Chapter 38

Alex hadn’t waited for Gleipnir to finish his scream. She’d switched her portable magic collector on the second the other agents had started vomiting. Magical engineers had to be sensitive to the currents of magic. It was a requirement for the job. Whatever was brewing in that warehouse near the second magical source, the source that hadn’t been directly dampened at all, was bad news.

“Integumentum infernis.” Sam whispered and a whooshing followed by the muted crackling of flames began as a circle of fire surrounded her. The circle grew up into a wall that then collapsed onto her body. Now, the warlock was covered in a second skin of enchanted fire.

“Good choice, my girl.” Gleipnir approved loudly, projecting his voice so that all the agents could hear. “A very arcane hungry spell, it should help burn off a significant portion of the magic before it reaches your body and causes magic poisoning.”

“You heard the men,” Frank roared to his subordinates. “Cast your highest cost shield spells. We’re going to drain arcanes right out of the air by brute force if we have to.” From the warehouse came the sounds of something large stirring. Huffing, growling, clanking. A screech of tearing metal and then the roof of the building began sinking where a support was clearly no longer doing its job.

“Scutum fedei.” A paladin that was on his knees coughed out between retches. Sam was somehow beside the man already. When had that happened? She’d just been back over to Alex’s left a few seconds ago, hadn’t she?

As soon as the spell summoned by the paladin was in effect, he became noticeably less sick. The magic hungry spell eating up the ambient magic around his body at a terrific rate. For a moment, Alex watched dumbly as her partner was running from one downed agent to another, standing beside them for a few moments until summoned their own spell, and then running off to the next one. It was as if Sam’s presence was making the sick people better.

“She’s syphoning off the magic around them with her spell, so they have a chance to activate their own defenses.” Frank grabbed Alex by the shoulder and pulled-shoved her along with him. “Come on. We have to get them out of there. They’re too close to the source. Shield up!” Frank’s spell was just the basic shield spell that all agents learned in training. But he was clearly modulating it to feed more off the ambient magic as a glimmering aurora surrounded him with arcane symbols.

Alex…was a magical engineer. She was not a front line, first responding kind of agent. This wasn’t what she had trained for. Was it? She was supposed to be in a hygienic, sealed lab somewhere dismantling and examining illegal magitech. Not running into a Prometheus purple zone that was about to turn pink really quick. Today was seriously making her rethink her career choices.

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She was proficient with the standard shield. But it really wasn’t sufficient for this situation. She couldn’t use the one the paladin had as that was a faith-based spell. Maybe, maybe she could do the one that Sam had used?

“Rosolvere et effingo, integumentum infernis.” She directed the analyze portion of her spell at Sam, and then the copying portion at herself to initiate the spell. Hot damn. Her vision flashed blank and white as the knowledge of the spell wrote itself upon her mind. “Shit.” It came out breathy and she gasped a short cry of alarm as she was engulfed in flames for the first time in her life.

Taking a brief moment, she examined her hand and saw the inferno blazing around her. Satisfied that she had completed the spell correctly, Alex ran off to join the fray and rescue some of the agents who were still debilitated by the high levels of arcanes in the area. Sam had glanced up with a frown when she felt herself at the center of the rosolvere spell, but she smiled at Alex and called out as she was standing over another coworker waiting for them to regain their breath so she could help them up.

“That was great, Alex. Excellent control in the examination. Nice and steady.” Did Sam just compliment her? Well, miracles came in all sorts of forms apparently. Skidding to a halt in front of a young Asian man, Alex focused her thoughts into sucking up as much magic into her shield as was possible.

She was directing external arcanes in a way similar to what she did with enchanting, but instead of directing magic into an object or intention, she was lighting it on fire and using it up. It was something her artificer instructors in college would have been appalled to see. Such waste. The young man’s bowed head was bobbing as his stomach emptied its contents without his control and the sounds and smell was making Alex sick to her stomach as well.

“You’re gonna be okay.” She offered the suited agent unhelpfully, hoping that she was pulling enough arcanes away from him. Glancing at the Prometheus sensor on her wrist, it was clear that the magic levels were dangerously close to pink even inside her barrier.

“Tai…Tai…” He was trying to cast his spell, but he was choking on vomit between gasping attempts. Knowing that she had to do more but knowing that he wouldn’t be able to control the shield if she placed one on him herself, Alex did the only thing she could. She increased the flow of arcanes into her fire skin and grabbed the man’s arm.

He screamed and spewed flecks of vomit all down Alex’s front as she yanked him to his feet and pulled his arm over her shoulder. Her shield burned him where it touched him but if she let it down, she’d be as debilitated as he was. “Taiyō...” He screeched, not even trying to pull away because the fire that burned him was also burning up the arcanes that were poisoning him. “Taiyō no yoroi”