(Gale POV)
Staring at one of the oldest sorcerers alive, I am thankful for the fact that while I could technically be considered a warlock in the Dungeons & Dragons sense given my connection to otherworldly power, I don't have to worry about selling my soul—at least I hope not.
The very second the fight began, I used reinforcement on my eyes, and the world began to slow down. I couldn't do it for too long or else I could possibly damage my ocular nerves, but the second I activated that reinforcement, I used my mystical eyes to get a sense of what I was looking at, and to say it was revolting was to say that the sky was blue.
It was like staring at an empty skeleton—kind of like an empty humanity spirit from Dark Souls—however, while those were kind of cute in a way given their blank expressions and soft forms, his was just disgusting. His body was being held together by bits of string and infernal magic.
The book was even worse. That grimoire wasn't normal. Again, using my mystical sight, I saw what it was truly made of. The book was created using sacrificed souls, their very flesh bound to the pages and covers.
It almost made me want to throw up, but I ignored the feeling. I would assume I'd be meeting much worse in the future. Beginning to feel a slight burning sensation in my eyes, I canceled the reinforcement. The world regained its color slightly, and as I looked to my father, he looked grim to say the least.
I could see in his eyes a contemplation to send me away, but the very moment was interrupted as Felix decided he was done being ignored. Dozens of purple magical circles corrupted behind him as he began to try to blast us with arcane lightning.
"Truly, if there is one thing I do not appreciate, it is being ignored by my lessers." He lifts up his hand, and the very pavement we were standing on began to change to quicksand, to which I immediately used my electromagnetic manipulation to force myself out of the sand along with Zatara.
"Felix Faust, the man that barely sold his soul for a penny. Truly, the world couldn't find a suitable charlatan even more craven than yourself." His eyes slightly narrowed as he immediately erupted into a multitude of various blasts of arcane energy.
Zatara and I immediately split up—him running left and I running right. I attempted to mentally use the Accio spell to pull the book from him, but as soon as I did so, I felt a curse almost be placed upon me, and I immediately pulled back the spell.
"Trying to take away my grimoire, I see. A smart move, other than the fact that it's cursed—that unless I am wielding it, it shall burn you from the inside out. Now keep entertaining me, worms." However, the second the last word left his mouth, Zatara had already moved into action.
"Dnib mih ni sniahc!" (Bind him in chains!) The second he said that, the chains that surrounded the currently blown-open entranceway began to wrap around Felix Faust, and before Faust could do anything else, the chains began to drag him across the front parking lot.
However, the chains didn't make it to the ground as he immediately disintegrated them using that same purple magic of his, but I wasn't exactly staying idle. Before he managed to disintegrate the last chain, I grabbed it from the bottom and immediately pushed a decent amount of lightning into it.
"Ahhhh! You ingrate!" The chain immediately disappeared from my hands, but I had already jumped away before grabbing a piece of the broken building and tossing it right at him. I then proceeded to throw multiple pieces while Zatara attempted to wrap Felix Faust with the nearby lamp posts.
A decent amount of the chunks of debris managed to hit the man square in the chest, and as he was sent further and further into the air, I threw one right into his face. However, as he managed to blast it out, his eyes widened as I was already in front of him. And as I charged up a punch using my left arm, I encased my arm with a combination of reinforcement and a small Cruciatus Curse, and as it hit dead center, I made sure not to hit him too hard.
"AHHHHHH! You filthy specks! I have had enough of your meddling!" I immediately dodged to the left as he attempted to burn me in that same purple fire of his. Zatara, who was behind me, summoned what looked to be a flock of birds from his hat, which began to peck at Felix Faust. However, these looked like no ordinary birds—these ones were seemingly made out of origami.
However, it only lasted for a moment as Felix Faust did his version of a Force Repulse and sent both Zatara and myself away. The birds were then disintegrated, and as the pages in the flesh grimoire began to turn, the weather around us began to become more rambunctious.
Wind and rain began to pelt both my father and I. However, it barely took a moment for Faust to take advantage of our temporary blindness, at least in his opinion. As I grabbed my father, I pulled him out of the way as he was nearly hit with dozens of arcane lightning bolts.
"Now are you young fools? How will you be able to fight what you can't see?" Thunder and lightning began to bear down on us, but I just simply batted the lightning away while Zatara created a bubble shield around the two of us.
"Student! I have an idea… I need you to distract Faust for five minutes…" I gave him a nod, and while he was saying that, he was looking directly at the flesh grimoire.
"Right. Get the nearly immortal sorcerer's attention. Truly, the missions I've gone on so far haven't been boring." My father just smirked at me, and as he let down the shield, he headed down to the ground.
"Your master already abandoning you, young wizard? Why don't you end this fast? Instead, you may join me. I have seen your potential. You shall prosper. Join me and this world could be ours." While the man was doing his monologue, I immediately used my mystical sight to check to see if he had any spells. Seeing that he was already forming five magic circles behind me, I did whatever a responsible and mature young adult would do.
I grabbed a nearby lightning bolt and tossed it directly at him. He somehow managed to dodge before screaming in rage at being ignored and then interrupted. He began to focus his efforts on me, multiple lasers trying to destroy my very robes.
A decent amount of the lasers missed; however, some managed to skim my robes. Thankfully, I can just replace them, as my closet reconstitutes all my clothes every 24 hours. I threw multiple bolts of lightning at him, in addition to various stunning spells. However, thanks to his grimoire, he was able to forge a shield around him.
Realizing that I needed to bait him, I slowed down ever so slightly, and seeing the smirk on Felix Faust's face, I knew he was about to take the bait. And as one of his arcane lightning spells hit me directly in the back, I groaned out a fake response. Thanks to Ether Anchor, all supernatural abilities are reduced to 1/100th of their effectiveness. It barely felt like a light tickle. Also, given the fact that Zatara himself reinforced my clothing with his own magic, that also helped.
However, I faked being slightly stunned, to which Felix Faust then truly took the bait.
Then from beneath me, purple chains tried to wrap around me, to which I almost chuckled. The chains then wrapped around me as Felix Faust floated in front of me.
"You should've taken my offer, child. Now I shall take your life." He then formed a purple flame in his hand, but just as he was about to reach towards my mask, I proceeded to then apparate behind him.
"What!" he was barely able to say anything more as I immediately summoned my staff into my hand and began barraging him with various stunning spells.
The man was sent hurtling toward the ground while I followed. Felix Faust then somehow managed to rouse his consciousness for a moment as he began to send constructs of that same purple fire, one of which was a dragon, another a hydra—to which I just laughed.
Using an Aguamenti spell, I summoned a large globe of water, and after charging it with my electricity, I tossed it directly at the flame constructs, which were then immediately showered in magical water, which somehow created steam—even though they were just magical constructs of fire and water. Using this to my advantage, I again reinforced my eyes, causing the world to slow down, and using my mystical sight, I saw Faust attempting to mouth some type of Latin curse. Charging myself up with electricity, I proceeded to do something kind of stupid.
I barreled directly at Felix Faust, using the downward momentum as well as Displacement Magecraft to increase my speed further, and as Felix Faust turned toward me, smiling, about to finish his curse, his smile immediately dimmed as he saw my charged fist in front of his face.
Slaaaam! My fist connected, in addition to a small Confundus charm, causing Felix Faust to slam into the ground, nearly unconscious due to the impact, and based on what I was seeing with my mystical sight, I had basically shattered this guy's legs.
As I teleported in front of him, the man attempted to mouth another spell, summoning another magical circle. As he summoned arcane lightning, I just smacked it away. He attempted to crawl away from me. However, I simply used reinforcement in my legs, picking up the man by what's left of his purple robe on his back.
"Never in my life have I been so disappointed to fight another sorcerer. Truly, this is amateur hour." The man attempted to speak, but with all of the blood rushing from his neck, it gurgled in his mouth before I slammed his head into the ground three times just to make sure.
"Hmmm… I gumma… deshtroy you!! Ack!" I did it a fourth time, this one electrically charged. Getting a magic ping from Zatara, I threw Felix Faust back toward the museum, and as he landed face-first onto the pavement in the parking lot, I picked him up again by the back of his robes.
"There is only one way this ends, Faust. I hope you know that. But before we enter the building… Crucio."
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The curse took effect, and the man seized in my arm like he was being struck by lightning—which I technically was doing, as this specific Unforgivable Curse strikes not just the body, but the mind and soul as well.
As we entered, I disabled the curse, causing the man, who was barely able to speak at this point due to the pain, to nearly again fall unconscious.
Inside the museum, where I assumed the book used to be, there was now a small ritual site covered in chalk and various other reagents. I recognized some of the symbols. Some of them were Latin; others looked foreign to me—however, they looked somewhat familiar.
Zatara then saw me entering, and while he probably expected Faust to be following me, his eyes widened as he saw me dragging Faust like yesterday's garbage. His flesh grimoire floated right behind me, while my own grimoire was literally on the opposite end of the building, as if disgusted by the mere presence of that fleshy abomination.
"You have done very well, my student. Now place Faust in the center of the circle, but make sure not to disturb any parts of the circle." Floating into the air, I floated both myself and Faust into the center of the circle, and after placing him onto the ground, I floated back out of the circle.
"What exactly does this do, Master? I can see various languages from Latin to what looked to be Angelical runes?" My father simply smiled with a small bit of pride at my recognition.
[+100 CP Milestone]
[400 CP Remaining]
"It's simple. Faust himself admitted that his grimoire had been connected to him on a spiritual level. The souls inside the book cannot find peace, so it's time your father took a small piece out of Constantine's playbook." That is a very dangerous playbook to pull from, Father. I would not advise doing that.
However, before I was able to say such a thing, he placed his hand on the outskirts of the circle and began muttering in Latin.
"Exsúrgat Deus et dissipéntur inimíci ejus: et fúgiant qui odérunt eum a fácie ejus. Sicut déficit fumus defíciant; sicut fluit cera a fácie ígnis, sic péreant peccatóres a fácie Dei…"
(Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered: and let them that hate Him flee from before His Face! As smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.)
With each line, the ritual circle begins to glow in an angelic gold while my father's eyes become pure white, and I then use my mystical sight to see exactly what was going on.
And as soon as I did so, I saw a golden hand reach out towards the book.
"Júdica Dómine nocéntes me; expúgna impugnántes me. Confundántur et revereántur quaeréntes ánimam meam. Avertántur retrórsum et confundántur, cogitántes míhi mála. Fíant táamquam púlvis ante fáciem vénti: et Ángelus Dómini coárctans eos. Fiat via illórum ténebrae, et lúbricum: et Ángelus Dómini pérsequens eos. Quóniam grátis abscondérunt míhi intéritum láquei sui: supervácue exprobravérunt ánimam meam!"
(Judge Thou, O Lord, them that wrong me: overthrow them that fight against me. Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and be confounded that devise evil against me. Let them become as dust before the wind: and let the Angel of the Lord straighten them. Let their way become dark and slippery: and let the Angel of the Lord pursue them!)
The hand then grasps the book as Faust begins to seize up in his unconscious state and scream out in agony, to which I don't really care. However, from just one arm to nearly an entire body, I see the face of an angel… Its form ever-changing, my mind begins to slightly hurt just trying to look at it.
"Véniat illi láqueus quem ignórat; et cáptio quam abscóndit, aprehéndat eum: et in láqueum cádat in ipsum. Ánima áutem mea exsultábit in Dómino: et delectábitur super salutári suo. Glória Pátri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto. Sícut érat in princípio et nunc et semper, et in saécula saéculórum. Amen."
(For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto destruction: without cause they have upbraided my soul. Let the snare which he knoweth not, come upon him: and let the net which he hath hidden, catch him: and into that very snare let him fall. But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall be delighted in His salvation. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.)
The angel then fully reveals itself—at least in my eyes. If I were looking through my normal sight, I would see enormous gatherings of white energy swirling towards the book, and as the angel grasps the flesh grimoire, I could almost see the sad smile on his face, if it was his that is. It takes the book in its arms and begins tearing it to pieces, as each of the souls begins crying out in thankful bliss.
The angel then tears the book in half, severing the connection between it and Faust, causing the man to screech out in agony. The angel just looks down at the sorcerer before turning towards me specifically.
Its eyes slightly widened, and as it floated right in front of me, I felt myself stall as if it was trying to analyze every part of my being. I could feel my protections keeping it from doing so—hiding my soul, my mind, and my name—yet the angel then took its hand and placed it on my face before smiling and disappearing in a golden light.
I then rush over to Zatara as he falls to the floor. I check his pulse as well as his spiritual state, and he seems to be fine, just exhausted from the makeshift ritual.
I look towards what used to be the flesh grimoire and see it begin to shrivel up in a golden light before disappearing entirely. I see all the souls begin to enter where the angel came from, and for a second, on the opposite side of the gate, I saw something—no, someone—stare back at me. All I saw was a white ankh before the portal closed.
Zatara then opens his eyes, and as he sees me, he smiles before he begins to chuckle.
"You know, my student, if this is how all of the patrols are going to go, I fear we may have to end our tenure so soon." Behind the mask, I just look at Zatara before helping him to his feet.
"That was something. I think I'm gonna have nightmares for a couple of days—but wow, what a rush!" Zatara just shakes his head, as if amused while also recognizing my current adrenaline-fueled state.
Zatara then looks to Faust as he groans in pain on the floor, his soul looking ever so broken. Zatara then grabs his hat and summons what look to be normal handcuffs—yet again I see anti-magic-based inscriptions on them.
He places them on both his hands and feet. After doing so, his communicator begins to go off as the wards that were cast by Faust are finally disabled.
"Manhunter to Zatara!… Zatara, do you read me?" He lifts up the communicator and responds.
"I am here, Manhunter. Both Solomon and I have detained the threat. The break-in was staged by Felix Faust. We managed to subdue him. However, there has been heavy damage to the museum." I could hear Manhunter begin to grumble something about damage control and optics before someone else comes on the comms.
"Zatara, this is Wonder Woman. Are there any casualties in the area?" Zatara then looks around while I do a check using my mana zone. Sensing no other signatures, I shake my head, to which Zatara then nods to himself— which makes me feel slightly good that he trusts my senses so readily.
"Thankfully, the museum was closed, and all of the other inhabitants had already left. However, again, the museum has sustained heavy damage. While the building itself is fine, the interior is going to need some fixing up. It looks like I'm not going home for breakfast tonight." However, as he says that, I then decide to do a little showing off. Taking out my staff—which seems to surprise Zatara ever so slightly—I raise it into the air.
"Reparo." The entire building shines with a green light as all of the pieces of the broken museum begin to subtly shift back into place. Priceless art is put back together. Stone sculptures are fixed, and their cracks disappear as if they were never there.
Outside, the broken pavement returns to its normal state. The only thing unable to be repaired are the chains and lamp posts that Zatara used for his spells, which Felix Faust disintegrated.
After a few minutes, the spell is complete, and the museum is mostly intact. Turning around, I see Zatara crying, and as I walk over to him, he gives me a hug while muttering something about finally not having to be damage control. I reluctantly pat the man on the back, realizing that he was probably used to fixing a lot of the League's messes.
He then lets go and wipes the tears away from his eyes. After checking everything for himself, he gives me a thumbs up.
"Truly, my student, your magic continues to surprise me. It makes me wonder if I'll actually have anything to teach you." I just shake my head.
In a few minutes, however, bright yellow portal openings appear, and from them comes Batman, along with Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter.
They all look towards the museum, expecting there to be a lot of damage, but what they see is both Zatara and myself eating a late-night breakfast.
After taking the last bite of the food that I had prepared, my father stands up and dusts himself off, to which I do the same.
Batman looks at me very intensely and then towards Felix Faust, who is still chained up next to us while also being gagged by yours truly. I'd also placed a small hex which silences him so he can't do incantation-based magic.
I'm not very good at it, as I need direct contact with the skin to make it work. Eventually, however, I'll actually be able to use the spell during combat.
Zatara then walks over towards his fellow League members and begins explaining what happened, and while he wasn't able to see most of the fight, he did tell them that I technically beat the other living snot out of Felix Faust—which causes some of them, other than Batman (because he's Batman), to look surprised.
Wonder Woman walks over towards me and places a hand on my shoulder. "From Zatara, it sounds like you fought well. It is very impressive that one as young as yourself managed to defeat Faust."
"It was a team effort. Both my master and I worked together to handle the threat. I believe my master informed you about the grimoire." As the words leave my mouth, I see Wonder Woman's other arm clench into a fist as she stares daggers at Faust.
"Yes… we heard of his discovery—or discovery of a grimoire, or one of his at least. Thankfully, you both managed to rid the world of such an evil thing. Well done, Solomon." She then looks to Zatara.
"You have raised your student well, Zatara. Especially in the physical department. I could feel his muscular chest from under his robes." I then proceed to hug myself and slightly back away. That reminds me—I have a perk that makes immortals like me more, right? Does Wonder Woman technically count as an immortal?
(Perk Being Referenced: Constantine/Beloved of God: (-300 CP): Humans are, for some reason, the most beloved children of god. You can commit just about any sin and still find redemption just by repenting, just by regretting what you do. Angels were asked to bow to you and hold you higher than God himself.
And no human carries this gift more than you. You find that gods, spirits and similar beings always like you beyond all rhyme and reason, and always favor you above all others. They may even shower you with gifts and abilities, and forgive any sin you commit if you just apologize.
In the future too, you're favored by nearly all immortals, spirits and similar beings you encounter, so much so that unless you do something deliberately none of them ever starts with a negative opinion of you, and tend to go out of their way to exempt you from rules, and grant you powers and abilities that others would have to undergo all sorts of trials for.)
Batman just slightly looks down, almost expecting it, while Manhunter just stares passively.
It makes me wonder if this Wonder Woman is a pervert. However, before I'm able to say anything, the woman herself just smirks at me while I again back away, which causes her to laugh. As much as I like muscular women, I myself am not ready to get my pelvis destroyed just yet.
"I jest… no need to fear, Solomon. However, even I do admit that my vernacular in terms of jokes is still developing." It didn't sound like a joke when you said it.
The woman then walks away, and I slightly reprimand myself for almost staring, and I blame teenage hormones. Really should start looking up more biology books to see if I can use magecraft to regulate them.
The leaders then look around the building and, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, take Faust into a Zeta tube.
Zatara then stands next to me as the sun finally rises in the sky. He smiles at me before teleporting us back to the house, and as I walk towards my bedroom and take off my robes, placing them back into the closet within my grimoire, I lay down on the bed thinking that nothing beats magic.
(A Few Days Later)
I hear a knock at my door and from outside I hear my father ask me a very annoying question.
"Son… I may need you to help out your fellow peers." And as he explains what happened, I place my fingers against my eyes in annoyance while looking towards the grimoire, feeling it be slightly amused.
It seems that I'm going to be saving someone's life today…
[+200 CP Achievement: Defeat Your First Supervillain (The creator says you should have hit him with a metal chair.)]
[600 CP Remaining]
(Alright, boys and girls, our boy just beat his first supervillain; however, I do admit I am not a master writer, and I find it hard to write good fight scenes. I tried to include as much magic and his abilities as possible, him finding new combinations to use them. To be honest, my main character is still in the mind of hitting something really hard with magical lightning, which he really likes doing. I do admit the most challenging part was finding out what exactly Felix Faust uses as magic. Almost all the media I found was either just energy blasts or arcane elemental spells. I hope it was at least somewhat decent. Also, let's just hope our boy doesn't require too much attention to himself.)
(By the way, if you guys are wondering why there weren't any rolls in this chapter, it is because they were either useless/appearance boosters, with the last one that would have given him dominion over the anti-life equation….let that sink in.)