Chapter 68

With the benefit of hindsight, I can appreciate just how bad of an idea it was to unleash an artillery spell at point blank range.

I had my reasons, though. King George and any other hostages could be anywhere, and the spell was less likely to penetrate the walls and kill Fera’s target for her. That would have defeated the whole bloody point of this fight, after all.

There were some factors I hadn’t considered, though. Mimic always copies the spell exactly as I saw it, so I couldn’t adjust its firing arc from how Gabriella had used it at the dock. I didn’t put as much strength behind it as she had, but it was still primed to fly a good way before it burst open.

That meant that rather than filling the hallway with a hail of death like I’d expected, one of the orcs caught an oversized Magic Bolt to the chest. His cuirass held, but the Magic Mortar didn’t, rupturing and unloading its payload across his upper body.

When the lightshow was over, the armor was intact, but any exposed flesh from the neck up was more memory than fact.

My master stroke only downed one orc, but the two unencumbered orcs had dropped to the ground and covered their heads. The other one, still stuck in the floor, stopped trying to free himself and raised his hands.

“Get up!” barked Fera. “Get up, you worthless wastes of space! And Dante, get in there!”

“You first, ya galah!” he shouted. I wasn’t sure what he meant, but it didn’t sound respectful.

Still, the Australian scrambled to his feet and drew the pistol Fera had stolen from some unfortunate Yeoman. He kept his distance while waiting for a free shot, which was probably the best move for a mundane with wizards about.

One of the remaining orcs freed his trapped fellow from Mariko’s hole, and the one Kiyo had shot in the head recovered enough to join them. That left three of them between us and their mistress, filling the hallway with a wall of green flesh. It meant a respite from Fera’s spell slinging and Dante’s pistol.

It would be a brief one, as they were tensing up to charge as a unit. “Kiyo, fire!”

Kiyo had beaten me to it, switching her weapon from burst fire to full auto. Proving the adage that quantity has a quality all its own, the leftmost orc collapsed under the barrage of lighter caliber fire, though the rifle soon clicked empty. She tossed it aside with a curse.

The other orcs weren’t going to be so cooperative. That was fine with me; I hoped they would charge.

“Slow Barrier!” The defensive spell, which was intended to protect from projectile fire, proved once again to make an excellent trap as the distorted air warped around the advancing orcs.

“S-slow Barrier,” said Mariko, still dazed from the bell-ringing she’d gotten before. Hers was strictly defensive, as Dante had aimed right for her. Three bullets struck the shield and hung in midair.

I was a little surprised she beat him to the punch. Perhaps even a demonkin would hesitate to gun down a defenseless woman.

However, I had my own issues. The center orc was well and stuck, but the one on my right only had one arm trapped. The veins in his arm stuck out as he put all his strength into tearing himself free. To my shock, he managed it, dissipating the whole spell and freeing his fellow.

“Hey, Baltur!” shouted the newly-released orc. “He’s that officer that flogged you!”

“Even better,” said Baltur, rushing at me.

I wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but it wasn’t relevant either way. I’ve mentioned wrestling with orcs for fun, though the way they’d recently manhandled me so casually told me that they’d always treated me with kid gloves. The privilege of rank, I supposed.

Still, I’d picked up a few tricks, and one of them was that orcs had sensitive noses. A well-placed jab completely disoriented Baltur.

“Celestial Arrow!” Kiyo’s follow up attack punched straight through his cuirass, and he dropped to the ground with a gurgle.

I hadn’t expected Mariko to follow up with her own, though her golden arrow went wide, flashing before the orc’s eyes. He still staggered back.

I wasn’t so merciful. “Bahadour!” I didn’t like using the penetrating spell with the chance of collateral damage, but my magic reserves were starting to flag, and I had plenty of anger to act as fuel.

No sooner had both orcs dropped than Dante unleashed a hail of gunfire at us. The sneaky bastard had been waiting for us to clear his line of sight! I wondered if he’d served in the military; he was excellent at hitting my center of mass.

Unfortunately for me, Fera had already burnt away most of my chest armor with a Bloody Lance earlier, and I felt a familiar burning sensation as a bullet struck me near the right shoulder.

The weapon didn’t have much stopping power, but that’s always easier to say when it’s somebody else getting perforated. I kept my footing, but I was wide open if Fera decided to follow up with an attack spell.

Which she did, but not at me. Finally dissipating her shield, she twisted both hands and let fly at Mariko behind her Slow Barrier. “Liktfeil!”

Time slowed down, and I swore I could see every instant of the light beam’s passage. Slow Barrier was good at catching physical objects, but was utterly useless against energy beams. The blast passed through the distorted air like there was nothing there at all and the magical interference shattered the barrier in its wake.

It slammed into Mariko’s leg, her uniform’s runes trying their level best to dissipate the blast. However, Fera had put more oomph into this blast and it overwhelmed Mariko’s defenses.

It was… I don’t care to describe it. Not her. Suffice to say, Fera left her with a serious wound and a horrified look on her face.

Kiyo held it together better than I did, launching a Diamond Shower at Fera and Dante. The blast of ice shards pelted both human and demon, leaving them with a bevy of light cuts and scratches. It wasn’t good for killing, but it made excellent suppressive fire.

Which was good, since my feet were already carrying me to Mariko’s side. It was a clear trap by Fera, but I didn’t give a toss. I crouched down to inspect her injury. Light Blade had cauterized the wound in its wake, so I was bleeding more than her.

“Kasasagi, you’ve been shot!” said Mariko, stating the obvious. The foolish girl, worried about me when I swore I could see tile through her thigh.

“Had worse,” I said, shooting her a wan smile as I struggled to twist my fingers into the position. My hands were shaking, though from shock or terror for Mariko, I couldn’t be sure. If I was going to avenge us on Fera, I estimated I had time for one major healing spell, but not two, and I knew who was getting the dose.

“Svalinn’s Mercy!” Kiyo saved my hide again, throwing a slightly irregular shield between Fera and I. Just in time, too, as a ball of Rough Spout acid splattered harmlessly against the surface.

Oh, Fera was playing dirty was she? That had been the spell to ruin Mariko’s arm, and she’d just casually tossed it at us!

Fury gave me focus and I settled my shaking hands. “All Heal!”

A pulse of magic ran through Mariko’s body, and judging by the shriek she let out, fixing the wound had hurt more than receiving it in the first place.

With that crisis averted, I was ready to focus on Dante and Fera. Somebody else had other plans, though.

“Brothers!” The orc’s cry would have been almost pitiful if he hadn’t been, well, an orc. I was much more concerned with the call coming from behind us. “Mistress, what happened?”

I chanced a look, and sure enough, that orc I’d marked before hadn’t been lying when he said he’d return. The blue glow around his body had faded once he’d gotten far enough away.

Just as well; I didn’t have the energy reserves to support a Wrathful Hammer right then.

Fera pointed her hands at her last minion. “If you’re so bothered, avenge them! Berzerken!”

I couldn’t help but curse, and Dante joined in a moment later. The orc was wrapped in another aura, this time of blood red as Fera’s magics ran through him. When his eyes snapped open, they were completely bloodshot. Berserker was a spell of last resort, turning all of an orc’s hormones, wrath, and heartrate to their utmost. The poor brute’s lifespan would be measured in minutes, but what a few minutes they’d be! The living weapon would attack anything that moved or looked like it might consider moving at some point.

Kiyo had rushed over to our sides to take advantage of her shield. If I’d had the presence of mind, I’d have told her this was a terrible idea, since it meant Fera simply had to throw a big enough Bloody Lance at us and we’d be sunk.

However, Fera had changed the calculus, and Dante decided to use the opportunity to slip away. He threw open the door they had been leading us towards and was pulling on his mistress’ wrist to lead her with him. She went along with it this time, and the two vanished from sight.

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We had more immediate concerns, though. The orc charged straight at us, and unlike his fellows, he’d drawn a dagger in the enclosed space. The blade would have counted as a short sword for a human or devil, but either way, it was enough to filet any of us. With my shoulder starting to seize up, I wasn’t sure what I’d be able to do about it.

Mariko tried another Celestial Arrow warning shot, which didn’t phase the brute in the slightest. The poor dear didn’t understand that a berserking orc was basically a mad dog, and I didn’t have time to educate her.

Kiyo came up with a rather elegant solution to the problem. With Dante and Fera gone, her Svalinn’s Mercy wasn’t needed for defense anymore. So, she brought it around with a thought, turned it sideways so the sharp edge faced the orc, and sent it flying straight at him.

His enhanced reflexes perceived the threat, and he threw a meaty hand up to catch the projectile. The flying shield was unperturbed and flew straight through, sending green fingers flying in all directions before it cracked his armor and embedded itself in his chest.

He didn’t notice, and the spell vanished as the impacts finally overwhelmed it. Even the flecks of condensed Rough Spout acid that smoked his skin didn’t bother him.

Unfortunately for the orc, I was now faced away from wherever Fera’s hostages might be, so I no longer had to hold back. The Bloody Lance I fired vaporized him from the waist up.

I corrected myself; his remaining hand and the blade it gripped had been outside the blast radius, and they clattered against the blood-soaked tile distressingly close to us. If I’d hesitated, he would have been right upon us.

Mariko shrieked again.

“It’s alright, my dear,” I said, trying to sound reassuring.

“N-no, it’s…” Her brown eyes darted wildly, taking in the carnage around us. “How can you be so calm?”

I shrugged, regretting the gesture as my right shoulder protested. “One grows used to it.”

She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head. “I never will.”

“More like you don’t wanna,” said Kiyo, rising to her feet. “Magpie, use an All Heal on yourself already.”

“Can’t, I’m afraid,” I said. “I’m running low on magic, and I won’t be able to heal myself and keep fighting.”

Kiyo nodded. “Then Mariko, patch up Magpie. Magpie, make your girlfriend stop freaking out. I’ll get that sword for you.”

“We don’t have time for th-ah!” Mariko had started working her healing magic faster than I’d expected.

“Deep Tissue Heal! And I-I’m not freaking out!” she protested.

“Not that spell,” I said. “Leave the bullet for now; just stop the bleeding. We don’t have time.”

Mariko bit her lip before nodding, switching to a Minor Heal.

After counting to sixty, I rose to my full height. The wound still ached, but I could deal with it. “Enough,” I said, accepting the weapon from Kiyo. “That was fast thinking back there.”

Kiyo smirked up at me. “Someone’s gotta think straight when you’re worried about Mariko.”

“Speaking of which,” I said, “Retreat. Your battles are done. I’m not letting Fera get ahold of either of you again. Go meet up with the others.”

“What? Screw that!” snapped Kiyo. “I want some blood this time! I never got it against Maggie or Haru, and Fera did me worse than either of them.”

Mariko shuddered as I helped her up. She gestured to the blood-spattered walls. “How can you possibly want more blood?”

“It isn’t Fera’s shade,” said Kiyo. “Besides, you don’t have to worry about her possessing us anymore. If she does, hit us with the All Heal, and maybe she gets stuck with my rat’s nest hair.”

“I don’t have the magic reserves to do that and keep fighting,” I countered. “It mostly uses the target’s magic, but as hard as she’ll be fighting me if she sees it coming, it’s going to turn into a tug of war.”

“Does she know that?” asked Kiyo, smiling savagely. “I know how you demons think; heck, you’re only a half one and you sold out the whole school for your demonic pride. You think a full-blooded devil like her wants any more human blood added in?”

I was about to protest, but I stopped. “You have a point, Angel. That means she’s more likely to just shoot you, though.”

Mariko let out a long breath, looking up at me to avoid the bloody hallway. “You just said you are low on magic. H-however hard it is, we will not abandon you.”

“And if I ordered you away as your Squad Leader?”

Kiyo blew a raspberry. “Whatever, Private Marlowe. Complain to Sergeant Lakhdar that we’re being insubordinate. She’ll think it’s funny while you’re being court martialed for not reporting Fera right away.”

I winced; I didn’t care to think that far ahead. “You know I did that for your sakes, right?”

“And I’m, like, super grateful you didn’t kill me to get her,” said Kiyo. “But facts are facts.”

“I don’t agree with Kiyo’s words, but I second the sentiment,” said Mariko.

I sighed. “I don’t deserve either of you.”

“Heck no,” said Kiyo. “But, you’re stuck with us anyway.”

I nodded, grinning involuntarily. “Then Squad Four, roll out!”

Chapter 69

Dante had locked the door behind him, but a Magic Bludgeon from Kiyo knocked it down.

“I’m, like, starting to run a little low myself,” said Kiyo, “but I bet there’ll be Yeomen’s weapons around.”

She was right, unfortunately. We came into what had once been a board room, but was now a battlefield. A fine oak table had been knocked over as a makeshift barricade, but it hadn’t been enough. Men and a few orcs lay where they had fallen.

Mariko rushed into action, checking each man (and orc, I noticed) in turn for any signs of life.

Poor woman; it was obvious they were beyond saving. I didn’t object, though; she’d insist on trying, regardless.

Kiyo was more successful, returning with a rifle and a sidearm.

“You look like a Dorothy,” murmured Kiyo as she hefted the rifle. It seemed the pistol didn’t warrant a name. “Hey Magpie, you want one too?”

I thought it over. “It couldn’t hurt; it should help me save some magic.” I was grateful for the distraction. Funny; I’d seen so many dead British soldiers, but these vexed me more than any from England. Hell, I hadn’t even killed these men.

Well, not directly, at least. I silently promised the men that they’d be avenged; I owed them that much for bringing this down on them.

“And that was done by the orcs you were crying about,” said Kiyo as she inspected her new weapons.

“I know,” said Mariko, her tone defeated. She returned with nothing to show for her efforts but red stained fingers. “They’re all gone.”

“Then we need to move on,” I said, glad they were there to give me something besides my own guilt to worry about. “His Majesty isn’t here, and neither are our targets.” I pointed towards the door on the opposite end of the room. “Kiyo, would you care to make sure the coast is clear?”

She nodded and used The Death of Light to create a peephole in the wall next to the door. “Yup, they’re in there. Looks like someone’s private office. The exec and that military guy are KO’d, but the king’s awake.”

“How are they?” I asked.

Kiyo turned around and shrugged. “Not good, but not much worse than before. Not even tied up.”

“I suppose they are not worried about an old man,” said Mariko.

“He’s mocking ‘em, I think.” Kiyo continued. “Fera and Dante are arguing about something; couldn’t read their lips.”

They were probably bickering in Demonic to keep King George out of the loop. “Are they facing the door?”

Kiyo shook her head.

“Any exits?”

Another shake of her head. “Nope, nowhere else for those rats to run.”

If their hostages hadn’t been near, I’d have suggested another mortar barrage. As it was, we’d have to be more surgical. “Mariko, get ready to cast Flashbang. Kiyo, fire at will.”

“Gladly,” said the shorter girl.

Mariko let out a long breath. “If you think it is necessary.”

“Oh, I do,” I said. “We can’t let either of them fall into the League or Corps’ hands, because they’ll sell me out in a second. It’s them or me.”

“Even if we didn’t have really good reasons to kill that bitch,” said Kiyo.

Mariko nodded. “On three?”

“On three,” I said, readying my newly acquired pistol. Kiyo and I had gone target shooting a few times when we’d dated, so I wasn’t entirely hopeless. Still, that had been with her rifle Lucile, not with a pistol.

“Magpie, the safety’s still on,” said Kiyo.

Case in point. “So it was. Alright, ready now. One, two…”

I trailed off as the lights flickered on, followed by the hums and whirrs of all the electronics in a modern office building came back to life.

“They did it,” I said, smirking to myself. “I suppose Takehara is good for something, after all.”

“Bloody Hell, I’m poppin’ him now!” shouted Dante, his voice muffled by the door.

“Three!” I cried out, kicking the door down and then getting the Hell out of the way.

“Flashbang!” shouted Mariko, thrusting her hand through the open door. Mariko’s form was bathed in blinding light, and the boom had my ears ringing even through the wall.

I rushed into the office, Kiyo bringing up the rear. Fera was still stunned by the blast, but Dante managed to level his pistol roughly where we’d been. He was distressingly accurate despite it all, and one grazed the intact armor on Kiyo’s right shoulder.

“This is for drugging me!” shouted Kiyo as she returned fire, and a burst from Dorothy dropped him.

As satisfying as that was, there wasn’t time to gloat. There was still Fera to deal with, after all.

I can’t report as much success as Kiyo. My shots destroyed a bookshelf and plush, executive chair next to Fera as I unloaded with the pistol; exactly why one doesn’t use an unfamiliar weapon in combat.

“Firbolg!” Fortunately, she wasn’t any better with her eyes still dazzled by Mariko’s spell. Her Fireball sailed right past my head and into the wall behind us. A small explosion hurled flaming debris every which way, which ignited everything they touched.

“Someone put that out!” I tossed the useless weapon aside and runes swirled around my hands as I prepared to vaporize Fera where she stood.

However, it seemed I’d underestimated Dante again. Even as he lay in a puddle of his own lifeblood on the ruined carpet, he hadn’t dropped his own weapon and he unloaded at us. His aim was off, but he grazed my ear.

Fera managed to blink away the spots in her eyes and let out a startled shriek at the burly man at her feet. “Dante? The Hell happened to you?”

“Get out!” he shouted, shifting his aim to Kiyo before she could light up Fera. Kiyo darted ahead, taking cover on the far side of the desk. “Get out, I’ll hold ‘em!”

To my shock, Fera actually hesitated. “But you’re…”

There was an expression on her face I couldn’t quite place. Something like regret or sympathy.

Dante cut her off as his pistol barked twice more, forcing me to leap out of the way. His aim was wild, but I didn’t care to taste his bullets again.

Mariko entered the room, runes already dancing. “Spectral Web!”

The blue fibers of magical energy pinned Dante’s hand to the floor. The thick muscles in his right forearm flexed, trying in vain to bring his weapon to bear. It seemed he couldn’t even pull the trigger anymore.

Fera twisted her fingers into an all-too familiar casting position. “Bahadour!”

All three of us wizards flinched; at this range, there would be no time to counterspell or dodge.

However, she surprised me again by aiming straight down, blowing a hole through the floor. Smoke from her Fireball was beginning to fill the air, and the air was distressingly hot.

“I said, someone deal with that fire!” I shouted, thrusting a hand at Fera’s escape route. “Magic Bolt!”

My spell blasted a smaller chunk out of the floor, since Fera didn’t go straight for the new hole. Instead, she darted over to the prone Dante and lifted him into her arms without obvious effort. A patch of carpet came away with the bloodied Australian, bound to the Spectral Webs around his hand.

Speaking of which, Mariko had found a novel way of putting out the fire. Spectral Webs turned out to be fireproof and airtight, so she simply coated anything that smoked in a thin layer of magical thread.

Our Father Below, I’d forgotten just how fast a motivated devil could be. Before I’d had a chance to cast again, Fera was almost to her escape hatch.

A shot rang out, and I immediately thought it was Kiyo. That wasn’t the case, as Dorothy turned out to be empty, much to Kiyo’s audible consternation.

“For the United Kingdom!” No, King George had pulled a pistol out of his sleeve. It wasn’t much: a low-caliber holdout pistol with a barrel shorter than the king’s fingers.

Fera hissed in pain, a stain of red ruining her blouse as the bullet bit into her unarmored back. She didn’t slow her retreat one iota, though, and vanished down the hole in a flash of blonde hair.

“Your Majesty, are you—”

“Forget me!” he snapped, cutting me off with a jowl-shaking shout. “Don’t let her get away!”

Well, who was I to disobey a royal command? I dashed over to the hole, seeing no trace of Dante or Fera in the lobby beneath us.

I corrected myself; somebody was helpfully leaving a trail of blood behind them.

“Kasasagi, how are we going to get—”

There was no time for words, but if there had been, I’d have said something like, “the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.”

Instead, I let my actions speak for me and hopped straight down.