Street lamps streaked by as the carriage cruised comfortably along just a few centimetres above the highway’s gravel ground. Its engines purred contentedly, propelling the enchanted metal forward with arcani powered thrusters. Unlike most vehicles, the Vice President’s carriage had stronger protection charms and was equipped with a few extra functions. After all, additional security was still required for an important person like him, no matter how powerful he was.

The road was emptier than usual, and Vulcan was grateful for that; it gave him enough peace to keep his mind sharp. He held the steering wheel with a relaxed yet focused grasp, navigating to the Guardian Council headquarters with a map that only existed in his memory. Their headquarters were protected by an anti-teleportation charm, and all Guardian Council members were required to memorise the complicated route there for security reasons. It was troublesome, but Vulcan never regretted implementing that standard procedure. Better to be safe than risk letting terrorists break in and steal their archived data.

“Higgy, do me a favour and take the wheel, won’t you?” Vulcan said to the silver raven sitting on his dashboard.

His familiar squawked in affirmation and dove into the steering wheel, coating it with a wispy glow. He leaned back, allowing his seat to merge with the rest of the vehicle as he rested at the back of his carriage.

The Warlock pulled out the tome from his coat pocket again. Magic coated his finger as he tapped its pages. The arcani dispersed upon making contact with the inert spell within. Vulcan threw his hands up in exasperation, berating himself for even expecting a different result. He kept the book again. Perhaps the archives would tell him how to activate the spellcraft instead.

He exhaled loudly, looking out of the window. A whole gang of velocipede riders had suddenly appeared beside his carriage. They were so close to his carriage that Vulcan could hear the buzzing sounds coming from their bipedal vehicles. He stared at them in confusion. Where did they come from?

Wait, why are they all staring at me?

Vulcan opened his mouth in realisation as the red hooded rider beside his carriage pulled out a wand.

“Oh fu-”

The first blast of magic cut him off. He yelled, rolling around in his carriage as beams of light pelted against his carriage relentlessly. The screen on his dashboard flashed an alarming red.

“Warning. Vehicle integrity compromised,” it read. “Damage analysis: Purposeful aggression. Origin of damage: Hostile foreign force. Offensive countermeasures ready.”

“Deploy!” Vulcan bellowed, leaping forward. His burly hands grabbed the technomagick blaster that popped out from his dashboard as he simultaneously wound down the window. He squeezed the trigger.

Gore splattered into his carriage as the huge magic beam tore an unfortunate rider in half. Pieces of the body tumbled along the road. Another rider took his place, pointing his wand at the Warlock’s face.

Vulcan growled and dragged him halfway in towards his carriage, crushing the man’s hand in the process. There was a muffled groan of pain, but it was nothing compared to what was about to happen to him.

With a single punch, the helmet was knocked clean off the rider’s head. Vulcan pressed his hand into the man’s face immediately. A sickening sizzling sound was heard as the man thrashed and screamed, his face blistering a raw red from the few hundred degree heat emitting from Vulcan’s palm. The Warlock tossed the man’s body towards the velocipede riders behind him, causing them to crash into each other.

“Warning! Left window integrity has dropped to three percent.” The dashboard was now speaking. “Catastrophic structural failure imminent in ten seconds, nine-”

“Cast levitation now!” Vulcan swivelled his blaster to the severely cracked window and pulled the trigger again. Glass shards flew along with the pulse of energy, embedding themselves in the riders flying off their vehicles.

“Casting. Time to spell completion: Thirty seconds, twenty nine, twenty eight…”

A thick spearhead burst through the back of his carriage, narrowly missing Vulcan. There was a low whirring sound as it pierced through the vehicle’s protective magic power source.

“Levitation spell cancelled. Anti-warp charms, levitation charms, and stoneskin charms have been dispelled. Recommending immediate evacuation of the vehicle.”

But it was too late for that.

The assailants wasted no time, warping directly into the back of the carriage. They raised their wands at the Vice President sandwiched between them. Vulcan leaned back, barely dodging the beam of light aimed at his face.

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A wild haymaker hurtled from the other direction. He bent down, dodging it easily and elbowed behind him as hard as he could. There was a grunt as it connected with something solid, and he felt the man’s body slump down instantly. Vulcan’s staff materialised in his hand. He pointed it at the now wandless magi and casted the first spell that came to his mind.

A powerful force blasted the carriage door clean off its hinges. The magi was sent onto the road along with it. Vulcan grabbed the other unconscious rider vindictively and threw him out of his vehicle as well. The velocipede riders peeled away, seemingly intimidated by the Guardian Council Leader. And there was a brief moment of silence.

A moment of eerie silence.

Vulcan squinted his eyes at the figure standing on the road just ahead. Whoever that person was, he did not seem inclined to move. The figure was dressed in all white, and-

Pure white.

Vulcan’s eyes widened in recognition and horror as the figure raised his staff.

“Eject!” Vulcan yelled desperately, feeling his insides lurch as his seat burst from the now open roof of his carriage. A deafening blast ripped through the air less than a second later. Shattered pieces of his totalled carriage flew around, destroyed by a single powerful thunderbolt.

“Higgy, to me!” The arcane raven burst from the wreckage and soared towards its creator. Vulcan grabbed hold of its feet as his familiar flapped its wings frantically, carrying him away-

“Arrghh!”

An excruciating pain contorted his body as a harpoon burst through his chest. It yanked him down roughly, and the Warlock crashed hard to the ground.

Vulcan groaned, willing his broken body to stand up against the overwhelming pain. He staggered to his feet, using his staff to support himself as he watched the solitary magi through blurred vision. The Guardian wiped a stream of blood from his mouth. He got into a battle stance.

With a desperate bellow, a huge phoenix made of fire materialised from Vulcan’s staff. It shrieked at the magi and charged towards him. But The White Locust simply raised his staff again, transmuting the fiery construct into water easily.

A powerful punch burst through the liquid and caught his jaw. His body tumbled away from the force, but he flipped himself back up gracefully. He raised his hand, conjuring dozens of glowing darts towards the Warlock. Vulcan grunted in effort, raising a barrier with as much energy he could still muster.

It was not enough.

The heavily injured Warlock finally fell to his knees, his body riddled with holes where the magic missiles had hit him. But he was not about to give up yet. He narrowed his eyes in focus at the slowly advancing magi as his fingers closed around a small dagger behind his back.

He threw it forward with nothing more than a small hiss. It connected with its target as Vulcan finally managed to land a hit on his assailant. The White Locust stumbled back, clutching the hilt of the blade before pulling it out of his chest and dropping it onto the floor.

Blood began staining his white robes, but he seemed unfazed by it. A silver wave rippled through his body as the wound closed itself instantly.

“That’s not possible…” Warlock Vulcan panted in disbelief. There was no mistaking it this time. This was the same magi who could wield magic from multiple classes. The same magi who had disrupted that fateful raid and killed his wife all those years ago.

“What… what are you?” he breathed, struggling to stay conscious.

The White Locust’s staff crackled with energy as thunderbolt magic charged within it. He stretched out an open palm, summoning the tome from Vulcan’s coat pocket.

“No…” the Guardian groaned weakly and stretched a hand out. But it merely fell to the ground, accompanied by a splatter of blood from his mouth.

“Goodbye, Alcaeus.” The White Locust sounded almost as though he was smiling behind his white, expressionless mask. He raised his staff.

Footsteps rushed towards them.

A knee caught the white robed man in his chest, sending him sprawling backwards. There was a clang as his staff dropped to the floor. He flicked his head up in surprise, but the tome was kicked out of his hand before he could react. A volley of punches bombarded his body as the unknown adversary moved in a blur, refusing to give him a chance to breathe.

“Stop it!” The White Locust blasted his foe back with a desperate release of magic from his hand.

The teenage boy pirouetted in the air like a graceful acrobat, sending three glowing darts towards him. They missed their target as the man stepped to the side. The White Locust smirked audibly and tried to take another step forward, only to realise that a strange type of ice had bound his feet and staff to the ground. Fire burst from his fingertips, but it did nothing to the ice.

Gaius landed softly, snatching the book from the floor and rushed towards the wounded man. He helped him up. Vulcan was slipping in and out of consciousness by now.

“Hang in there, sir. We’re gonna get you to a hospital.” Gaius pulled out his wand, but a bloodied hand grabbed it weakly. He looked in confusion as his Guardian Leader shook his head.

“No… not the hospitals. They’re… not safe…” Vulcan’s voice was barely coherent.

A portal of light shot out from the end of the wooden stick as the Warlock casted the teleportation spell instead. Gaius looked back one last time as the assassin split the ice on his feet easily with a silver arcane sword.

The portal was quickly closed.