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I pulled on my abilities, zoning in on him.

His emotions… they were…wrong.

They were fragmented.

Or, they didn’t all belong to him.

There was interference of some sort.

He wasn’t… whole.

I grasped Kai’s hand. “Something’s wrong,” I implored him.

He knew me so well that he didn’t even question it.

He reacted swiftly and in the next second, he’d called his Aetherbound Scepter forth, the thing materializing into his hand.

“Caius is not right!” I yelled out to the Guardians. “Get him out of here now! To a clearing! Away from the building!”

The Guardians started, trying to absorb what I was saying.

But it was too late.

Caius used his vampire speed and his magic together to call forth something onto his palm.

It was a black, shining circular object the size of a baseball, and the moment he levitated it away from him, it pulsed white and sent out a massive shockwave that ripped us all off our feet.

I grunted as I slammed into the corridor wall, while a wave of white light shot from the Aetherbound Scepter, deflecting the hit from assaulting Kai.

And the Guardians—they landed on their backs a few feet from Caius.

I swung my head to see that Velra was on her front, having managed to cushion her fall a little with her hands.

We both went to call our power at the same time.

But nothing happened.

It wouldn’t come.

Fuck.That device must’ve knocked out our magic.

How the hell?

I looked to Kai, and he couldn’t call his magic either.

The Aetherbound Scepter was still live, because he’d activated it before the magical knockout had happened, and now it was being powered by Celestial power from Ariana.

He slapped his free hand to his temple. I read him and deduced that he was contacting her, calling her in.

Caius grinned at us. “Long live,Puritas.”

I started, as I fought to get back to my feet.

As I did, a sharp beeping started emitting from the black sphere.

Flames erupted from it then.

But they weren’t any ordinary flames.