Cyclops's eyes burned with a rage that threatened to burn down Draven to ashes. Unfortunately for her, Draven was far stronger than her, especially with his new Fire manipulation power. Poor girl didn't know the extent of his powers. Hence, she waved her hand, creating a tiny tornado in a blink of an eye. A strong wind pushed the onlookers to search for covers. The houses, which already looked poor and shabby, lost their roofs when the tornado appeared. Wind howled like a hungry wolf as the tornado moved toward Draven. Ian, who saw how easily Draven took down Jonathan, was too late to realize that Cyclops wore a chain around her neck. A chain made of metal.
"I will end you!" Cyclops screamed as she leaped into the air. With her hands raised, she pushed the tornado toward Draven. However, he simply raised his hand and clenched his fist as the metal chain around her neck tightened.
"Argh!" Cyclops fell down almost immediately. Her face turned purple. With her concentration broken, the tornado faded away from existence.
"Incendio!" Ian raised his staff as a golden light shot toward Cyclops from his staff. Then, the golden light stripped off the metal chain almost instantly. Cyclops coughed, taking deep breaths. When Ian thought Draven had lost his hold over Cyclops, Draven waved his hand as several metal tools lying around the ground flew straight toward Cyclops.
"Shield!" Ian shouted, casting a pale blue energy dome around him and Cyclops. Several things made of metal, such as spoons, pipes, arrows, and broken metal pieces, soared through the air and hit the energy dome. Upon hitting the shield, the metal things fell down, failing to penetrate the shield. But Draven did not give up. He kept waving his hand as more and more metal things flew toward the shield. He slowly walked toward the shield with the golden mace of Jonathan in his hand.
Looking at Draven approaching them, Cyclops raised her hand as a gust of wind shot out of Draven.
"Argh!" Draven was blasted away by the wind. He was fast, but the gust of wind was faster. But before he could crash into the ground, Draven used teleportation to move right behind Ian. The latter was caught off guard. Without giving Ian a second to retaliate, Draven hit the energy shield with the golden mace. As soon as Draven hit the shield, several ripples appeared in it. Plus, Ian's look turned pale as he coughed blood.
"Get away!" Once again, Cyclops raised her hand to shoot out a gust of wind. But this time, Draven used teleportation to disappear from her sight.
"Wait," Ian shouted as Cyclops dashed out of the energy shield. She exposed herself by coming out of the shield. In a blink of an eye, Draven appeared before her. When Draven raised the golden mace to knock her out, a burst of wind blasted away Draven once again. Her superpower enabled her not only to create tornadoes but control the wind around her too. Of course, her wind manipulation talent was subpar at best, but it was enough to send Draven flying. At his peak, Draven could have defeated the whole Justice force in a blink of an eye. He was strong enough to withstand a storm, let alone a tiny gust of wind. It was really unfortunate Draven had lost all his powers. To be precise, the UFH stripped him of his powers.
Once again, the short-distance teleportation came to Draven's help. Seeing how Draven was utilizing his teleportation power, Ian cast an anti-teleportation field around them.
"Come forth the chakra of anti teleportation!" Ian's voice echoed through the air. As soon as he finished uttering those words, the ground trembled slightly as a glowing chakra with countless runes appeared beneath them. Ian proved his battle prowess by taking out one of Draven's biggest advantages against them. If he hadn't taken out Mini and Jonathan quickly, Draven would have had a difficult time defeating them with Ian's power. A mage was no joke. Meanwhile, Cyclops threw a tantrum by firing waves of wind at Draven, who spread open his wings to fly around. Now that Ian had cast an anti-teleportation field around them, Draven was forced to use his wings to escape Cyclops's attacks.
Even without the teleportation power, Draven was quick enough to make targeting him a difficult task. He zig-zagged toward Cyclops. Once he got closer, Ian pointed his staff at Draven as a bolt of lightning shot out from the staff.
"Incendio!" Ian shouted. At the same time, Cyclops waved both her hands as a powerful gust of wind raged toward Draven. Draven's instincts immediately kicked in as he dashed to the side, but the lightning bolt struck him in the shoulder. He gritted his teeth, fighting the pain. Despite the pain, he flapped his wings, ascending to the air. He escaped the wind blast from Cyclops.
"End this quickly, Draven," Margoth warned Draven. Even Margoth didn't expect a lone mage to be this powerful. Luckily, Draven took most of his team down early. Otherwise, the battle would have gone in the Justice Force's favor. Blood oozed out of the wound in Draven's shoulder. When Ian was about to cast a new spell, Draven clenched his fist as the sword came right into his hand. He threw the sword at Cyclops and controlled it through metal manipulation. The broken black sword soared through the air and stabbed Cyclops in the chest.
"Cyclops!" Ian was stunned. He didn't think Draven would go for the kill since he didn't kill Jonathan or Mini when he had the chance. Cyclops groaned, trying to pull out the sword. With a flap of his wings, Draven dashed at Cyclops. Ian tried to shoot Draven down with the Incendio spell once again, but this time, Draven evaded the lightning bolt with ease.
The old man panicked, seeing Draven getting closer to Cyclops. Blood sprayed out from Cyclops's chest. As a result, her face turned pale. This was the first time Cyclops had suffered such a deadly wound. Her team always protected her, and no supervillains managed to inflict such a wound. After evading a lightning bolt in the air, Draven raised his hand as a ball of fire shot out from his hand. The ball hit Ian's energy shield, shattering it into countless specks of light. The force sent Ian flying away. This gave Draven enough time to close the gap between him and Cyclops. Her vision turned blurry when Draven landed right before her. She tried to send him away with a blast of wind, only to get a punch to her gut. He grabbed Cyclops by her neck and lifted her from the ground. His wings disappeared. On the other hand, Ian's body ached after surviving the blast. Every inch of his mage robes was stained with mud and dirt. He almost lost his staff. When he finally managed to look at Cyclops, his heart skipped a beat. Draven had already reached her and had Cyclops by her neck.
"Let her go," Ian growled. His eyes burned with rage. But Draven remained as calm as one could be in this situation.
"Come on, cast a spell," Draven dared Ian to cast a spell. Everyone who was witnessing the battle, including Tanisha, was speechless. To this moment, she couldn't figure out whether Draven was a superhero or a villain. Granted, he killed the mercenaries without a shred of mercy, but that didn't put him in the category of a supervillain. Not a single day passed without Tanisha praying for a miracle. She prayed to the gods for Sinith's freedom, But the one who answered her prayers wasn't the god but a devil.
Draven grabbed the sword's hilt as Cyclops groaned in pain.
"Please. Don't," Ian lowered his voice. He looked around, hoping Jonathan or Mini would come to help. However, they were lying on the ground without moving an inch.
"I warned you this would happen. Why didn't you listen?" Draven asked Ian. Tanisha wanted to interfere for the sake of Cyclops. The sword was sticking out of her chest, and judging by how pale she looked, Tanisha was afraid the hero would die. Although Tanisha had a deep hatred for superheroes who had done nothing to Sinith even when they could, she was not inhumane to do nothing when a human being was on the verge of dying.
But when he saw the murderous look in Draven's eyes, fear clutched her heart. She took a step back. Meanwhile, Ian slowly approached Draven step by step.
"Let her go. She needs healing," said Ian.
"Cast a soul-binding cast on them and make me the master of them," said Draven. As soon as Ian heard these words, his heart skipped a beat. His entire being trembled in shock. Ian's mind went blank as he shook his head.
"No," Ian immediately rejected the idea of casting a forbidden spell on his teammates and handing over control of their lives to Draven. Any mage who studied at the Scarlet mountain would dare not to cast a forbidden spell even if their lives depended on it. There was a reason why they were called forbidden spells. The Soul Binding spell was one of the forbidden spells that let the caster mark one or more people's souls with a magical rune and take control over their souls. If the caster wanted, they could evoke the rune and destroy the souls he controlled. At that moment, Draven didn't only want Ian to cast such a spell on his teammates but also wanted control of their souls. This way, Draven could kill the entire Justice force with a snap of his fingers.