The coin reached the tip of Nico's hand as he threw it. He invested magic into the formation on both sides of the coin. Embedded on the head side of the coin was a modification of Nico's kinetic burst array.

It exploded in a perfect trajectory, spinning and curving on an exact path toward Pullman.

The older magician looked exhausted and beaten down, but he managed to step on one of the glowing spell arrays Nico did not recognize. It flared with a brilliant yellow energy.

A golden translucent ghost emerged from the ground. From its waist up, it was shaped like a broad chested man with middle Eastern features. Below its waist burned yellow embers. It swirled around Pullman in a cyclonic barrier, a blur of gleaming yellow. The coin froze when it collided with the spirit, its momentum gone and now hanging in the air spinning uselessly.

Pullman stared at the suspended, spinning coin, confused.

Nico’s activated the trigger modification on the other side of the coin from afar.

Gallahad’s fire formation mixed with the kinetic-burst formation on the tail side of the coin activated. The coin exploded in a flame the size of man’s head.

Pullman’s yellow guardian spirit embraced the flame, and grew to twice the size.

Not good. If the spirit ate fire, then half of the arrays Nico that were effective against Pullman as attacks were rendered useless. Nico gulped.

A window appeared, informing Nico of the information it passively divined about Pullman’s spell.

[Energy signatures indicate the spirit to be a Jinn.]

Nico felt his eyes widen. Out of all the spells that Pullman was capable of, Nico could never have guessed that the man had access to a jinn. They were more of the Middle Eastern schools and even required religious memories of that region to call forth their power. From what Nico knew, summoning a jinn meant contracting the spirit in the NextOver.

Other than that, he had little else to go on. He quickly invested a few more MP to try to divine more information about it, but felt his power hit a wall of force.

That made sense. The being was a spirit, and therefore probably had a much stronger pranic barrier than physical beings.

The Jinn confused Nico because the spell had nothing to do with any of the spells Pullman used before. Something felt off. Why hadn’t Pullman summoned it before?

Just in case, Nico threw two more coins.

Pullman took advantage of Nico's hesitation and back stepped to the previous formation he had used. It was a variation of Gallahad's earth formation.

Both of Nico's coins burst forward at Pullman. The jinn was able to catch one

Nico grinned.

Ice sprouted from the coin, encapsulating the jinn’s arm, just like Pullman’s ice spell had done to Yuri. Nico was only able to replicate such a powerful spell by using the kinetic energy from the kinetic-burst formation on one side of the coin and converting it to ice magic on the other side of the coin with the control formation.

The jinn showed no sign of pain except for a mild disdain expressed on its gold translucent face. It looked down where it's hand had once been, a part of its earthly presence canceled out by the ice magic embedded on one side of the coin.

Luckily the other coin reached its intended target, missing Pullman by half an inch and landing on the ground right below his feet. Pullman was still able to activate the spell, but Nico triggered the formation from the coin anyway.

The ground where Nico had once stood squeezed and crumbled until a pothole large enough to fit a small living room appeared. Since they were in a veil, there was no real Earth beneath them. Instead it was a long black void. If Nico fell through the void he would leave the veil, giving Pullman enough time to execute an escape.

Nico burst-jumped to his left and landed on the full flat of his shoes, instantly summoning several ash formations surrounding pullman. He burst-jumped toward him.

It cost Nico almost all of his remaining magical power. He landed twenty yards closer to Pullman, staggered at the sudden loss of MP, but caught himself by converting some of his gray energy into magic. The gray energy in his HUD was down to a tenth of what it started with. It would have to be enough to deal with Pullman.

He needed it to work, or else he would have to use his final plan, which he did not want to do.

The earth around and beneath Pullman's feet crumbled, but only a little. Nico didn't have the juice to create the giant hole in the veil like Pullman had. His experience and control converting kinetic force into earth was subpar, so using the kinetic-burst formation as extra fuel would have been a waste.

Luckily, it was enough to break the spell formation’s grounding and caused Pullman to lose his balance.

Pullman’s eyes darted to the array he used to summon the ever-moving wave. He panicked. “No!”

Nico exhaled. He did not want to deal with that monstrous magic. The fact Pullman still had enough energy in his reserves to summon one of those again worried Nico. He needed to end this quickly.

Without his arrays, Pullman would probably have to use whatever array he had on his boot.

Nico threw a coin that bulleted at Pulman, connecting to the toe of his boot. The tip of the boot caught fire, and Pullman stomped it out quickly. But Pullman’s face went white, and Nico knew he had eroded the spell array enough.

As far as Nico knew, Pullman Had only one tool left in his tool kit.

–

Nico stepped on the array of ash right beneath his shoes. The array was connected to all of the other formations that surrounded Pullman. He invested power into the array below him. His grey energy dipped down to zero.

It quickly connected to the other arrays surrounding Pullman. Each formation glowed a dimmed grey.

Nico felt his heart skip a beat as he waited for Pullman to bite.

Pullman smiled, all teeth. “I’ll show you how to really use Gallahad’s formations.”

He bit his thumb and stepped on to one of the arrays Nico had infused with magic, splashing his blood onto the spell formation. Nico felt Pullman's will extend through all of the connected arrays.

[Foreign will attempting to commandeer arrays.]

And yet…

Pullman looked up, confused. He turned his thumb down, dripping more blood on to the formation. Nico waited patiently.

Pullman's eyes widened, his expression a mixture of frustration and confusion. “These aren't spell formations.”

Understanding dawned on his face. He lifted his remaining good arm up in the universal sign for peace. “Fake formations. Smart.”

Nico wanted to correct Pullman, to tell him they were arrays, but stopped himself from gloating. He breathed deeply and expended some of his grey energy back into stamina. The fight hadn't lasted very long but he was damned exhausted.

Pullman conceded, his arm up as truce. The fight was over. He had no arrays to summon spells, regardless of how much magical power he had. Despite that, Pullman lifted his chin, a maimed lion cornered by a mouse, holding on to its last bit of dignity.

Nico had destroyed Pullman’s Gallahad arrays and the unfamiliar Middle Eastern formations. With the help of Measure, he found and eroded the array on Pullman’s boot.

Still, he did not allow himself to relax.

The man before him was someone who could steal spells and arrays. He also possessed a magical reserve at least ten times that of Yuri.

There was no way someone significantly more experienced than Nico had used all his cards.

Nico had only one MP left. In a minute, he would gain another percent. Even with the grey energy, he would not have enough power to go another round with the monster before him. He bet everything on the odd formation beneath him and Pullman’s next words.

Pullman winced, clutching his sprained arm. He let out a rough chuckle, his throat dry and strained. “Did you even receive the real grimoire?”

The air around them wavered. The veil thinned almost to the point of collapse. According to Measure, the whole array should have disappeared by now, and the veil along with it.

Then it hit Nico like a ton of bricks. Something was holding it together. Pullman’s will, or anyone’s will for that matter, would not have been another to act as the glue for the ritual’s energy.

Without the portal to act as the spell’s intent, then something must have replaced it.

Nico swallowed hard. He begged the stars or the stones or whatever ran the world that it would not come to this, and kept his full attention on Pullman. He answered, “I received no grimoire.”

Pullman studied him for a long moment. Finally, he shook his head tiredly. He closed his eyes, eyebrows knitting together in a pained expression. He opened his eyes again, filled with disappointment. “I should have known it was a lie. The map he gave me was only half accurate.”

Nico had told the truth. He had received no grimoire because there was no grimoire to receive. Of course, he kept that part to himself. It would reveal too much. He wasn’t ready to play that card just yet, and it wasn’t even for Pullman.

The pieces had fallen into place on the car ride with Carmen to Larkin Square. Pullman was looking for a grimoire this whole time, something he believed belonged to him by right of blood. It would have been a noble pursuit.

As a child, Nico himself fantasized too often of a powerful wizard showing up at his doorstep to claim Nico as his grandson. The wizard would teach him ancient eldritch secrets. It was a fantasy many young magicians held on to.

Nico could never imagine what it would have been like for Pullman, to have been told stories of his genius ancestor, that there lay a powerful legacy for him beyond the reaches of the mortal world. A promise like that would have captivated anyone.

But Pullman believed his right of blood extended to the blood of others, innocent lives. He may have not known that they would have died to the ritual, but they did. On top of that, he cast a spell on Yuri, knowing he would fully bleed out.

Nico took all of these factors into account: Pullman’s actions, the elements of the ritual array, and the desperation Pullman felt right now when all of his options were lost. Measure calculated a thirty six percent chance of Pullman saying the words Nico dreaded.

It was a small chance, but enough to make Nico hold his breath when Pullman finally broke the short silence. Nico hoped with all his heart would not come down to this.

When Pullman spoke, his tone was an uncomfortable mix of pride and malice. “We are inside my ritual.”

Anguish spilled into Nico’s gut as if he’d been force fed a bucket of poison. Still, the poison wasn’t certain death. The detonation of the ritual was.

Nico filled in the blanks. “Your portal to the NextOver acted as your intent for your ritual. Without it, the spell would have collapsed. You created an anchor array as the portal’s replacement to slow down its collapse.”

You’re damn smart,” Pullman said disdainfully, as if the compliment tasted like bile on his tongue. He didn’t look happy at having been understood so easily. “You should have taken my offer when we were in the NextOver.”

“And align myself to a killer?”

Pullman frowned and spoke plainly. “I didn’t know–”

“No,” Nico cut him off sharply, his voice hoarse from having been choked underwater. “You did. Even if you didn’t, it was your responsibility to know your spell backwards.”

“He gave me the ritual from his former student, and I extrapolated from it,” Pullman defended. “I modified it to–.”

“Who? Who gave you the ritual?” Nico pressed. He knew who. He knew deep down in his bones, but he wanted to hear it.

Pullman opened his mouth to answer, but only choked out an odd sound when trying to say the name. And yet, he didn’t seem confused by it. “It’s…it’s him. The man.”

Nico let Measure analyze Pullman’s words and body language. It gave him one solid conclusion. Pullman was convinced he had told the whole truth, including the name. The hairs on Nico’s neck rose.

Something was very wrong.

Pullman shook his head, as if waving off an annoying fly. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing does. I won’t let them take me.”

Nico’s stomach turned. He knew where this was going. “You’ll detonate the ritual and kill tens of thousands just because you’re afraid of punishment from the Coalition? Coward.”

Pullman smirked. “The Coalition? I’m not afraid of that joke.”

“Then why?” Nico almost screamed. It took all his will to stay calm. His body language, tone, words, anything could trigger Pullman to detonate the ritual array.

“I won’t let him take me,” Pullman answered. His voice wavered and hands trembled. His eyes seemed distant, as if Nico wasn’t there. “I-I…I would rather die than face that monster.”

It was the first time Pullman showed any sign of fear, and it made Nico’s blood go cold. Pullman wasn’t even willing to say the name. Or worse, he couldn’t, prevented by some sort of magic that even Nico could not divine from.

The puzzle pieces in Nico’s head pulled themselves apart, and he began to realize he only solved a small corner of the whole puzzle.

Nico stepped forward.

Pullman swiped the air between them and snarled, “Stay back!”

The veil stopped collapsing for a single breath, holding still as a painting by Pullman’s will. Nico felt the power of the ritual fully for the first time, its scope enormous. He felt like a fish trap under a net with tens of thousands of other fish.

With a simple act of will, Pullman could detonate the ritual array.

And yet, he didn’t.

Pullman’s eyes still darted around, looking for an angle or new strategy. He possessed no arrays to express his spells and found Nico’s arrays he summoned completely useless.

Nico had been in Pullman’s position several times since he woke up on his birthday. It was when he was on the back foot that he could think of the most inventive ways to escape and survive.

Deep down, past the magic and the power and the intelligence, Nico and Pullman were animals, and animals knew how to survive.

Nico looked up to the false sky and exhaled slowly. He muttered, “So, it’s come down to this.”

“Don’t!” Pullman demanded, his will tightening around the veil. “I’ll fucking take us all!”

Spells were tied to emotion. The air was thick and palpable with Pullman’s fear and regret and pain. They were swimming in it. One more bad move on Nico’s part, and the ritual would collapse, taking the lives of everyone inside it.

In an instant, tens of thousands would simply collapse, lifeless.

The decision was made. He would have to ruin himself forever to prevent thousands of deaths. It surprised him how calm he felt.

Nico focused his attention back to Pullman and placed the tip of his shoe on his sigil. He said, “I never complimented you on your ritual array.”

The atmosphere trembled with confusion. Nico tasted wariness and curiosity in the air.

“What?” Pullman snorted.

“You funneled your power through my sigil like water through pipes. Simple, but genius,” Nico stated plainly. “But, a mistake.”

He took a second to feel the well of his own magic. It was weak and shallow. Always was. But that thin little pool of power was his. He had swum on it for years, until he could control ever drop.

Pullman's face dawned with understanding. The air swelled with sudden fear and hate.

Nico brushed his sigil with his shoe, and felt his magic vanish.

The MP bar on his screen disappeared, while only a little of the grey energy remained. Even if Nico tried to convert it into magic, it would not work. His pool was gone forever.

The veil broke, and they were back in Larkin Square, the real one.

Pullman collapsed to both knees and screamed a cry so terrible, it clawed at Nico’s soul just to hear. Nico understood what Pullman felt more than anyone.

Pullman stared at his hands, mouth agape. His expression pained and lost. He screamed, “Where is it? Where? I can’t...”

He grasped in the air for something, but held nothing. He stared at Nico, eyes sunken, cheeks streaked with tears. “No. No. No.”

With no magical power and a thin, unathletic body, Nico walked confidently to Pullman, who tried to scramble backwards away. He said, “Before we left the cafe, I had Fu call every hedge mage I helped over the years. Fu had them find all of the arrays I drew, the same arrays you used my sigil to funnel your power.”

Nico paused without breaking stride, his voice passionless and cold. “All your power.”

He stepped the side of Pullman’s boot, snapping the ankle. Pullman howled in pain, but like a bear caught in a trap, struggled to get away.

Nico added. “But I had to make sure I took away all your power. So, I extended my will through my sigils in a sympathetic binding. Once I destroyed one, the rest broke.”

He converted a little of what little remained of his grey energy into leg strength. His heel pinned down Pullman’s heel like a nail in a railroad track.

Pullman snarled, “Are you insane?! You gave up your magic, too!”

Nico smiled back, twisting his heel into Pullman’s ankle. The man screamed more. Nico was not a killer, but he was not above seeking retribution. Besides, it wasn’t nearly enough of what Pullman deserved.

“I needed to change. There’s no greater change than losing it all,” Nico continued, unperturbed by Pullman’s howls. He stamped on the heel, once for each magician dead by Pullman’s hand. One the fifth strike, he bent down until he was only a few inches away from Pullman’s face. “And like your forefather before said, the nature of magic is change.”

Nico extended his will into the spell arrays surrounding Pullman. They glowed with the nascent power of his grey energy, or what Gallahad referred to in his final notes as the pure magic.

He stepped out of the circle of arrays, leaving Pullman at the very center, clutching his broken ankle and grieving for his loss of power.

The new arrays flared with grey light only Nico could see. With a hint of will, Nico converted the grey energy into pure fire. Not fire magic, but real fire.

Pillars of flame, each a foot in diameter, erupted out of the arrays. They burned two stories high, so bright they any passerby would think it was some sort of light show. The pillars would keep burning for another two minutes, which was plenty of time to hold the killer until the others arrived.

Pullman stared at the flames, aghast. He mouthed the words ‘how’, but nothing came out save a bare screech.

A golden window appeared in Nico’s vision. He read the words, and smiled.

This was what Balthazar was really after.

Nico made the window vanish, and suddenly felt distant red eyes linger in the back of his mind, ever-vigilant and deadly. The feeling faded, but did not completely disappear.

He sat down on the grass, the real grass, of Larkin Square, watching the pillars of flame burning, trapping Pullman inside. His neck hurt and body ached in every corner.

Nico reached into himself one last time for the magic, just in case, and found nothing. It was gone.

The day before, all he’d wanted for his twenty-first birthday was more magical power. It was nearly midnight, and now, he had willingly given it all up to make sure Pullman could never cast another spell again. He shook his head at how ridiculous it all was.

The pillars of fire had about one minute left, glowing red and hot and high enough for anyone within a several mile radius to see.

Footsteps crunched the ground behind Nico. Ah. Just in time. Good.

He pushed himself off the ground, but only got to his knees, placing his hands behind his head.

Nico sighed as several Sentinels surrounded him, pointing guns and glowing wands straight at his head.

One shouted, “Nico Kanazawa, you are under arrest.”