The Mus Insidias spell that swayed his internal organs did not make John Philo back away from his destination—the doorway. In fact, he was even more provoked to release his ire on the wicked in the building.

Three wizards were standing in front of the door, bombarding him with an unceasing magic blast from their wands. “Do not ever let him enter the bunker!” screamed one of the wizards.

John Philo had altered his skin material to steel from the seven-cavity tablet case that became his material palette. Magic shots were inferior to his ever-thick steel coating. However, due to the heavy nature of the steel, his movement became much slower.

Seeing John Philo was a complete slow loris, the wizards had the advantage of the time to put together a powerful attack. While continuous shots and slowing spells affected the walking steel monument, another three wizards behind them were concocting strange yet simple potions from their portable alchemy kits. Small round glass bottle, filled with water, salt, and a block of the vinegar mixture. After they mixed evenly and closed the bottle, they enchanted the spell, “Creare!”, causing those liquid mixes to boil and their colour turned cream.

Those three alchemists then preceded the other three and threw the potion at John, who was going up the steps. The liquid that came out of the shattered bottle gave a scalding sensation to John’s body. His appearance, which was sparkling blackish grey, was now disgusting, brittle brown. Water, salt, and vinegar—the three corrosive materials, the scourge of metal. Through the mana energy being channelled through the spell, advancing the oxidation process.

The rust on John’s body made him vulnerable at the drop of the hat. He quickly adopted a marble tile from the palettes, turning him into a ceramic, giving him average speed and defence. John Philo ran up as fast as he could and managed to blow one wizard away from the terrace.

But he still had to take care of the five other magi. His focus shifted between attacking, defending, and enduring the pain of the barrier spell. John while roaring in pain from the successive magic shots, fending off any magic that came. The art teacher then darted away and punched another mage in the face! CRACK! The pain from his fist was akin to hitting one's head with a marble cube until it shattered! The hapless wizard tumbled down the stairs, enough to concuss him and put him in stupor for the time being.

Four magi left, and more incantations were cast as swift as Thunderkeeper’s lightning, without even a moment of thought. They did not have time to think through another strategy or efficacious spells to subdue the Ceramic-Man in one table turn. They just did not want him discovering any openings that could be a boomerang for them. After a series of magic fights, that middle-aged man could not take any more aggression. His marble coating cracked everywhere, to the point he had fallen to the ground! His skin was back to normal, accompanied by bruises and minor shot wounds.

And here they thought they had caught the serial carver. Unfortunately, the men were too arrogant, so their reaction was slow when John took another essence from his material palette out of his sleeve. This time, a piece of fiber. John’s skin changed substance again, this time turning himself into a human-shaped lump of kevlar. Lighter, but with bullet resistance no less strong than other materials. John began to show his action; hitting, lunging, and slamming the wizards one by one. At least there was mercy for them because the actual sacrificial animals were inside the bunker they sealed off. It took a long time to subdue them all because the offensive strength of kevlar was not as hard as marble or steel, but who would have thought he was a proficient martial artist. It seemed that he had already prepared his abilities long ago. A lesson for the imprudent not to underestimate the buffoons.

An exhausting fight indeed, John Philo thought. He then checked his material palette—steel and marble flakes, fibre, polyethylene granules, gold, silver, and bronze powder. As the possessor of power, John know his ability had one major downside: he could not use the same material after switching to the new one for the next hour. He had used three out of the seven materials, and the last three materials mentioned would be used to petrify the perpetrators. He could not waste any more time, because the apparition of Esmer Philo was right beside him, urging her father to fulfill his duty—whether it was the actual wandering soul, or the projection of John’s delusions due to hormonal imbalance. John Philo forthwith stormed the entrance and strode to the magic facility.

***

Alicia froze for a moment after her teacher left the restaurant. Orb from inside the backpack delivered a plasma shock to pull Alicia back to the mortal realm.

‘You already understand the situation. Now, shall we save them, or shall we go home?’ Orb hummed to Alicia.

“Save them or go home?” Alicia responded. “Are you mad? We’re not going home. I have pure Arcane and I already understand how it works. I have to save them and Mister Philo, no matter if my secret gets out!”

‘Glad I didn’t choose the wrong person, Alicia!’

What Alicia realised at the exact time was a brattle and boisterous sound from afar, coming from the magic facility. The restaurant customers had surveyed from the windows, the owner had contacted the civil guard units to check on the commotion source. Alicia, without further ado, got up and rushed out of the restaurant.

“Oi, dinnae go out there, ya rocket!” warned one of the customers. Too bad, the young girl became deaf. Alicia defied death once again to prove that she was worth that unique Divine Grace. Alicia saw the two gatekeepers had passed out at their post, and the six wizards lying unconscious around the stairs and entrance. John had entered and the battle could be heard continuing inside loud and clear. She straight pierced through the barrier spell. Mixed emotions and nausea hit her right away, like post-menstrual syndrome.

“ARRGHH, BLOODY MUS INSIDIAS!” She was furious while running as fast as she could before someone cast the roasting spell—although it was unlikely since John Philo was inside and no one wailing on fire since then.

Inside the magic office, John was busy immobilising a nearby wizard in a fairly spacious room—in front of which there was an elevator and two stairs that adorned the left and right of the interior. The elevator in the middle was the access John had to reach to get to the bunker. But the effort was halted by the wizards both upstairs and downstairs, casting spells at him.

The Kevlar-Man was at the end of his tether. He then killed the nearby wizards by altering them into the fiber weave! From that moment, John felt alive. Being on the killing spree made him a real expressive human being, fulfilling the life purpose of an artist. He chortled in depression, knowing that people are blank canvases, ready to be filled with paint.

The Art Master alone was sufficient to overwhelm the elite mage units. They then agreed to take out their ultimate weapon. One of the mages opened a small box containing ten tiny balls with a lustrous look. The design was too fancy for a weapon, like a blue ring jewel covered with a plant-patterned precious mineral. He then delivered the box to his upstairs colleagues.

Alicia entered the reception area and sneaked into the main room where the fight was taking place. The elite wizards took one sphere from the chest each, then gripped it until it cracked and emitted a small amount of blue smoke. They then threw the crystal ball to the ground floor. Alicia saw the small spheres being thrown, and asked the monologue, “What did they throw him with?”

John Philo the Kevlar-Man got his attention distracted by seeing those tiny crystals rolling toward him. Those spheres started to beam light, showing great unstable turbulence. BOOM! The blue light outbursts enliven the atmosphere on the ground floor! The girl was astonished when the cerulean blasts were rendered in her eyesight. Now she learned why those wizards were part of the elite unit. ‘The Arcane grenades? THEY ARE SO MARVELLOUS!’

John roared in pain. “Damn you all! What kind of magic did you cast on me?” Too bad he did not know anything about pure Arcane. Observing the situation, the man was forced himself to retreat.

The wizards immediately took this opportunity. “The culprit has weakened! Don’t waste your time! Such a small pure Arcane power won’t last for long!” screamed one of the elite wizards. Together, all the magi, both upstairs and downstairs, swung their wands, chanting the binding spell.

“Static Ligaveris!”

The tips of their wands emitted a bright red glow like burning charcoal, then extended and bound to the body of the marked one. John Philo was now constrained by dozens of folds of ligature! Screams of despair were heard, cursing all the practitioners and threatening them again and again.

Taylor, the chief wizard of Trinketshore, was also present in the conflict, shouting. “Since you are unable to cooperate, we are forced to exterminate you!”

The light-headed Alicia instantly forgot about her vertigo when the wizard uttered that sentence. She knew what was going to happen; they would burn John Philo on the spot with a follow-up spell, the Urere spell.

“Bennett!” Taylor continued, “Recite, now!”

“STOPP!”

All froze. Alicia rushed straight to them, becoming a barrier between the Magisterium Wizards and John Philo.

“Please, don’t execute him! Please understand he’s still in grief, so he couldn’t rely on his common sense. Please, have mercy on him!”

Alicia pleaded with them while holding her ached stomach, while the mages were wondering why on earth there was a desperate girl interfering in a dangerous battle.

Taylor recognised the girl right away. “You! you’re Alicia, right? The first daughter of Baron Trinketshore? For the sake of Silent Divine, whit's in yer wee brain to sneak in here and interrupt the fight?”

“You are right! I am Alicia Crimsonmane, daughter of Donar, Baron Trinketshore. I am here to stop another bloodbath that has begun to plague Trinketshore. I beg you to order other wizards to lower their wands immediately!” Alicia, of course, did this not solely for Mister John’s sake but also for her own, so those magi would not turn both of them into roasted ducks.

Taylor couldn’t help but stare at the reckless girl, saying, “If I’m not mistaken a bunch of juveniles also fought Caleb Dune a few nights ago, and if I could trust my own eyes, I also saw someone like you attacking Caleb with a bowling baw! Dinnae tell me you were also involved in his death?”

“His—What? No! No way I’ve done such—“

“Shut it! We’ll have the talk for another time. Now leave the territory of this magic office immediately! Do not interfere with the legal process! He’s nae yer art teacher anymore, Alicia. The Protos particle effect is already strong within him. It’s impossible to reason with him anymore! Moreover, the barrier spell has enough disturbed your mind!”

“I refuse! I—“ Alicia shook her head with a grimace. ‘AAAAAA, this damned barrier spell is driving me mad!’

“...I know how to… c-completely remove the Protos’ influence. That’s if... if only you could turn off THIS DAMNED MUS INSIDIAS SPELL!”

The wizards were getting more and more curious about the young girl’s proclamation. How did the girl even come up with a solution to remove the influence of Protos? Let alone had the power of pure Arcane, even that girl was known as a muggle among all her magus relatives!”

All the distractions made them overlook The Art Master, John Philo, who felt his Khaos magic recovered. From his right hand bound on his back, he slowly drew his palette out, tapping the granules of polyethylene in a scrupulous manner. His skin then turned into another bullet-proof plastic polymer in a flash!

“Alicia, watch out!”

The girl turned to the Plastic-Man—John Philo, again. Really, he was a man with a thousand monikers! — who was gripping the bundle of the mages’ ligatures. Thereupon, with all his might, he pulled those decuman binders, dropping some of the casters to the ground floor, some let their sticks fall to avoid doom. John immediately grabbed Alicia and held her by the neck. As a sign of threat, he turned a small part of her neck skin into polyethylene on purpose. An abrupt scream of pain was let out by her vocal cords, as she was startled. The conversion of the skin substance proved to be agonizing, like being stabbed by a hot metal blade, even though the affected space was minuscule.

“For an intelligent person, you are quite stupid, Alicia,” whispered John Philo, “But I really appreciate your courage and concern, though we are not that close. Well, if you don’t want to become a statue sooner, be a good lass, understand?” Out of breath, Alicia just nodded, her audacity later diminished.

“You heard what she said,” John continued to the wandless Taylor. “Please, turn off whatever barrier spell you installed. And ask your men to remove the rest of my binder. Do it for the girl, please.” Taylor saw no other option. He asked the wizards with wands in their hands to cancel all their spells.

“An astute choice, thanks for the cooperation,” John held his hostage, walking back toward the elevator. “After I finish my business, I promise you, you will never see me again.”

He then pressed the elevator button and, thus, to the basement, they went on. []