Xander shouldered his duffle and moved through the alleyway. Xander acknowledged that some of his insane ideas, if not a lot of them, came from movies and tv. What he was doing wasn't an original idea, it happened in movies and tv shows. But that didn't mean it couldn't be effective in real life. He reached the back of the building the old sorcerer and his allies had chosen for their ambush and took the time to do a mental check. Finding only demon, sorcerer and warlock minds, no human minds because they'd convinced the humans to leave, not wanting to call attention to themselves, before killing the owner and stuffing him in his own oven.
'Don't want to call attention to themselves and they kill the owner? It's not humans who's attention they don't want to attract, it's the Cleaners. They might not be able to do anything with Magic down, but since they are empowered to cover up evidence of the supernatural and demon bodies alone prove they're not human, I can see why they don't want to take the risk. Me, I've got other priorities. And I don't intend to leave any evidence.'
He moved the wheeled industrial garbage can to block the back door, no use giving them a chance to escape. Xander walked around to the front of the building and checked to see if there was any humans around, he had no intention of hurting people. He wasn't naive enough to believe humans might never be the enemy, but today they weren't. The sun was dipping down in the sky and people were heading home from work. He looked through the front window of the little out of the way pizza shop.
It was time. He lit and threw the smoke bombs first and while the occupants were coughing and trying to see through the smoke, he threw the explosives. Than ducked back as the window exploded out. Fire was not his friend either and he had no magical protections right now. It wouldn't stop him. Some of the demons managed to throw themselves out of the broken window. They were met with shotgun blasts. Guns didn't need Magic to work.
It might have seemed like an eternity, but it was really only a few minutes and then he was the only thing moving in this field of death he'd created. A last mental check that there were no more living minds in that burning Hell he'd created and he tossed the duffel into the fire before he walked over to the side entrance of a neighbor building and made his way to a bathroom where he removed the scarf and gloves and tucked them into his pockets and turned his coat inside out. He checked his eyes in the mirror and found the glow had died down so the sunglasses went into a pocket too.
He felt tired and knew, only this battle was done, the war was still happening. Piper and the baby were still at risk. He headed back to the Manor.
"Report!" He ordered as soon as he was through the front door.
"Doris put up a fight and Dad didn't want to believe she was a demon." Phoebe reported. "But when she was told Cronyn was dead and the ambush was being dealt with she gave up the pretext and started snarling threats. And Cronyn's body isn't dissolving anymore than it combusted when you killed him. Demons body's aren't even reacting the same way with Magic down."
"The Cleaners might be able to deal with that later if it continues to be an issue, for now we concentrate on protecting Piper and the baby. The unicorn?"
"It's horn is pure concentrated Magic according to regular, non magical sources." Phoebe answered. "Lydia and I were able to scrape it and used it to create a Ward, which hopefully will hold."
"Good, the Elders seem to have done something right in giving us access to a separate from Earth source of Magic. Doesn't change any of the rest of it. Cor, your family and Daryl's?"
"Agreed to hunker down. I also got a hold of Harry, he's freaked too since his own Sanctuary Ward is down, in exchange for a temporary harbor, he agreed to bring extra blood. Dad agreed to let him stay with them until this is resolved."
"I need one of those blood bags myself."
"Thought you would." She pulled it from the fridge and he slapped it to his teeth. "Wesley has Faith and Amy at his place and reports Faith appears not to have lost her strength and a call to Buffy found the same thing, but given the concern that inherently magical beings like fairies and such might be affected by the loss of Magic they're all concerned that given time, the Slayers could be too. We need an end to this."
"If the prophecy is right, it will end when Piper delivers. Has Prue gotten here yet?"
"She's on her way. As much as Victor wants to be here for the birth of his grandchild, he feels responsible because Doris tricked him, he and Andy are guarding her."
"Good, you and Cordy go help Ava and Lydia. Leo, you too. Between the Ward and myself, I promise you, no one is getting to them."
When Prue arrived not long after he sent her up too. He kept a loaded shotgun in his hands and paced around the downstairs. The Ward might not help at all, but the gun would.
The cry of a newborn and sudden return of all the Magic he'd painstakingly spent three years casting on the Manor nearly made him pass out from relief.
The atomization of Cronyn's body was deeply satisfying. Finding the bodies of fairies in the flower beds the next day wasn't. The fallout from Magic going down for more than twelve hours was just being discovered, there would be more.
