Spending a couple points of mana to pull my mask, staff, and jacket out of storage was an important step before I actually engaged in battle. The mask I only got because I was getting the other two things, but they were both important. The staff was a weapon for if I was out of mana- and its own battery of power-dispelling mana. The jacket was armor, not as good as having my full outfit on, but it would protect my vitals well enough. I didn’t intend to test it directly against the axes these orcs carried, but it would be there in case I got hit.

The orcs had already hacked their way inside the graphic t-shirt sort, chopping up the windows and the dummies out front. That sort of damage was unimportant, but they didn’t look as if they were going to stop at mere vandalism. Inside of the shop were workers and shoppers alike, and out of the handful of orcs a couple were heading towards them.

This was a position where I could not afford to be conservative with my mana. “Hey, idiots,” I didn’t even need the Translation spell to say that in orcish. “Back here.”

Drawing attention while I was in the middle of gathering mana for a spell carried some risk, but I had to delay them for a moment. It didn’t take more than a couple seconds to gather enough mana for Chain Lightning, but it was the most expensive spell I regularly used and I could feel the difference in time required.

Orcish heads turned, big dumb tusks on green skin. They hefted axes, of course, effective but primitive melee weapons. They angled their weapons towards me just in time to witness the Chain Lightning arcing towards them. They were just close enough I could hit all of them, and the electricity punched through one AEGIS and then a second, laying flat two orcs. Though Chain Lightning would nominally maintain full power for each of its targets, something about the AEGIS weakened it, and by the third one it only barely broke through to zap the slightly bigger one who had been giving orders. I still managed to make it arc towards one of the other ones, though it fizzled out against the AEGIS.

That left three orcs standing, one fairly close and the other two further into the store. The leader and one of the others charged towards me, while the other turned back towards the shoppers.

The leader charged towards me, roaring. Strangely enough, I couldn’t feel him activate Rage, but I didn’t have the time to dwell on the small quirks of senses in the middle of battle. I prepared for his clumsy charge, raising my staff to deflect his downward swing. Then I would counter with a strike to his neck, giving me time to pick out my next spell.

The axe came down, my staff catching it just below the blade. Catching it. Blocking it. At least deflecting it a little? Yet somehow none of that happened, and I found my staff almost twisted out of my hand. It must have been due to the overwhelming strength of his rage. Yes, that made sense.

Unfortunately, understanding didn’t stop the axe from cleaving into my chest. It sliced through my jacket straight into my ribs, and I had never been more glad to be sent flying by the force of a blow. The jacket had spread enough of an impact that I wasn’t cut straight through, and I had time to cast the one spell I absolutely could not forgo when fighting against weapon focused enemies- Stoneskin.

I learned a couple things. First, that Stoneskin formed a solid coating even over the bleeding gash in my chest. Convenient. Though it didn’t actually heal any of the damage to my muscle and bones. Second, that there was no point in having the ability to prepare for things if you didn’t. I was usually paranoid enough to cast Stoneskin all day, even when off duty, but today I hadn’t. Because I felt safe, for some stupid reason. Sure, that meant a little baggy of diamond dust per hour, but the industrial stuff was surprisingly cheap. At least when considering the pay a super merc got.

Before I could do much more, the leader was upon me again. This time he was making a wide sideways swing, the sort that might reasonably slip through my ribs. Though the vertical chop had been close enough to ignoring that little barrier. My left side chest muscles didn’t really want to work, so I had to swing my staff out as I ducked down. Instinct had me channel Shocking Grasp, using Midnight’s technique to extend it around myself and my staff.

Even ducking backwards and doing my best to knock the weapon sweep upwards, the release of Shocking Grasp tightening my opponent’s muscles, the axe still cut through my right tusk and across the bridge of my nose. Stoneskin likely prevented that from going through my head.

The pain clouded my vision. I needed time to think. Time to do… anything. That, I could do. I managed to gather the mana for Alter Time, Hasting myself. I didn’t hold back, using the maximum five points possible. Time slowed, and I was able to see not only the leader swinging his weapon back to follow up, but also his raging companion not far behind. I couldn’t really stand up to one, so both would be tricky.

At this point, I couldn’t Chain Lightning again- even though I wasn’t too concerned about what turning an AEGISless orc into a bunch of chunks of meat would do for my image. I would have been completely out of mana, maybe a point or two left, except for my recent successes in improvement.

With my sudden speed I was able to jab the leading orc in the ribs- something a barbarian like him would obviously shrug off- while still maneuvering my staff around to deflect his attack. Watching it in slow motion, I saw how his overpowering strength tried to knock away my attack. Okay, weird, it almost looked like he twisted the axe and shifted his stance to alter its momentum towards me. Fortunately, with Haste I could just step back.

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The other orc had come up to my side, and I could feel the pulsing Rage empowering him. Even with Haste they could make things difficult for me with two of them, so I swung my staff towards the second one, making sure to call upon the power imbued in it. The AEGIS broke away, though it still absorbed some of the momentum of my attack. I smacked the guy in his cheek, flipping his head around and sending him staggering back.

I heard screams further into the store. Dammit. My eyes flickered over for a moment- at least Haste gave my time for that. Maybe I could manage to reach there with a spell…?

I saw Jerome, and even more oddly his friend. Sure, I’d told Jerome and Haralamb to get somewhere safe- but I hadn’t necessarily believed Jerome would listen to that. He was too stubborn, and he couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. The kid was like that.

Now that I took notice, in the back of my head I’d felt Firebolts. Now, I saw them, with Jerome ducking around shelves and clothing racks avoiding the orcs while splashing his AEGIS with repeated attacks. And then… Haralamb did the same from behind. How would he be able to cast Firebolt? Actually, he had been around for the portal incident, at least to show us where Jerome went. I should have realized.

That fraction of a second distraction was almost enough for the leading orc to catch me off guard. But moving so much faster, even with my wounds I was able to avoid his attacks. They came with the brutish strength and fury of… an angry guy, I guess. Because I still couldn’t feel actual Rage from the guy. He was definitely making use of mana in his attacks, which explained how he redirected the axe to almost cut off my head even though I was so much faster. Was he actually… not a barbarian? Weird.

Either way, I couldn’t afford to let the battle drag on. Partly because of the blood loss that was still happening, and the fact that Haste would eventually run out. Also because I still had to go help Jerome. My magical senses lit up with the feel of a Grease spell, but I avoided looking over.

It sucked that the first blow I’d taken limited my ability to use my staff two-handed. I lost much of the fine maneuverability that way. Still, I shifted my grip to hold it towards the end, gathering mana and thrusting like a spear.

The orc slapped my spear away with a simple wiggle of the haft of his axe… but he fell for the bait. Focused on that, whether or not he could sense mana usage didn’t matter. I raised my left arm just enough to direct Sonic Lance from it. The spell blasted the guy backward with enough power to shatter one of their AEGIS barriers all on its own.

Then I turned my attention to the other guy, and it was easy enough to avoid his wide swings- I could have likely done it without Haste- first cracking his wrists so he dropped his weapons and then swinging my staff up into his jaw, jolting the nerve there and sending him reeling unconscious.

To my surprise, one of them got up. The leader, though he’d taken a much bigger beating. He was breathing heavily, but functional. “Magic… huh…” he said in orcish. “A coward’s methods. Unable to fight properly.”

“You want a proper fight?” I said, intentionally slowing my speech so he could understand. “Very well.” I didn’t have mana left for anything anyway.

I stepped forward, recognizing the orc’s combat prowess and skill. He was good, but the vast increase in speed from Haste would last for another thirty seconds or so, close to a full pair of minutes from my perspective. Instead of trying to cross weapons with him, I avoided his weapon if at all possible, dancing around to his sides and behind him. If he thought that taking advantage of my mobility was cheating, I honestly didn’t care. I cracked his knee, his hip, an elbow, and managed a half dozen strikes around his torso before he finally toppled over. All that after being hit with the remnants of a Chain Lightning and then more relevantly directly with Sonic Lance.

Turning to the remaining enemy, I saw the final orc- his AEGIS apparently shattered- being kicked in the ribs by several of the shoppers, his axe torn away. Jerome looked uninjured, but he was standing in a way I knew quite well… and was currently experiencing. The slump of being out of mana. Haralamb… had passed out. But I didn’t see any blood.

“You should probably stop at some point,” I said to the group of people kicking the downed orc.

That caught their attention, and they did stop, looking down and around at each other before stepping back. Then everyone was just standing there awkwardly.

“Hey uh…” one of them said. “You’re that Mage guy, right?”

I nodded. Then I looked at his shirt. Stargirl.

“Oh. You’re pretty alright, I guess.” He looked down at his own shirt, then awkwardly sidled out of the store.

Mall security was already helping to provide restraints- though with the repeated incidents, it was possible they might have to hire full-time supers. Then again, it had been months. That wasn’t such a bad record, for New Bay. Unless there were incidents I missed.

I would talk to Jerome and Haralamb later about their choice to participate in the battle. I couldn’t really blame them for wanting to use their magic, and it did help. But I wanted my apprentice and his friend to keep safe.

But that sort of conversation would be better for when my head wasn’t fuzzy. This was more of a time for things like idly looking at my status screen, wondering if I had leveled up. I hadn’t, but I was just barely short. My current experience amount was always increasing, but it still felt like I should have gotten more experience. Then again, leveling had to slow down eventually- and I’d gotten some natural improvement to spells, so I couldn’t complain.