“That’s all we can spare for now, Itsy,” Phon regretfully informed her. “Everyone else is tied up. But I’m sure the four of you can handle it. Tize, I could use a refresher when you’re done there. And as a warning, I can sense the aura of a Fiend around you, but I can’t isolate them.” The woman then stopped speaking, leaving the small group to their own devices.
Tize immediately unsynced from Chorus and resynced with Itsy. She then hunkered down right away, back into her ball of full protection. Sparks suddenly flew against one side of the ball, as if invisible metal had just scraped against it. Slash after slash failed to penetrate the wrecking ball, but the attacks had become relentless.
Roque did what he could right away, stealing the guns from all those nearby. Though as Itsy had said, few of them had actually been attempting to shoot. And they were behind her truck anyways, so it’s not like any of them had a good vantage. “So whatever’s doing that damage must be pretty strong,” the man deduced. “Given Itsy’s thick skin and the protective under-armor we’re all wearing, it must be that Fiend making these attacks, or they wouldn’t be able to hurt her.”
And just like that, the attacks on the ball stopped. Roque’s words became reality as he keeled over in pain, blood spurting from his stomach. He grabbed at the wound and grumbled through gritted teeth. “Yup, that’s a damn knife! And this bastard just put a hole in my best damn suit!”
“Well maybe you shouldn’t have worn your favorite suit to a war then…” Chorus had little pity, and also little room to speak given the lavishness of the dress they were wearing. “But at least I’ll help keep it from getting damaged further.” The fashionista launched their wardrobe at Roque first and then themself.
Both of them came out sporting a full suit of armor, some of the strongest platemail in the world that would make even Jaid envious. It was horrible for mobility, and likely wouldn’t withstand a countless barrage of bullets and explosions, but it should at least protect them from a knife, even one wielded by a Fiend.
Chorus had just gotten their armor on in the knick of time, sparks flashing in front of their eyes as the invisible blade clanged against the visor. “Ooo, we’re dealing with a wily one. Where do you think our culprit’s at?”
“No clue,” Roque’s breathing steadied as his regeneration started to kick in. “But those soldiers must be in on the trick, right? Or they wouldn’t just be standing around.”
The pair of them gave the lazy louses a good scan. If they really did have a Fiend on their side, an invisible, invincible one at that, it made sense for them to not risk their own lives by engaging. Those that had been firing had likely been doing so just to keep Itsy occupied and in one spot.
“Hmm, they all appear to be sporting an odd accessory, wouldn’t you agree?” Chorus noticed. On each of their lapels was what looked like a shard of glass—varying in shape and size for each soldier. Chorus consumed a soldier with their wardrobe and spit them back out in the nude. Though every single piece of clothing was taken, the shard of glass remained—hovering in the air for a single moment before it clinked to the ground.
“Well that’s interesting,” Roque sounded intrigued. “Allow me to try.” A contract appeared before him, but not a single word was scribbled. Eventually, the paper gave up in frustration, tearing itself to shreds. “Well if neither you nor I are able to take possession of it. That means just one thing. The glass is alive. We’ve found our Fiend.”
“And now we’ll need to resort to good ole fashioned methods. Go, Thievius!” The mechanized Racrown was resummoned and sent sprinting at the soldiers, gunning those down that were in its way. Tize, don’t let any of them escape!”
On orders, the wrecking ball began to move, likely solely from Tize’s doing so that Itsy could rest. Every soldier that had been loitering was rolled over by the ball, hunting each of them down when they started to flee. “Is that all of them, Thievius?” Roque asked when the pet returned. “Very well, everyone inside!”
The man summoned his cottage and the group rushed into the building, slamming the door behind them. And then the defenses activated that Roque had specifically added just for this war, assuming they’d find themselves hunkering down at some point. The entire building was coated with shutters, and turrets popped out to threaten anyone who dared come near.
“Tsk, I hate puzzles,” Chorus clicked their tongue when Thievius dumped the shards of glass down onto a table.
“Well first, let’s get Itsy to Farion,” Tize unsynced from her and joined the others. “Phon, can you do a pickup?” There was no response, but Itsy vanished from sight. “How about you, Roque? How’s your injury?”
“Well enough that I just need a few minutes of rest, and maybe a drink.” He clanked over to his stocked bar and poured himself a glass. But before he could lift the visor of his armor to take a swig, the glass lifted on its own, and the alcohol disappeared. “Well zjik! Not only is that bastard in here with us. They stole my drink! Do you have any idea how expensive that is?! You better be prepared to reimburse me!”
Chorus threw their wardrobe at Tize, donning him in armor as well since he was unprotected in his fleshy state. The group then returned their attention to the shards of glass, which became obvious that they were pieces of a mirror once they had a second to look at them properly.
“And there’s our Fiend,” Tize pointed out a figure that flashed across the glass, panicking and retreating when they realized they’d been noticed. “Let me try something.” He dissolved into light and tried syncing with the shards, but to no avail. “It’s possible, but not in this state. We’d need to reassemble the mirror first, but that would probably take us a while.”
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“Well if it’s a mirror, then don’t we just chuck it into the trash?” Roque suggested. “If there’s nothing to reflect, they’d have no room to move, right?”
“Quite possible, but we don’t know the extent of their powers,” Tize was cautious. “It could be that the mirror is more metaphorical than a literal one-to-one reflection. And if the mirror is part of their body, they could possibly morph back into being human, or come back to our side at their leisure. No, we need to make sure we incapacitate them.”
To that end, Tize fired a paralyzing shot at the glass. The idea was that if it was the Fiends body, that it would negate them, but instead, the attack was completely repelled and sent ricocheting across the room. “I should have expected as much from a mirror.”
“While I don’t mind putting this together myself, it would still probably take me a few hours. Given your expressed distaste, Chorus, I’m assuming you’d decline. What about you, Roque? You take me as someone who enjoys solving logic problems.”
“Only when money’s on the line,” Roque countered. “I could solve it, sure, but not till I’m fully healed. My head’s swimming a bit too much at the moment.”
“What about Feyjrusa?” Chorus suggested. “Could borrow them for a bit. They’d figure this out the fastest.”
“No, we don’t want to delay the induction process for even a minute,” Tize refused. “But I think I have a good backup in mind. Phon, can you send Rezin down here?”
The boy appeared suddenly, confused and disoriented, especially since he’d been in a sitting position and had to catch himself to stop from falling over. Tize scrambled over to him immediately, basically hugging the boy from behind while he flung his shield in front of him to protect him from all sides.
“Rezin, those shards on the table, they’re part of a mirror,” he began the explanation without delay. “If you can, we want you to put it together as fast as possible.”
“Uhh, that’s all?” he asked, finally coming to grips with the sudden change in surroundings and demands. “Uhhh, yeah sure, I can do that!” he almost seemed excited when he realized that was all that was expected of him. “I’ve played a lot of puzzle games!”
“Let me put armor on him, Tize,” Chorus asked for the man to step aside.
“No, that’s a bad idea,” he disagreed. “That would make it too hard for him to pick up the glass and place the pieces accurately. Actually, take my armor too. I’ll sync with him and keep him safe, and then I won’t have to find you to remove it when this is over.”
“Take mine off as well!” Roque pleaded. “I’m going to take a powernap in the bedroom to let this heal. The cottage will do a better job protecting us if I stick around. And if I get attacked again while the door’s closed, well, we’ll have a better idea of how their power works.”
Chorus did as asked. Roque slipped into the bedroom as soon as he was exposed, and Tize synced with Rezin, becoming the obnoxiously long scarf once more. “Alright then, I’ll leave you all to it.” Chorus clanged towards the front door. “The film crew has been missing its director for too long.”
Left alone with the shimmering puzzle, Rezin got to work. “Damn, there’s no sort of edge,” he quickly realized. “It must be a rounded mirror. But… some sides are smoother than others, clean breaks.” He started sorting the pieces into piles and became entranced in his work.
While the boy tinkered with the glass, calm and collected, Tize writhed around the room like a madman. The scarf flailed wildly in all directions, like a viscous viper trying to protect its den. He kept an eye on the mirror pieces, in an attempt to get a glimpse of the Fiend’s location, but it wasn’t particularly effective. So it was better to just attack everywhere, to not give them a chance to get close.
The Fiend’s attacks were pretty relentless, Tize connecting with their body more and more as Rezin got closer to completing the puzzle. It seemed they realized what sort of danger they were actually in, which reassured Tize that they were on the right path. Eventually, the attacker gave up trying to stab the boy, and instead started throwing objects from around the room in an attempt to get the jump on the Fiends and hope something slipped by.
But Tize protected Rezin to the end, not letting a scratch get on him. “Done!” the boy declared proudly, satisfied with a job well done. Tize didn’t waste a beat, unsyncing from Rezin and attaching himself to the completed mirror. The otherwise plain sheet of glass suddenly got a stylish silver frame around its edge.
『Synchronization Rate: 9%』 Tize was confused when he blinked his eyes again. He was still in the cottage, though everything didn’t seem quite as it should. A few blinks later and he realized that everything had been reversed… mirrored. He found himself, on the table where the mirror had been, glancing down at Rezin who didn’t seem to acknowledge his existence.
And that’s when his eyes were drawn to the man standing across the room, who looked just as confused and surprised as Tize was. The man was a little out of shape compared to most other Fiends, and looked pretty plain. If it wasn’t for his staticky silver hair and eyes that acted as mirrors themselves, Tize never would have picked him out of a crowd.
It was clear this man wasn’t a soldier. Hell, he’d probably never gone through training a day in his life. He probably didn’t think he had to. In any other situation, against any other foe, the man might be invincible. It was easy to see just how inexperienced he was from the way he brandished his pocket knife in his hand.
But the Fiend still had the wherewithal to understand that he was in danger, and the instinct to fight back. Though he didn’t charge at Tize. Instead, his sights were on Rezin who was now unprotected.
Just before the blade pierced into the boy’s back, Tize slammed down his shield, causing the Fiend to ungraciously bounce off of it and was sent tumbling backwards. The soldier then raised his gun and fired a single shot. And that was the end…
The next moment, Tize found himself shot forward, flung off the table as the world unflipped itself around him. Once he got to his feet again, he turned around and found Rezin leaping back in surprise, along with their unnamed Fiend sprawled out on the table where the mirror had been, unconscious and paralyzed from Tize’s shot.
It had been difficult to get to that point, but the final showdown had been extremely anticlimactic—a one-and-done quickshot. Tize then asked Phon to return Rezin to his previous spot and throw the Fiend into The Salvations brig. Farian would keep the man sedated until they could deal with him further. And Tize took a moment to rest, letting himself sit as the mask on Phon’s face for just a little longer than he needed to.