The Arcane Guardians Chapter 24: Chapter 21: Armed Robbery

Read chapter 24 of The Arcane Guardians by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

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 people breaking in and stealing 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. Vulcan 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, but 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 in HQ 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 in alarm, rolling around in his carriage as beams of light pelted against it relentlessly. The screen on his dashboard flashed an angry 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 into 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 per cent.” 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. “Castin