“We’ll be back before you know it.” Amelia told Lia and Connie confidently, smiling widely. “They won’t know what hit them. Or, won’t until we broadcast the footage, anyway.”

“Amelia, Rose.” Connie said seriously.

“Yes?” Amelia asked.

“Jerry told me to tell you, and I quote, ‘make them regret it’.”

Amelia grinned. “You don’t need to tell me twice.”

“I’ll do my best.” Rose said. “I love you two.”

“Me too.” Amelia said.

“Stay safe, okay?” Lia said, giving each of them a hug and a kiss.

Connie shyly did the same, smiling up at the two of them. “I’ll have some snacks prepared for when you get back.”

“You two are the best.” Amelia replied. “Rose, anything else you want to say before we go?”

Rose shook her head. “Let’s do this.”

A familiar sense of raw, overwhelming power filled Amelia as her bindings were lifted, even the one on her Worship. She grinned and snapped a finger, teleporting both herself and Rose to a large open field, where a single small shack was clumsily camouflaged with magic. She tapped both her shoulder and Rose’s shoulder, then gave Rose a nod. “We’re recording.”

Rose gave a nod in return, then slowly lifted a hand, the arm shaking slightly as if she was lifting something very heavy. In response the ground shook, a burst of enormous roots emerging and carrying an underground structure out from underneath the shack and high into the air before engulfing it entirely. There were some attempted teleportations, but Amelia easily denied those, putting up a ward around the structure that would prevent any further attempts at magical escape. Likewise, some spells went off that seemed to be aimed at destroying documents, but they were also child’s play to counter.

Amelia took a step forward, teleporting herself into the shack itself, looking at the ladder leading downwards as another smile formed on her face. She could have just teleported behind enemy lines, but she wanted a chance to really let loose, and she felt like she wasn’t going to get one of those for a long time after this.

She jumped down the shaft, a barrier of wind around her keeping any of the various attacks aimed at her from connecting. “Hello, everyone!” She said brightly, using a spell to make her voice audible throughout the facility. “Rose and I are here on behalf of the gods to shut down this operation; sapient experimentation is a no-go, and we’re your punishment! Resist if you’d like, but do know that our bindings have been completely undone for the sake of this operation, and everyone here will be coming back with us.”

Technically speaking, Amelia herself had done sapient experimentation, but she supposed she had been given a pass due to the whole ‘unregulated Urge making her insane’ thing. Or maybe it was because she was doing it on a personal level and not a national level? She should probably apologize to Sif for it later, though. Whatever the case, she couldn’t help but smile darkly as a burst of Rose’s magic washed through the facility, warding those within against death for the next few minutes.

“Some of you are no doubt noticing that you can’t die!” Amelia continued cheerily, the vortex of wind around her growing in ferocity as it spiked towards the small holes in the walls that the spells and arrows were coming from. The walls were only weakly warded, and the sheer force of Amelia’s magic blew huge chunks out of the walls, pinning those who had been sheltering behind the walls to the wall behind them.

“We thought there’d be lots of you who were ordered to die rather than become part of the swarm, or who even thought it would be better to kill yourself than to join us, and we’ve decided that we can’t be having any of that!” Amelia said, walking over and beginning to cocoon the pinned people one-by-one. “You all are aiding and abetting in a crime against all people, and we’ve been given strict instructions to make sure those in power regret their decisions as much as possible.”

Rose’s voice rang through the facility next. “For those of you seeing this who are unaware of what is happening, the governments of your nations have decided that, until they figure out how conversion works, they will be experimenting on their own people in an attempt to reverse-engineer the process.”

One of the people actually managed to push the piece of rubble pinning him to the wall away, panting slightly as he drew his bow with a determined look.

“You look familiar…” Amelia said, squinting at him as he threw his quiver up into the air, hundreds of arrows escaping from it and arranging themselves in a dome around Amelia, the signature sign of the Archer’s capstone Skill. “Oh, right, you’re that max level Archer guy! I thought it was a shame that they made me let you go, but it looks like I actually get to keep you now!”

“You’ll be keeping nothing, you monster.” The man spat. He clenched his fist and the arrows speared towards Amelia, who yawned theatrically and waved a hand.

“Boring.” She said. “I’m done playing with you.” She felt an antimagic field fall into place over her, but since her spells were all infused with trace amounts of Worship, it did nothing against her, and she sent the arrows all back at the Archer, laden with spells that would coat their targets with modeling wax.

A set of rotating shields intercepted the arrows then vanished into nothingness, the modeling wax that had begun to cover them falling to the floor. That was probably the capstone Skill of the Aegis Job, and it posed her no threat; it simply allowed the job user to intercept hits meant for others. Amelia would just overwhelm it with a spell later.

A lumbering hulk of a man rounded the corner, swinging a fist at Amelia in a clear attempt to take her by surprise. She caught the fist with a hand then redirected its force downwards, the impact of the blow tearing through the floor and sending her assailant, the mage who had been with the Archer before, down a couple of floors.

“Look, if you guys really want to stop me, you’re going to need more than this team of small fries.” Amelia said. “This is almost embarrassing.”

Her movement was halted for a moment as a shadow stitched itself to her own, but Amelia just tilted her head; this was probably the capstone Skill of the Shadow Stitcher Job, and for someone like her it was barely an inconvenience. She detached herself from her shadow and formed it into a shadowy clone of herself. “You go play with that Shadow Stitcher.” She instructed. “We’ll see if they’re any good.”

Her shadow melted into the other shadow, and she was pleased to hear a muffled shout of surprise a moment later as it emerged wherever the Shadow Stitcher was hiding. “Anyone else?” Amelia asked.

The hulking mage jumped back up through the floor and lunged at Amelia again, and Amelia rolled her eyes, stepping slightly to the side and grabbing his neck as he passed, snatching him out of the air like a mother cat would grab her kitten. A quick spell coated the man in modeling wax, and she threw his cocoon into her storage before turning her focus back on the others.

The Archer had joined hands with some woman, their combined effort pulling the string back farther than it realistically should have gone. Another arrow let loose, this one packed with much more oomph than any of the Archer’s previous arrows, but it might as well have been a feather for all Amelia cared. She strolled confidently forwards, raising a hand and catching the arrow out of the air…or, at least, that’s what she tried to do; the arrow sped up mid-flight, escaping her grip just before she fully closed on it.

Amelia sighed theatrically, flexing her hand and reversing the arrow’s trajectory so that it returned to her palm. “Look, Synergist is a cool Job and all, but it’s only really helpful when you’re not completely and utterly outmatched. Now, let me show you what a real enhancement looks like.”

She dropped her focus for a moment, letting her various wards handle any attacks while she applied spell after spell to the arrow, smiling all the while. “I’ll be throwing this in three seconds.” She said, waving the hand that wasn’t holding the arrow and freezing the Archer in place. “The Archer is, as of now, completely unable to move. If you want to protect him, your only chance is to get with miss Synergist and pray stacking your Aegis Skill will work.” She waved her hand again, teleporting the Synergist over to where she felt the Aegis was. “There, have fun.”

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Amelia drew her hand back, waited theatrically, then threw the arrow, a line of shields appearing between it and the Archer. The arrow punched through them as if they were tissue paper, flying true and hitting the Archer, instantly covering him with modeling wax. She teleported over to him and placed his cocoon into her storage, and a moment later her shadow returned, another cocoon in tow.

“Looks like the Shadow Stitcher was about as expected.” Amelia said, placing that cocoon in her storage as well. “Okay you two, your turn!”

She teleported behind the Synergist and Aegis, working spells that would cocoon them instantly. They, of course, tried to counter the spells, but Amelia just stood there, smiling the most infuriating smile she could muster as the counterspells fizzled without Amelia even trying. “Yeah, not gonna work.” She said, giving another faux-yawn. “I appreciate the effort, though. Tell you what, I’ll let you have another go, if you can manage to even reduce the severity of my spells, I’ll acknowledge your strength and go all out.”

“What do you mean go all out?!” The Synergist shouted, a sort of mad terror in her eyes. “Stop pretending you’re so much better than us!”

Amelia laughed a deep, hearty laugh. “Pretending?” She said, trying and failing to hold back her giggles as she spoke. “The only reason I haven’t ended this war by myself is that the gods keep me bound most of the time. You’d have to bring ten times this many people to even have a chance at beating me.”

She effortlessly pushed her way through the wards the Aegis had set up, putting her face right up next to the Synergist’s. “I’ve made changes to the system itself. What makes you think that you have even the remotest possibility of landing a scratch on me? Is it because you’re max level? Well, I hate to break it to you, but I could have demolished you when I was three. This isn’t a fight, and this is barely even a raid. It’s pure punishment for daring to protect something this vile.”

The Aegis attempted to bring a hammer down on Amelia, but Amelia put up a finger and stopped the hammer with it, then let one of her spells go, cocooning the woman instantly. “You only lasted this long because I wanted to make this a spectacle, understand? But, the spectacle’s over now, and I have work to do. So, you just take a nap like a good little kid while I finish…actually, wait, I forgot, I promised to show you something more if you could counter my spell.”

She brought the Aegis’s cocoon out of her storage and undid the cocoon. “There. Counter my spell.”

“Wha?” The Aegis asked blearily.

“Try to counter my spell, and if you even affect it, I’ll do you the honor of putting my back into it.” Amelia demanded.

“Do it.” The Synergist hissed, a distinctive wetness spreading down her pants. “It’s our only shot.”

The Aegis, still looking like she wasn’t quite sure what was happening, did as instructed, and the Synergist tried with all her might to increase the strength of the counterspell.

It wasn’t enough, not even close. “See?” Amelia asked. “Thank you, miss Aegis, you can go back in your cocoon now.” She cocooned the Aegis and put her back in storage, then turned back to the Synergist and cocooned her as well. “Now, where was I…”

Amelia turned back to the remnants of the people who had been manning the walls. “Ah, right, cocooning all of you.” There were only a couple left, and, like the Synergist, they too seemed to have wet themselves. “Seriously?” She asked, wrinkling her nose. “Don’t you two have any self-respect? We already told you we wouldn’t be killing you, you’re going to be fine. Stop being dramatic.”

The only reply she got was a whimper. Amelia sighed, shaking her head, then cocooned the two before jumping down the hole that had been made in the floor. She appeared to be in some sort of office, desks and papers thrown everywhere by the effects of the “battle” that had taken place upstairs.

Amelia didn’t bother with looking through them, she just cocooned everything and put it in storage, went to open the door, then paused. There weren’t any other people on it, so she had entirely forgotten to clear the rest of the upstairs. She debated for a moment then sent her shadow-self to go take care of it; she didn’t want to interrupt her assault too much.

She cast a powerful haste on herself and rushed through the rest of the rooms on this floor. There weren’t any max level people, so there was barely even token resistance as she peeked into each room, cocooned the entire contents of it, then moved on.

She skipped floors that she had felt Rose’s presence on, working her way ever deeper until, finally, she hit a room that was packed to the brim with magic meant to isolate and contain the contents. The magic was, of course, shoddy and fell apart with a touch, and Amelia grabbed the door and tugged, ripping it out of the wall and stepping into the room.

“M-Mistress Amelia?” A woman, the member of the swarm who had been kidnapped, asked, looking up at Amelia in disbelief.

“Cavalry’s here.” Amelia said, giving her a smile. “Who’s this? Do you need me to remove her?”

A woman in an army uniform was tied to a chair across from the swarm member, trembling slightly. “I-I was his I-I mean her wife before.” The woman stuttered. “T-they were using me to t-threaten her into doing conversion.”

Amelia’s gaze hardened. “Scum.” She said, spitting on the ground next to her. “Are you okay? Did they hurt either of you?”

“Only threats, but they had only been going an hour or so.” The swarm member said.

Amelia snapped her fingers, and both of them were released from her restraints and healed from any injury the chains and rope may have caused them. They immediately rushed to each other, checking each other for injuries and hugging each other close.

Looking to the swarm member’s wife, Amelia gave her a smile. “As you have no doubt surmised, you’re not getting out of here without being converted. Your orientation will be changed, so you’ll be able to stay together after this even if you weren’t into women before, and the both of you will be free to do whatever you like. I’ll bring you back to the capital, and you can decide if you want to live there full-time or until you get your previous home back, if you want to rejoin the fight here, or whatever.

“I’ll also bring the Queen by to discuss your conversion, so we can get you something that you’d like.” Amelia said, nodding at the wife. “Unless, of course, you want to do this the hard way.”

“N-no, Ma’am!” The wife said quickly, face pale. “After this whole event, I think I’d rather be with the swarm than the Sapphire Empire, they’ve proved to be…not trustworthy.”

“You got that right.” Amelia snorted. “We’re going to wait a bit until Rose finishes here, then we’ll be heading home. Anything in particular you want me to do while we’re here?” Both women shook their heads, so Amelia continued. “In that case, why don’t you recount your stories? I’m recording this to get evidence of the wrongdoing here out to the world, and I’d like your testimony. Why don’t we start with you, miss…” Amelia motioned at the wife, who nodded.

“Sariah.” She said. “I was in the war camp, and all of a sudden someone entered my tent and stuck this thing on me, then I found myself here. They sat me down across from Michelle over here and told me who she was. They let me confirm that she was who they said she was and that I was me, then told her to convert me. They said they wouldn’t hurt me, they just needed to see how the process worked. She tried to tell them how it worked instead, but they didn’t believe her.

“They demanded she tell them why she didn’t want to convert me, and she said that she didn’t want to do it because they’d probably dissect me anyway and couldn’t believe it when they said I’d be safe. They…didn’t really argue that, and instead told her that they’d start hurting her, and listed out all the things they’d do.

“She was going to say no, but I begged her to do it. Even if I don’t like women in that way, she still used to be the man I love, and I didn’t want her to get hurt. After I did that, they switched tactics and said they’d start hurting me instead when she didn’t listen. They were leaving to go get something when you showed up.”

“I’m much the same.” Michelle said. “I was out on a scouting mission, and I got caught and sent here. I was chained up here for a night before they brought Sariah here, and…well, everything happened pretty much like she said.”

“Well, you’re safe now.” Rose said, walking into the room. “Everyone else here has been cocooned.”

“Good.” Amelia replied. She snapped her fingers once more, and the four of them were transported to the residential floor of the World Tree. “Go pick any house that doesn’t have a label, that’ll be where you stay while you’re here. Michelle, explain to your wife how conversion works and decide what she wants to be converted into.

“When you’ve decided, come back and go through this portal,” Amelia motioned at the portal to the work floor, “and come find us. That’ll take you to the work floor, and we’ll be doing conversions of the staff of that facility there for probably a few hours. If it takes longer than that, go through there and find Lily, she’ll get you in touch with us. Just decide by nightfall, alright?”

“It doesn’t have to be the Queen herself.” Sariah said hurriedly. “I’m sure she’s busy and I don’t want to bother someone like that for a purely ceremonial thing. And I don’t think we’ll need until nightfall, we’ll try to finish before you finish your work down there.”

“Good thing it’s not purely ceremonial, then.” Amelia replied. “I say this because she gives a power buff to anyone she directly converts. And, actually, Michelle, while you’re discussing conversion with Sariah, decide what you’d like to be reconverted into; we’ll have the Queen do you as well, as a reward for your service.”

“It would be my honor.” Michelle said. “Is there anything we need to know about choosing a house here?”

“They’re all the same.” Rose replied. “If you have children, then maybe pick one closer to a school, but other than that the only real difference is just distance from the center here. Later on, as we expand the capital more and add more floors, we’ll probably add more portals, so even stuff that’s relatively far should hopefully get closer to a portal eventually.”

“I understand, thank you, Mistress Rose.” Michelle said. “And…thank you for coming to rescue us.”

“Of course.” Rose said, giving her a smile. “We won’t leave our people to get caught in something like that.”

“That’s right.” Amelia agreed. “We’re not letting something like this happen if we can help it. Now, Rose and I are going to get to work, if you have any other questions, I’m sure anyone around will be happy to give answers.”

“Yes, we’ll be on our way. Thank you again.” Michelle said, taking Sariah by the hand and walking off with her.

When they were gone, Amelia turned to Rose. “Let’s go break the good news to Lia!”

Rose nodded, smiling faintly. “I wonder if she’ll be surprised at how fast it was.”

“Well, every moment we spend talking makes it seem like we took longer, so…let’s go!”