half-molten asphalt. When we were clear, I laid him down on the ground. I wasn't exactly sure how his power worked, but I didn't want him going back to normal and immediately waking up as the smoking hot ground burned him alive. 

As I laid him on the ground, a pair of golems threw Oni Lee next to him, the unconscious teleporter sprawling out unceremoniously. His left leg was bent at an odd angle, and he was bound up in duct tape, with a generous amount stuck directly to his face, covering his eye liberally. 

I looked up to find Crow standing behind the golems, a bloody crowbar in one hand. As far as I could tell, she was uninjured. After a moment, she realized I was looking at her, and she gave me a thumbs up.

For the first time since I started fighting Lung, I looked around the larger battlefield, scanning the clearing that was usually filled with the Docks community. Dozens of ABB gangers were sprawled out, unconscious from repeated blasts of my stun wands. I could see a few people running, the red and green of the ABB disappearing into the night. Their leader had fallen, so they scattered like cowards rather than face the consequences.  

While there were plenty of ABB on the ground, there were also quite a few members of the community laid out. I quickly spotted someone clutching their arm, a through-and-through bullet wound coloring their clothes red. 

"Anyone who isn't injured, gather up the knocked-out ABB," I called out, jogging to the wounded man. "Gather up the wounded, call out if they can't be moved! Everyone else, make sure there aren't any fires spreading. Crow, call the PRT and tell them to get someone down here as soon as possible. Lung won't stay down forever."

People moved around me as I focused on the wounded man in front of me, quickly healing him up. Once I was done with him, I healed the six other community members who were injured, including one man with one of Oni Lee's katana sticking through his stomach. Charles helped me by slowly pulling the sword free while I replenished his blood and kept him from going into shock.

While I worked, Crow called the PRT, having some aggressive words with whoever she connected to. Once she learned that heroes were already on their way, she hung up without another word. I didn't hear exactly what she said, but considering how useless they had been, I didn't exactly feel bad.

I was just finishing up with the last injured person when Miss Militia, Assault, Battery, and Dauntless all showed up, entering the clearing from a side alley, with the latter male hero flying above the buildings. I stood there, not far from Lung and Oni Lee.

"Fucking took you long enough," Crow said, loud enough that they clearly heard her.

"Crow, now is not the time, even if I might agree" I said, her responding eye roll practically audible. "Before we talk, please tell me you have a way of restraining Lung. I don't know how much longer he is going to be out." 

Miss Militia spoke into her radio, and after a few seconds, a group of Protectorate officers rushed in, carrying some rather large restraints. They quickly slapped them on his neck, arms, hands and legs. When they were secure, one of the officers stepped closer, wielding something that looked like a flamethrower. They quickly hosed him down in containment foam, the liquid expanding around the gang leader in seconds, sealing him inside. Once he and Oni Lee both disappeared under the foam, I finally let out a long breath of relief.

The fight was over, and by some miracle, we had come out on top. Crow stepped up beside me and slapped my shoulder. I could just see the traces of her smile through the darkness of her hood.