Page 76 of Arcane Entanglement

The man howled in pain and fury. He twisted to face him. But Viggo was already moving, his fist connecting with the mage's jaw in a bone-jarring punch. The man crumpled, unconscious before he hit the ground.

“Watch out!” Rufus shouted.

Viggo dropped and rolled, the heat of a spell warming his skin as it passed over him. He rose on one knee on the far side of the nave and found another mage in his path. This one's eyes glowed the sickly red of possession, his face a veneer of inhuman focus.

“Now, Sly!” Viggo bellowed.

Solomon leapt atop a pew and tossed the marbles into the air.

They shattered amidst the dark mages, filling the space between them with a brief shower of glittering shards. Thick, silver fog billowed from the magical devices, the enchanted mist obscuring the vision of the enemy and causing several to stumble in confusion.

Griffiths and the constables took advantage of the chaos to attack, the runes on their glowing truncheons changing colour as they shifted from defensive to offensive magic.

Viggo jumped up and closed in on the controlled mage. He grappled the man and used his superior strength to force him to the ground before knocking him out with a blow to the head.

Solomon appeared on his right.

“Where the hell did they learn to fight like that?!” he mumbled.

Viggo looked around. His jaw nearly dropped.

Evander had engaged a pair of half-blinded mages, his attacks fluid and brutal as he delivered a series of strikes that rapidly incapacitated them. Two more figures closed in on him. He kneed one in the crotch, slammed the sides of his palms in the other one’s ears, perforating his drums, and booted the first man in the belly with a powerful side kick.

Rufus similarly had his hands full with another mage. He ducked nimbly to avoid a blow to his temple and elbowed his assailant viciously in the nose as he straightened. Bone crunched. The man howled.

It was clear from the practiced way Evander and the inspector moved that they were used to defending themselves in a physical brawl.

“Well, aren’t they full of surprises,” Viggo muttered.

Power detonated around Evander a moment later, rapidly engulfing him in a whirlwind of elemental fury that made the Brute’s breath catch all over again.

Ice lanced from the mage’s fingertips, pinning one attacker to the wall. He gestured sharply with his other hand and sent a man flying across several pews with a violent gust of wind.

But for every foe Evander felled, two more took their place.

Viggo scowled, aware they were still badly outnumbered.

They needed to even the odds.

“Can you herd them to the chancel?!” he yelled.

Evander glanced his way and nodded grimly.

Viggo took out a short metal stick from the pouch inside his coat as the mage used wind and ice to drive their enemy to the back of the church. He hesitated for a split second, old instincts warring with necessity.

Using any kind of magic, even defensively, went against everything he'd believed for so long.

A pained cry from one of the constables made the decision for him.

Viggo activated the disruptor rod. It hummed to life in his hand.

He drew his arm back and hurled it towards the dark mages.

A ripple of energy pulsed outward from the device as it dropped towards the cloaked figures. The mages cursed, their spells fizzling out as the disruptor’s field interfered with their casting.

Evander’s eyes widened as he registered what Viggo had done.

But there was no time for explanations.