Gwyndolin was not usually so eager for a fight, but today he found himself looking forward to the oncoming battle.

"You do know this is probably a trap, right?" asked John as he listened to the reports of large amounts of gunfire happening in Escabedo territory.

"I am aware. I will be careful when I respond," said Gwyndolin. He was glad that the Cartel offered up this easy opportunity for him to release his negative emotions. He had been left wondering when they would finally respond substantially to his attacks, but it seemed like his wait was at an end.

"I'm serious, Gwyndolin. They're probably ready to roll out whatever villain they've prepared to take you on. Whoever it is, they're probably a heavy hitter. They've prepared a battlefield that deep into their territory and chances are they're going to ambush you."

"I understand, John. Thank you for your concern, but these lawbreakers have yet to witness my full power. Whatever preparations they have made will prove insufficient."

"Hmph. Fine, but don't get cocky. I'll be ready to back you up if things go sideways," said John. Truthfully, he was not very worried. Gwyndolin was very powerful. Whatever villain the Cartel sent is probably going to find themselves in over their head.

David cheerfully offered his own well wishes. "Good luck, Gwyndolin!"

The child's training was coming along well, but he was still far from the point where his grandfather felt he could start participating in superheroes. However, now that he was actually receiving training in magic, the boy was far more patient and had taken well to console duty. John had gotten in touch with one of his contacts, who was a technology expert, to create software that would allow David to more easily track crimes happening in Miami. It had taken a while for the child to learn to use the software, but he had picked it up far quicker than John or Gwyndolin would have been able to.

"Thank you, Chirp. I appreciate your assistance," Gwyndolin said fondly. The smile the boy offered in response helped to lift his spirits somewhat.

When Gwyndolin offered to bring Sargon along when he teleported, the veteran superhero scoffed.

"I might not be as strong as you, but I've been doing the for a long time. I can keep up. Don't worry about me."

Under his mask, Gwyndolin rolled his eyes at the ridiculous display of pride, but still accepted the man's decision.

Without further comment, Gwyndolin cast Hidden Body on himself and then teleported to a rooftop near the location where the battle was taking place. One of the first things he had done after deciding to continue being a superhero was explore the city and memorize locations for him to teleport to.

Gwyndolin looked around and found himself at the correct location, a poorer part of town that was under the near complete control of the Escabedo Cartel. He could already hear the sound of gunfire. It took him only a few minutes to reach the source and for him to see that John had been correct in this most likely being a trap.

The fight was seemingly taking place between the Escabedo and a smaller Haitian gang. Except there were no bodies, and the criminals were lazily firing their weapons in each other's general direction while standing behind cover.

The criminals had most likely decided to imitate the first crime he had prevented because it was the best way for them to guarantee Gwyndolin would intervene. All of his other appearances had involved him attacking criminal strongholds, so this was the best way for them to lure Gwyndolin to a location of their choosing.

Still, even if they knew had prepared an ambush, Gwyndolin was not too concerned. He would fight carefully and make certain to keep aware of his surroundings, but he did not intend to retreat. If he did, the Cartel would simply try again at a later date with far more subtlety.

With a flick of its tongue, one of Gwyndolin's serpents tasted the air and revealed the presence of people hiding in one of the nearby buildings. Gwyndolin quickly called David, and after a few minutes, he learned that the building was an old fish processing plant that had been shut down.

Gwyndolin stood at the edge of the roof and fired a flurry of arrows into the weapons of the criminals. He suspected that they had been instructed to lure him into the building, so he didn't bother to disable them. Gwyndolin wanted to see how they reacted to his presence.

"He's here!"

As expected, the Escabedo Cartel ran into the building as fast as they could, while the members of the Haitian gang ran off into a nearby alley. Gwyndolin was curious to know why they had been willing to cooperate in this farce, but the most likely explanation was that they had simply been threatened or paid to do so.

Gwyndolin could not see into the building, so it would be unwise to teleport inside. After circling the building, he couldn't find an entrance into the processing plant that was not guarded. He could potentially blow a hole into the wall, but if they had brought a powerful warrior for this ambush, then it would be unwise for him to degrade the building's structural stability. Gwyndolin could survive a building falling on top of him, but these fragile mortals could not.

Returning to the front entrance, Gwyndolin decided to send in an illusion. Unsurprisingly, several beams of energy fired from alien weapons passed through the illusion the second it entered the building.

Gwyndolin cast a Hidden Body on himself and sent his illusion to walk further into the building, which allowed him to walk in unmolested. It was interesting to watch the criminals continue to fire uselessly at his illusion. Perhaps they thought he had the ability to turn himself intangible?

The moment he entered the processing plant, it was immediately obvious that the building had been repurposed for the storage of the Cartel's drugs. Why would the Cartel decide to ambush him at such a valuable location?

The gangsters had placed themselves in strategic locations throughout the building. Many of them stood near stacked crates that they could use for cover and a few held elevated positions on the walkways that overlooked the converted storage area.

Lifting himself up onto the walkway, Gwyndolin drew his bow and took a position near one of the gunmen still trying to attack his illusion. He was tempted to simply fire arrows into all the alien weapons. Such weapons were rare and were difficult for the Cartel to acquire in great quantity. The fact that every criminal in the building possessed one was evidence of the Escabedo's commitment to killing him.

Instead, Gwyndolin decided to wait and see what would happen when the criminals realized they were attacking an illusion. It took long enough that Gwyndolin was beginning to greatly question the intelligence of the mortals, but eventually, someone realized they were wasting their time.

A man who had pure white hair and was wearing a skintight red and white uniform exited one of the nearby rooms and started yelling at the criminals in Spanish. The obvious metahuman was radiating a white flame that did not seem to harm him. This man was likely the 'villain' that the Cartel had prepared to confront Gwyndolin.

Gwyndolin found himself a tad disappointed. He was well versed in dealing with fire users, so this was bound to be little challenge.

Seeing that the trap that had been lain by his enemies was no cause for concern, Gwyndolin decided not to continue wasting his time. He watched dispassionately as arrows unerringly found themselves buried in the weapons of the criminals, only to widen his eyes in surprise when the metahuman caught the arrow that had been flying towards his knee out of the air.

"There you are! You're a sneaky fuck, aren't you?"

Gwyndolin simultaneously conjured a hastily made shield over his body and threw the nearby criminal out of the way with his serpents. A moment later, a stream of white flames splashed against Gwyndolin's shield. He felt a bit disgusted at the metahuman for ruthlessly risking the life of his ally.

The flames were hot enough that Gwyndolin noticed the metal walkway beginning to melt. Fortunately, the metahuman's fire was not as hot as the flames of an experience pyromancer, nor did they hold any magical properties that would eat away at his shield.

A moment later, the metahuman ended his flame and Gwyndolin looked down at him stoically as the unenhanced mortals ran away from the superpowered fight.

Far from being intimidated, the metahuman began to break out into genuine laughter.

"So you're strong too, huh? Doesn't matter. Snowflames gonna fuck you up!"

In a display of incredible speed and strength, Snowflame lunged towards Gwyndolin, shattering the concrete floor with the force of his jump. His smile was wide as he struck a flaming fist towards Gwyndolin's face.

Snowflame lost his smile when his fist passed through the illusion and buried itself in a wall. He pulled his fist from the concrete and turned to find his target, only to be surprised when a beam of blue energy smashed into the walkway beneath him, sending him falling to the ground.

Gwyndolin sent another Soul Sphere directly into the metahuman, burying him into the ground. The mortal seemed to possess enhanced physical capabilities, so such a thing would probably not kill him.

He had expected the metahuman to be incapacitated, but he was surprised to see Snowflame pull himself out of the ground looking only slightly injured. However, Gwyndolin was pleased to note that he was no longer smiling.

"Alright then, fucker. I should've known better than to expect you to fight me like a man," said Snowflame. For some inexplicable reason, the mortal pulled out a container of what Gwyndolin recognized to be mortal drugs out of his costume and started sprinkling it on his exposed skin. "Get ready, pansy. Snowflame is about to push your shit in."

Gwyndolin was not interested in bantering with the supervillain, so he simply threw another Soul Sphere at the mortal from the other side of the room. The sphere harmlessly passed through all the obstacles between him and Snowflame, only to miss as the metahuman dodged with speed faster than he had previously displayed.

Gwyndolin raised an eyebrow under his mask, surprised. He has grown in strength?

Seemingly uncaring about the millions of dollars of drugs he was destroying, Snowflame covered himself in blazing flames and charged Gwyndolin with great speed.

Gwyndolin was surprised to find himself barely having enough time to teleport away before Snowflame reached his position.

Once again appearing on the opposite side of the room to his enemy, Gwyndolin found himself concerned about the spreading flames. He was well familiar with how quickly flames could spread.

Gwyndolin channeled magic into his catalyst and cast a Snap Freeze that quickly covered the entire building in ice. Unfortunately, this gave Snowflame enough time to close the distance and strike Gwyndolin with a blow that sent him flying. Gwyndolin winced as he noted that a single blow from the mortal had consumed the majority of his shield.

The power of this world's metahumans was truly obscene. However, Snowflame might be strong, but he was not strong enough.

The mortal lunged toward him to make another blow, flames noticeably diminished due to the frigid air, but was surprised when Gwyndolin dodged his blow.

He was not one for hand-to-hand combat, but Gwyndolin had learned enough over his long life to make sure he was not rendered helpless the moment a powerful enemy closed the distance.

Three of his serpents lunged towards the mortal's feet, pushing Snowflame off balance. The other three flew towards his upper half, which allowed Gwyndolin to completely wrap the mortal with his serpents, lift him off the ground and throw him across the room. He knew Snowflame had not expected him to be so physically strong, and would not be surprised again, so Gwyndolin made certain not to waste his opportunity.

Most of the obstructions had been cleared by Snowflame, something Gwyndolin would eagerly take advantage of.

Channeling magic into his catalyst, Gwyndolin threw wave after wave of Homing Soul Orbs and Soul Spheres at the mortal.

The metahuman had already started charging Gwyndolin once again, but seemed unable to dodge the large number of incoming attacks. He tried to simply push through the spells with his durability, but every time a Homing Soul Orb hit him, Snowflame lost his balance and was then pushed back by a Soul Sphere.

At some point, Snowflame tried to run towards one of the crates filled with mortal drugs, but was unable to succeed as spell after spell rained down on him.

Gwyndolin simply kept up this pattern of attacks until his enemy was lying on the floor, after all, if it worked, then why would he stop? He had never been one to fight fairly.

Gwyndolin looked down at the metahuman that was trying to pull himself off the ground. It had been a good fight, and if Snowflame had possessed a better understanding of Gwyndolin's abilities, he might have proved an actual challenge.

Alas, there was little the metahuman could do after Gwyndolin had created distance between them and started casting a deluge of spells. He pushed his magic into his catalyst and prepared to cast a final Soul Sphere that would knock the metahuman unconscious.

Just as he was about to finish casting the spell, Gwyndolin widened his eyes in surprise and dodged to the side. His surprise turned to astonishment as the arrow that had been aimed for his heart pierced through his shield as if it did not exist and penetrated his shoulder.

Gwyndolin turned to glare at the woman who had tried to kill him. He did not know how her arrow had been able to pierce his shield, but he suspected the material of the arrowhead to be the reason. It seemed to be made of some strange material that abhorred his magic. Given that he was having difficulties recasting his shield, that seemed like the most plausible explanation.

He could tell little about the woman due to her appearance being hidden by an all-black uniform that helped her blend into the darkness. Her companion, however, had skin that was distinctively pale, ragged clothes that looked to be falling apart, and a simple white mask that covered her mouth.

Gwyndolin wrapped one of his serpents around a piece of debris—prepared to throw it into the trajectory of an incoming arrow—only to pause as multiple pieces of debris came to life and lunged at the archer.

While the woman and her companion found themselves fighting off a swarm of angry crates, Sargon the Sorcerer teleported next to Gwyndolin in a flash of red light and placed a hand on the arrow buried into his shoulder.

"Be careful, Gwyndolin. The arrowhead of this arrow is made of Nth metal. It's an extremely rare material that nullifies magic," said Sargon in a tone he had not heard from the man since their first meeting. "I have no idea where these guys got their hands on something so precious, but it looks like someone with a lot of influence wants you dead. Thankfully, while the arrowhead is Nth metal, the rest of the arrow is not."

The second he had finished speaking, the arrow came to life and started pushing itself out of Gwyndolin's shoulder. He found himself thankful for the assistance, the arrow had been barbed and would not have been easy for him to remove himself.

"You have my thanks, Sargon. I had not expected these criminals to be capable of injuring me," Gwyndolin said with genuine gratitude.

He had not known that something like Nth metal existed, or that his enemies could acquire it, so he had not overly worried about the retaliation of the Cartel or the Syndicate. Now, he only felt embarrassed that his overconfidence had allowed a mortal to injure him.

"I'll deal with the women. The archer looks like she has training from the League of Assassins. I have experience dealing with her type. They shouldn't be too hard for me to handle. Nth metal is rare enough that I doubt they have another arrow like that prepared. You deal with the metahuman."

Gwyndolin turned his attention to where had left Snowflame, only to that he had crawled to one of the broken crates of drugs and was busy absorbing its contents.

When a quickly cast Soul Sphere knocked crashed into his chest, the villain turned to Gwyndolin and glared at him with a hateful expression before bursting into flames.

Gwyndolin stared back with nothing but grim resolution.

The only reason he had been injured was because he had been holding back out of fear he might kill the mortal, and he had been ambushed by a magic nullifying metal he had not known existed.

If Snowflame believed he could defeat Gwyndolin just because he had been injured, then he was about to find himself disappointed.