PART 1

Despite the very ominous super-secret conspiracy of the Celestial top brass brewing in the background, the next couple of days were fairly uneventful. While I would've liked to uproot them ASAP, there was still a lot of groundwork to be done, and I had no idea how the Narrative would react to any attempt to overthrow the three scheming faction heads. In the best-case scenario, it would've led to general chaos and a new plot development sucker-punching me in the gut for my trouble. In the worst-case scenario, it was exactly what the Narrative was angling for, and I would've been playing into its plans.

I wasn't happy with either of those possibilities, so I focused on strengthening my power base and bade my time. At this point, my life in the Elysium became a routine. Daily interrogation sessions with Mountain Girl and Jaakobah in the morning, mingling with the more agreeable segments of the Directorate in the afternoon, and then spending the evenings sharing progress reports with the girls and then tinkering in the base until morning.

Things weren't any more eventful on Critias either.

The little stunt I pulled during the big Draconic Federation meeting had the expected effects. More or less. Beyond causing an outrage, my appearance also led to a few dissenting voices to question my allegiances, but thanks to Naoren and Dad-in-law firmly standing on my side, those never got louder than a few whispered grumbles. More importantly, the diplomatic faux pas committed by the Assembly arch-mages was quickly swept under the rug in the name of 'standing united against a common foe'. That common foe was, naturally, Bel of the Abyss.

As such, the potential conflict between the two sides was currently put on hold, and if anything, it opened a few new diplomatic channels. All in all, that particular corner ended up being much tidier than expected, no small part thanks to Lord Grandpa actively lobbying for our case. He was working so hard to smooth things over, it almost made me feel bad for all those times I messed with his head. Almost.

As for our prisoner… oh, excuse me, that's plural now.

So, our prisoners were receiving polar opposite treatment. Our dear Sir Percival was still locked up in the secondary hideout, and while his lodgings were made a bit more accommodating due to his surface-level cooperation, he was a wily old fox, and kept his cards close to his chest, slowly drip-feeding us what he knew. Anyone could tell that he was stalling for time and trying to extend his usefulness as far as he could, and all of that while under Snowy's influence. Nevertheless, we had gained a few names and a bit of insight into the Unorthodox faction's ongoing plans for the Draconic Federation, and after Judy cross-referenced them with the Celestial Hub, now we knew on whom to keep a watchful eye in the future.

As for the other captive, her treatment was much different. Tajana Sukkal, the young spymaster of House Inanna, was under house arrest in my home, constantly watched by at least one Faun and half a dozen Kage ninjas at all times. She was treated more like a guest than anything else, and Snowy regarded her as an old friend. Which she was, now that I thought about it. While she never said it out loud, I had a feeling my Abyssal sister was doing her best to turn her over to our side, but so far, Tajana remained stubborn. Only time would tell how she would turn out in the future, but for the time being, I let Snowy and Penny handle her.

And just like that, four whole days passed in the blink of an eye, without any new grand incident or sudden twist. It was also the weekend, but that meant very little to me anymore, considering the Celestials I interacted with on a daily basis had no concept of the five-day workweek. Nor did I, really, as without Blue Cherry High anchoring me to the normal side of the world, I was slowly losing touch with what a weekly rhythm was supposed to be like.

It wasn't the only thing I lost either, as despite fighting tooth and nail against it, I somehow still ended up with a parade.

"Lord Archon. Please try to smile," Jaakobah advised me, which was rich, coming from him of all people.

"I'm not in the mood."

My flat answer gave him a pause, but he didn't relent.

"In that case, at least wave to the masses. They have flocked from all around Elysium just to see you."

My first instinct was to argue back, but I held it down and swept my eyes across the thousands of Celestials around me.

Let's put everything into context, shall we?

At this very moment, I was sitting on top of a huge, white-and-gold chariot drawn by four fully barded horses. I was seated on an elevated platform, shaped like a small throne carved from white wood, with Jaakobah standing on my left and Rinne on my right. We were the spear-tip of a long procession moving through the hilly landscape of the Elysium at a walking pace. The wide road under us was paved with uniform, square white stones, and its sides were occupied by throngs of onlookers held at bay by uniformed men and women forming a cordon.

Oddly enough, not only was the ground covered in Celestials, but so was the sky. Due to this being a 'once in a lifetime' occasion, as one of the organizers put it, the restriction on flight within the Elysium was lifted for the day to allow all the 'commoner' Celestials to attend. I could see thousands of civilians dressed in simple garbs flying overhead. Most of them were guided by more uniformed Celestials, but there were also the organizers of the event, the members of the Praetorian Guard running security, and even those young girls with the baskets made a reappearance, periodically showering us with flower petals as they made the rounds around our procession.

Despite the season, the temperature was fairly cozy, and the breeze carried a fresh scent, along with the sound of marching band music coming from the direction of our destination. When the military branch of the directorate invited me to attend their army's exercise, I wasn't expecting anything like this. To be fair, I should've; the Elysium was the same size as Critias. In other words, it was a country, if a small one, and it made perfect sense that its military would match its size.

That said, while I didn't expect the event to be held inside the tower, I also didn't think an entire plain would be dedicated to it. Once we reached the top of a hill, I could take a good look at the venue, and I could see thousands of Celestial soldiers in the distance. They were all clustered on the grassy flatlands and surrounded by more hills on the other side. Those parts were covered with benches facing the grassland, giving the impression of a natural Greek theatre, though between all the Celestials swarming the area, it reminded me more of an anthill than anything else.

The lively noise of the crowds, the music, the huge flags fluttering about… I had no idea if they were overdoing it because of my presence, but the more I looked, the more it felt like I was attending the Olympics instead of a military exercise.

"Are such events always so excessive?" I asked in a low voice while grudgingly waving to the excited masses.

"No. This level of exhilaration is rather atypical," Jaakobah noted on my left, and when I didn't say anything else, he adopted his poker face again and stared into the distance as our chariot, followed by the military parade behind us, slowly rolled up to the lookout tower visible from a distance.

It was a simple building that kind of reminded me of a lighthouse, made of the familiar white material of the Migdál. Its circular body towered over the rows of elevated seats at its base, and it was capped by a rectangular platform, no doubt serving as the VIP area, providing an unobstructed view over the grassy field at the foot of the hills.

Once we reached the hilltop, the rest of the procession was left behind, and our charioteer, a gruff middle-aged man sitting at the front, drove us behind the building, where we were welcomed by a crowd filled with familiar faces.

"Welcome, O Archon," Tsephanyah greeted me the moment I stepped off the vehicle. He was flanked by Savir and Mensah, plus practically all of the major directors and their direct subordinates. All in all, there were about a hundred of them in total, and thanks to our daily interrogations, I was vaguely familiar with most of them already.

"The Malakim were truly graced by your presence," the Unorthodox chief director noted with a smile and adjusted the doodad over his ear, earning himself a scoff in return.

"Graced or not, this was the last time I would do anything like this," I told him with a frown and straightened my outfit. "The next person who utters the word 'parade' in my presence can expect a…"

"Don't worry, O Archon," Director Savir cut my grumbled short and smiled amicably. "Such public appearances are no longer going to be necessary."

I was looking for some kind of hidden barb under her words, but her tone remained perfectly friendly. The same applied to the other two faction heads as well. If I didn't know that they were plotting something, it would've been easy to believe they put away their differences to rally behind me. Unfortunately for them, I knew better.

After catching them red-handed with their initial meeting, the rest of their plans were plotted out through literal, ink-and-paper letters, and while I could catch a few of those in the writing, I couldn't figure out what they were scheming beyond how it was centered on this event. As such, this turned out to be one of those 'the devil you know' kind of situations, where I would've rather played along with them and be prepared for something, even if I didn't exactly know what it would be, than to shut them down early, and risk getting blind-sided by another ploy later down the line.

In any case, as part of a compromise, I managed to rope them into viewing the exercise with me in exchange for being a good little Archon and showing my face to the crowds. At least this way I could make sure they wouldn't try to blow me up along with the building or something, lest they were ready to martyr themselves in the process.

While I was considering these things, the three head directors guided me into the lookout tower, and one relatively short elevator ride later, I was sitting on yet another throne elevated above the rest of the seats. Aside from the waist-high railing, the side of the outlook facing the exercise field was completely open, providing a full view of the grounds below.

For the next ten or so minutes, we waited for the rest of the guests to arrive and take their seats, and once everyone was ready, Director Savir stood up and took a step forward. She, along with the rest of the faction leaders, was sitting in the first row, and after a long beat, a young Celestial flew by, carrying a strange item hanging from his neck. At first glance, it could be best described as a large, oval crystal ball, about the size of his head, socketed into a cradle made of golden branches and stylized leaves.

The glow around it told me it was some kind of artifact, and it didn't take long to reveal its purpose, as after Savir cleared her throat, it let out a beam of light in her direction. In the following seconds, the air over the exercise grounds began to ripple, like the surface of a lake when someone was skipping stones on it. From the middle of these ripples, five separate holes full of strange twisting shapes and colours opened up, and as they got bigger, they formed five oval apertures, each of them about twenty meters wide, and individually facing the most crowded parts of the hills.

"May the blessing of Deus be with you all!" Savir spoke in a solemn voice, and her words were echoed by the fissures hovering in the air. Over time, the swirling shapes in the holes calmed down, and as the image came into focus, I could see that each one of them had the face and upper body of the director in them.

So that artifact was a fancy camera, I surmised as I continued to watch her speech unfold.

"I welcome you all on this glorious day of…"

Okay, so maybe I wasn't paying full attention after all, because when I noticed that some of the screens floating in the air were showing me, I focused on those and trying to figure out who was filming me. As such, I only listened to Savir with one ear. I didn't miss much. It was a speech about Deus, the return of Polemos, and Celestial supremacy, all of it filled with religious undertones and generously peppered with the liberal usage of the words 'bless', 'grace', and 'holy'.

Thankfully she didn't speak for long, and once she got all the platitudes out of the way, she sat down… and gave her pulpit over to the Director of Military Affairs (his name was Gideon, if my memory served right). His speech was followed by another, this time delivered by Kane, and then even Jaakobah spoke a few words in the name of the Praetorian Guard. All in all, it was an absurdly boring spectacle, but I had to play my role, so I pretended to listen intently and occasionally nod along to whatever was said.

All of that took a solid forty minutes, and I had no idea why any of that was necessary. Who even listened to speeches like this? Why did we, as a species (putting human and Celestial differences aside) decide that any of this was a good use of our time?

My grumblings aside, I was half-expecting that someone would ask me if I also wanted to speak up, but fortunately, nobody was foolish enough to try. As such, after that painful intro, it was finally time for the military exercise to be underway.

Now, there were three things that definitely needed mentioning. Number one: everyone was wearing those hoplite uniforms I've ragged on before. Number two: while their numbers were relatively small compared to an 'actual' army, I was still looking at over ten thousand soldiers there. I figured it was probably because the Malakim, aka the Celestials comprising a solid ninety percent of the Elysium's population, weren't allowed to serve as soldiers. Probably because Deus said so or something. Most of them were on foot, while others were flying around in circles, demonstrating aerial manoeuvres. Number three: all of this was also being broadcasted on the floating magical screens overhead, giving the onlookers close-up glimpses into the fray.

The exercise could be divided into three segments. First, the flying Celestials showcased their dogfighting skills, which included aerial melee, archery, and throwing homing javelins at each other. In the second half, the soldiers on the ground formed two tidy lines, and then charged each other, creating a huge melee flustercuck in the middle of the field. Then, at last, it was an all-out battle, with units manoeuvring around, support teams singing arias to create magical balls of light and throwing them at the other side, acting like artillery, all the while being harassed by flying squads.

If not for their Barriers protecting them, I was sure there would've been at least a couple of casualties, but even so, the number of injured could be counted in the hundreds by the time the third round of the exercise ended. I summed all of that up very succinctly, but in reality, all of that took a solid five hours, including a short break before the last round, and I was getting tired of it all.

It wasn't just because I was bored by the spectacle, though to be fair, the 'all out joint forces battle' was much less exciting than it sounded on paper due to all of the participants being low-autonomy placeholders going through the motions. Their individual prowess was nothing to write home about, and while whatever buffs they received from singing their arias in the middle of the battle probably made them fight better, I could barely see any of that due to all the swirling and clashing magical lights they produced in the process.

More importantly though, I was getting mentally tired from keeping my guard up for so long. I knew that Savir and company had something planned, and I'd been on alert, but maintaining that for five whole hours was getting tedious. On the flip side, I was also getting a bit anxious too. Why didn't they make a move yet, I wondered? Did the plan change? Was I looking forward to one of those 'the devil you don't' scenarios instead?

My worries reached a crescendo with the ending of the third round, and all the soldiers leaving the exercise grounds, surrounded by a cheering crowd. Was this the end of it?

"Fellow Celestials in the Grace of Deus!" Well, it apparently wasn't, as attested by Savir standing up and her face showing up on the enormous magical screens floating above us. "Our brave warriors of Deus have proven their valor in front of your eyes, but the day is far from over! The Praetorian Guard, chosen by our Second True Archon, Lord Polemos himself, have come forth to prove themselves as well!"

Blinking, I turned to the man on my left.

"Jaakobah? What is this about?"

"I'm not entirely sure either," he admitted, sounding unusually uncertain of himself.

My eyes jumped over to Mike's father, but Kane seemed just as stumped by the development. In the meantime, eight distinct people flew into the middle of the pock-marked grounds, and for a moment, two of the overhead screens focused on them as they waved at the still-cheering crowd. By the looks of it, even some of the soldiers who participated in the previous exercise have spread out around the edges of the field in anticipation of the next spectacle.

"Dedicated to the protection of our Second True Archon against the greatest of threats and most powerful of foes, the Praetorian Guard will now prove their mettle in sacred combat!"

As Savir continued to rile up the crowd, a group of about twenty Celestials flew into the airspace. They wore harnesses attached by thick ropes to a large statue of a man on a square pedestal. It was about four meters tall and depicted a classical Greek soldier wearing a face-covering helmet, light armour, and carrying a short sword and a large round shield in each hand. It was snow-white save for the mirror-shined golden equipment on it, and while it stood on a pedestal, its pose wasn't very heroic; akin to a marionette with its strings cut.

At last, the statue landed on the grassy ground with a loud thud audible even at our vantage point, and the carriers hastily threw off their harnesses and flew away as if their lives depended on it.

Running out of people to ask, and seeing that she finally stopped giving her speech and all the magic apertures were focused on the eight idiots on the grounds, I turned to Savir and picked a suitably clichéd question from my repertoire.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Don't be alarmed, O Archon. It is but a small surprise your subordinates requested," she told me with just the barest hint of a smile. "After all, their duty is to protect you from powerful enemies, such as Abyssal Lords, is it not? They simply wished to prove their worth to you by facing a mighty foe. Of course, we had no way to ask a Lord of the Abyss for a favor, so we had to settle on the next most suitable—"

Her words were cut short by a war cry coming from the grounds. The statue, expectedly enough, stepped off its pedestal, its body swelling and shrinking until it settled down into a roughly three meters tall, exceedingly muscular form, and it let loose another animalistic roar that made Rinne twitch on my right. Before I could ask what that was about, Jaakobah let out a displeased grunt on my other side.

"Is that a Colossus from the Old War? How come this is the first time I've heard about any of this?"

"They requested it," Savir answered with barely hidden glee as she studied my face, and then faced Jaakobah again. "There is no reason for you to worry, Praetor. After all, the Archon had personally approved of his honor guard. If they couldn't even deal with a single Colossus…" She paused to glance at the battle unfolding beneath us and then turned back to me with an innocent smile. "Why, that would be preposterous, wouldn't it?"

PART 2

The tension in the overlook was… nowhere to be found.

I mean, was that it? Really?

My eyes narrowed on their own as I scrutinized Director Savir's face, but her expression remained perfectly still, locked in a cordial smile and pretending she was perfectly innocent. At most, she looked a little smug, as if she blindsided me by this development… which she admittedly did, but… I was expecting more.

Was this really all she was planning? Thinking so, I glanced at the battlefield, or rather, at one of the magical screens zoomed in on the action, and I couldn't help but frown. Based on what I could see, the eight Praetorian Plonkers were holding their own against the big statue thing, doing the same kind of switch-ups and hit-and-run tactics they used when we sparred the first time. They didn't seem to be doing much damage, but to be fair, I had no idea what this 'Colossus' thing was, so I couldn't quite tell if that was normal or not.

Speaking of which, I put my palm on the pommel of the sword hanging from my belt.

"Teeny?" I whispered under my breath the moment Savir looked away from me. "What the heck is that thing?"

"{Designation: Autonomous combat construct. Clarification: Third Generation Colossus, melee variant.}"

"Since when do Celestials have something like that…?" I grumbled, but it took my question seriously.

"{Answer: The Colossi were created during the war against the Abyssal Usurper. Based on the calendar system currently used by Archon Polemos, the precise date of their first deployment should be—}"

"{Teeny, please. That was obviously one of those things our young knight calls 'a rhetorical question',}" Cal butted in, and the other sword let out a thoughtful hum.

"{Response: On further evaluation, Cal's assessment should be correct.}"

Ignoring the swords chattering in my head, I focused my attention on the battle. This 'Colossus' was rather nimble, despite its large size, and it seemed to be able to change its shape to a degree. It was also very resilient, able to shrug off the ranged attacks of midriff-woman and tunic-man without flinching, and could push armour-guy back without much trouble. Overall, while the fight was still unfolding, it was still able to fight evenly even though it was outnumbered eight-to-one.

Sooo… was that the plan? I didn't mean mine, but the directors'. Did Savir set my honour guard up for this battle to get them roughed up? Was that supposed to bother me? Did she think that, since she couldn't harm me directly, she would get my subordinates beaten up instead? I didn't even like them that much, and she had to know that. She learned about what happened in the closed-off assembly hall of the Draconic Federation just a few hours after I showed up there as Bel; there was no way in hell she wouldn't already know that I wasn't all that attached to these guys. I mean, yeah, if their lives were in jeopardy, I would've probably helped them, but that applied to most people I knew, and in this case, they were kind of asking for it.

…

Or were they?

The way she framed it sounded like my Praetorian Palookas were the ones who came up with this whole charade, but were they? I didn't put it beyond Director Savir to manipulate them into asking for something like this to 'prove themselves', as she put it, and genuinely believe it was their idea. I mean, they were more defined than the average Placeholder, but they were side-character material at best, and not necessarily the brightest sparks either. But then why would Savir go through the trouble? Plausible deniability? Misdirection?

"Lord Archon? Shouldn't we do something?" Jaakobah jolted me out of my thoughts, and when I raised a brow, he pointed at the magical screen closest to us showing armour-guy and hammer-lad getting pushed back.

"I'm thinking," I told him a touch flatly, and while the fight was getting a bit one-sided, I saw no reason to jump in without understanding the situation first.

Case in point, I still couldn't grasp why Savir framed them as the instigators of this spectacle. If it was only to get them beaten and… Oh, wait. Maybe that's where I was getting tripped up. Maybe the goal wasn't to hurt the people I might possibly mayhap theoretically care about, but to hurt my reputation instead. During her speech, he emphasized that I hand-picked them to be my honour guard, which was already a bit of a stretch. Could it be that, by making them foolishly challenge an opponent they couldn't beat, her goal was to make them look like a bunch of incompetent buffoons, and harm my image by implying that I was unable to see their incompetence?

"That's a bit of a stretch…"

My stray comment had Savir turn back to me, but after seeing that she was still wearing the same inscrutable expression, I ignored her and focused on the fight again. Not that there was much to see. The Colossus was flailing around, the eight Celestials were still doing hit-and-run tactics, and… wait. When did that thing grow two more arms?

That should've been little more than a curiosity, but it bothered me all the same, so before I would return to my attempt to crack Savir's plan again, I had to get it out of my system.

"Teeny?"

"{Response: Yes, Archon Polemos?}"

"More details please," I whispered curtly, and it took the short sword a while to respond.

"{Request: Please clarify your inquiry.}"

"{I'm fairly sure our young knight was asking about this Colossus creature.}"

After Cal came to the rescue like that, Teeny let out an unusually emotional hum.

"{Reserved Response: Thank you for the clarification. Professional Response: Colossi are the invention of Ophanim Pheidias, first constructed and deployed during the War of the Pretender Archon. Individual Colossi may vary in shape and size depending on generation and individual specification. Common features shared between colossi are as follows: limited sapience and autonomy, capability for self-regeneration, shifting of internal- and external structure in response to combat stimuli, high degree of resistance to mystic arts and other forms of reality-altering effects reliant on the utilization of mana, verbal control systems based on…}"

Teeny kept listing off more and more technical details, but my mind was already drifting elsewhere. In summary, this thing was a large, shape-shifting creature immune to magic. Now, if I wasn't in public, I would've probably buried my face in my hand at this point and yelled, 'That's just a bloody Chimera!', but since there were too many eyes on me, I decided to scream internally instead.

Sure, it looked slightly more pleasing to the eyes, and it could use weaponry to a degree, but the comparison was still spot-on. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have been that surprised though, considering everything I knew about the common root and parallels between the Elysium and the Abyss, but getting something dropped on my head like this was still unexpected.

The real question was whether this was part of Savir's plan. Was it supposed to be a subtle dig at my 'Chimeral Slayer' moniker? Or was it simply the only thing they could procure in short order that could solo eight elite Celestial agents working together? Was I reading too deeply into this? Or not deeply enough?

Whatever the case might have been, I had a feeling I wasn't going to figure out all of Savir's plans while pondering in my armchair. Or throne. Same thing, really. If anything, I figured I should start focusing on what exactly I was supposed to do in this situation.

The first option was a classic: do nothing. It wasn't like my oh-so-elite Praetorian Pinheads were in serious threat of dying. They were Celestials, with their magical Barrier and the whole place crawling with healers and all, so I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat worrying about their survival. If push came to shove, I could just order people to do something about it. It would help me practice my delegation-skills, and it wasn't like there weren't any stronger-than-average people around me. Like Mountain Girl.

…

On second thought, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. If my hunch was right and this was just an off-brand Chimera with better packaging, I wasn't sure if she could keep her cool when facing a 'monster' and avoid using her flashy sword techniques. Or worse yet, scream their names from the top of her lungs. Not to mention, there were other options left. Like Jaakobah, or Kane. I haven't even seen the latter fight seriously, so this might've been a great opportunity to see his capabilities.

All in all, there wasn't much of a reason for me to personally make a move in this situation, and that was—

"Lord Archon! We have a problem!"

Feeling disoriented after my train of thought was so violently kicked off the rails, I glanced over to Director Mensah, who was holding one finger on his magitech Bluetooth headset while keeping his glasses in place with his other hand. His expression was dire, but he didn't continue until I directly addressed him.

"Yes?"

"There's something wrong with the Colossus! It doesn't respond to our commands!"

"I told you that taking that old thing out of storage without testing it first was just asking for an incident like this."

Hearing Tsephanyah's remark made the bespectacled director level a harrowing glare at his colleague and lash out at once.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"I told you I personally inspected it before it was delivered to the site! Someone must have tampered with it en route!"

"Please, calm down, gentlemen," Director Savir stood up and cut between the two other chief directors, her face bearing an uncomfortable grimace. "You are embarrassing all of us in front of the Second True Archon."

"This is serious, Eri—! I mean, Director Savir! If we can't control the Colossus, it could lead to horrific collateral damage!" Director Mensah insisted, and but unlike her, his poker face showed some cracks as his eyes darted between me and the other directors.

Were they putting on this stage play just for me, I wondered? Was it to wash their hands of whatever could or would happen to the eight Celestials on the field, or was it to urge me into action? However, before I could consider every angle, a new voice joined the conversation.

"With all due respect, Lord Archon, I believe it we have to act," Michael's father was standing a bit further away from us, but his urgent voice could be heard over the rumbling of the other directors sitting behind me. "I have contacted the Seraphic Safeguard stationed around the perimeter, and it would take at least twenty minutes before we could secure the equipment required to safely disable a Colossus. If the Praetorian Guard loses its attention and it attacks the onlookers, it will result in a bloodbath."

"Just send in the army!" The demand came from one of the directors in Savir's clique, and Kane aimed a disparaging look at her.

"The regular army is not equipped to deal with a rampaging Colossus. If we send them in, the casualties would be—!"

"It's still much safer than expecting the Archon to face off against one of our living weapons all alone," Savir cut him short, sounding reasonable, yet it only made me squint at her even harder.

At first, I thought she set the Praetorian Guard up to hit my reputation. Was this an extension of that, hoping that I wouldn't intervene and appear as a coward, or was she trying to use reverse psychology on me, and trying to prod me into action? On second thought, this might've been one of those 'lose-lose' scenarios, carefully set up so that no matter which option I chose, it could be spun into a hit-piece on me. Maybe even literally, if she was hoping this Colossus thing would prove to be too much for me to chew.

In that case, what was the best way to go about this?

"Lord Archon! I request permission to join the Praetorian Guard! As their Prefect, my place is at their side!"

This time it was Jaakobah's turn to receive a squint, as that sounded way too hot-blooded for something that came out of his mouth. Rinne also seemed eager to join the fray, and so did Kane, but if I let them go, I would not only appear uncaring, but all my allies in the Elysium (for however much that word meant the case of the two Celestials) would leave my side, which would be the perfect opportunity for a potential assassination plot to go off, and…

Ugh. I hated this whole thing! There were way too many variables and possibilities to keep in mind! This whole hubbub was exactly the reason why I preferred to be the one doing the conspiratorial scheming instead of being on the receiving end of it.

But putting my grumbles aside, which one was the lesser evil in this scenario? Send everyone out, and watch them battle the big, four-armed statue monster thing for the next fifteen minutes while second-guessing everyone's motivations, or join the fray myself and worry about the schemes running in the background once the situation got resolved? In the end, it came down to which one felt less stressful at the moment.

"Oh, to hell with this…"

My softly spoken grumbles shocked the onlookers, but not nearly as much as when I casually unsheathed my blades and stepped up to the handrails in front of us.

"{Are we going to fight the Celestial monstrosity, young knight? Your hand isn't fully healed yet, so don't overexert yourself!}"

"{Agreement: Teeny is in agreement.}"

That was terribly redundant, but I didn't call the short sword out on in, and instead I cranked the physical enhancements of my Polemos outfit up to about seventy percent capacity. I could feel a rush of adrenaline course through my veins once the enchantments kicked into high gear as I placed my right foot onto the railing, exhaled a sharp breath, and turned to the mostly flabbergasted audience behind me.

"Don't go anywhere. This'll only take a minute."

After saying so, I faced the battlefield again and focused my attention on the overlapping anchor zones created by the eight dingbats running circles around the enraged statue creature in the middle. Based on my posture, I was sure the directors behind me were expecting me to bring out three pairs of majestic wings at any moment, but I had no access to anything like that. Contrary to my Bel disguise occasionally having them, if the onlookers were to be believed. As such, I had to be more creative.

This wasn't the first time I had to disguise my Phasing ability in front of an audience, and while the particulars were slightly different from the last time, it was still doable. I simply had to angle my body downwards a bit, even though leaning over the railing felt decidedly unsafe, and then after picking a good 'landing spot', I tensed up my body and Phased down right between the battered octet. The moment I did, I focused my strength on my right foot, which previously rested on the railing, and stomped down while simultaneously triggering one of the wards on my outfit. I used it to dissipate the counter-force, so that I wouldn't launch myself into the air, and as a side-effect, it caused a small shockwave with me in the epicenter.

While this was the first time I pulled off this move 'live', it was one of the many 'dramatic entrance' options I considered for future use as Bel, and so I practised it enough to feel confident that, from an outside perspective, I must have looked like I covered the distance in the blink of an eye. Or so I hoped. Otherwise, I just made myself look silly.

Anyhow, once the performance was over, I straightened my back and raised my swords, much to my alleged honour guard's shock and confusion.

"Lord Archon, sir? What are you…?"

I used Teeny to gesture in the general direction of armour-guy.

"There is something wrong with the Colossus. Possibly sabotage. Consider this an Orange situation."

The big guy looked rather slack-jawed for a moment, but when I mentioned the code to him, his eyes immediately regained focus and he bellowed out, "Code Orange! I repeat, Code Orange! This is not a drill!"

His voice carried over the sound of the crowd, and the rest of the group fell in line with his instructions right away. For the record, the 'Colour Code System' was just something I made up on the spot while observing their training in the mornings, mostly just to pass the time and to see how much they would swallow without critical thinking. As it turned out, so long as it came from my mouth, they would run with absolutely anything. By the by, the Orange code meant 'Secure the perimeter, and let me do my thing without having to worry about you idiots getting in the way', except phrased a bit more diplomatically.

They followed it to a tee as well, and in just a few short seconds, they fell back to form a loose circle around me and the considerably confused Colossus. That last part didn't take long to change though, as once all of its original targets were out of range, the four-armed statue focused all of its attention onto me and let out a deafening roar that was probably very intimidating. I wouldn't know, because I was too busy arguing with my swords.

"For the hundredth time, Cal. I don't have a beam attack!" I hissed, much to my knightly weapon's disappointment.

"{Comment: Teeny would request Cal to cease meaningless chatter and focus on maintaining mana-saturation levels.}"

"{This is no idle talk! All self-respecting Kings of Knights should have a beam attack!}"

"{Exasperated Remark: Teeny finds Cal's obsession with the topic tiresome.}"

"Stop quarrelling, you two, and focus," I whispered and flourished both of them before facing off against the Colossus. "Now then. Let's find out whether I made the right call by coming down here or not…"

PART 3

So, first things first, let's assess the current situation.

My honour guard fell back, as instructed, and formed a perimeter that enclosed me and this Colossus thing. According to Mike's father, the elite Seraphic Safeguard needed some time to prepare a specialized weapon or tool or something to take down the big fella. Let's say, fifteen minutes. I was in good condition, with two legendary weapons and a reasonably optimized suit of physical enhancements powering me up, plus thanks to the groundwork I'd laid beforehand, I could Phase around in a pinch and justify it later by calling it 'spatial substitution' and 'full sensory illusions', and then refusing to elaborate.

In front of me, I had a huge, humanoid living statue with four arms. It was a little over three meters tall, in the form of a muscular man wearing ancient Greek armour. Its newly grown arms, sprouting from its shoulders, were bare of equipment. Its other limbs, in contrast, had elaborately embossed shin- and forearm guards depicting lions and other wild animals, as well as a pair of leather sandals. On its chest it wore a fancy breastplate with finely crafted abs and pecs, complete with a skirt of leather straps hanging from its bottom and smaller leather tassets on the shoulders.

It was hard to tell whether or not it had a face, as its closed helmet topped by a red plume crest only had a pair of eye holes, and those were filled with a bright cerulean light. Finally, it had a short sword in one hand and a large, round shield in another. Both of them were rather plain but shined to a mirror finish, like the rest of its gear. I said 'gear', but since all of those things actively scaled with the Colossus as its shape shifted before, I was fairly sure they were part of its body; a notion that was soon reinforced when I tried to interact with it using my phantom limbs.

"Yep, just as expected," I whispered under my breath and took a stance. "This thing is just a fancy Chimera."

When the Colossus saw me getting into position, it… roared again, and beat its sword against its shield with a deafening noise. Was it trying to intimidate me, I wondered? Or to taunt me into attacking first? Whatever the case might have been, I remained still for the time being and continued my evaluation.

While the creature was big and imposing, it wasn't the first time I was facing off against something this size. Heck, as much as the title annoyed me, I did fight not one, but two Chimeras (or the same one twice, but let's not get bogged down in semantics) without equipment or training, not to mention facing off against an actual dragon. Well, okay, we're talking about a young and inexperienced dragon, and I wasn't as much fighting her as teasing her while running away, but I'd say it still counted.

Throw in about a thousand hours' worth of Dominance training with Brang on top of that, plus all the enchanted gear I was using at the moment, and it wasn't hard to see why I had a hard time mustering up any tension when facing this Colossus thing. It was only me though.

"{Ah! Another worthy opponent to pit your mettle against, young knight! Let's go, to glorious battle!}"

"{Exasperated Remark: Teeny would like to request Cal to calm down and focus.}"

"{I'm calm! And focused! In that order!}" The sword in my right hand scoffed, though I could clearly feel their excitement through our link. He had a similar reaction when I was 'testing' armour-guy a while back, so maybe he was just really into the idea of fighting enemies that used swords and shields.

Cal wasn't the only one getting hyped up, as a simple glance at the audience, reflected on the floating magical screen overhead, made them cheer like I was a new babyface entering the ring after an infamous heel just demolished an entire tag team. Wrestling analogies aside, my eyes swept over the crowd, and my gaze soon landed on the lookout tower in the distance. I couldn't see them from this distance, but I was still a little concerned about what this whole charade was about.

Shaking my head, I tore my eyes away from the building and focused my attention on the creature again. I would have all the time in the world to figure out why they set up this whole situation after I beat it into submission. I would also be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit curious about the capabilities of this living statue. So far, I wasn't super-impressed by the Celestials' military might; while they had overwhelming numbers on their side, their individual prowess was nothing to write home about, and the less said about their military doctrine, the better. Not only that, but unlike the other main supernatural factions, where the Abyssal Lords, Draconian patriarchs, and arch-mages represented the peak of their fighting forces, the Celestial directors were rather underwhelming in comparison, being more of the scheming, paper-pushing type.

On the flip side, this Colossus creature was apparently their equivalent of a Chimera. Considering that the latter was something of a boogeyman among the supernatural folk, especially the Magi, whose whole build was more-or-less nullified by its magic resistance, I figured that this thing must've been similarly powerful, and about as dangerous as anything the Elysium could field.

So far, there was only one thing I could ascertain about it: it wasn't very aggressive. Comparing side-by-side, during my first encounter with a Chimera during the school incident, it immediately rushed us, and it took me a lot of effort to keep its attention on me and stop it from hunting the girls. In comparison, the Colossus was focused entirely on me, and remained completely stationary, continuing to wave its weapon and taunt me with low, gravelly grunts. Since I didn't move either, the initially excited crowd broke into two distinct groups; the basic Placeholder types continued cheering unabated, while the slightly more developed types, including the soldiers at the edge of the grounds, seemed rather confused by my inaction.

I wasn't in a hurry though, and after observing the Colossus's movements, I flourished my weapons again. It flinched and raised its shield, but when no attack came, it beat its swords against it while waving its extra arms around one more time. That was a pattern, meaning it was being passive on purpose. Was it intimidated, I wondered? I quickly discarded that idea. There was no reason to assume my reputation preceded me amongst semi-sentient magical constructs, and I sincerely doubted it had some kind of measuring ability to tell it my power level was over nine thousand.

Was it on the defensive because it was instructed to do so? It was supposed to serve as a showcase for the Praetorian Guards, so it would've made sense, but while I wasn't paying full attention to their battle, I was pretty sure it was rather proactive until I showed up. If not that, then why was it so timid?

"Let's experiment a bit," I concluded with a sigh, and took a step forwards, causing the crowd to cheer and the Colossus to let out another threatening bellow.

Ignoring both, I planted my feet, pushed the physical enchantments powering my legs up a notch, and dashed headlong, thrusting Cal forward to poke at an opening in its defences. It hastily pulled its shield over, stopping my half-hearted attack, and the moment metal met metal, I could see a thin barrier forming between the two, pushing the tip of the blade back, leaving only a tiny nick on the polished surface of the shield.

That was only one data point, so out of curiosity, I followed the strike up with a shallow slash with Teeny in its short sword form. Sparks flew, and once again, I could only make a small scratch on the surface of the shield. In the meantime, the Colossus raised its sword high, telegraphing a vertical hack I avoided by side-stepping it without much trouble.

In the meantime, I instructed Teeny to switch form, and using the gap in the creature's defences provided by its counterattack, I slipped the head of the spear between its shield and its sword-bearing hand, impacting its breastplate. While it was little more than a love-tap, the Colossus let out a groan and staggered back, assuming a defensive posture again.

As expected, I only left a small mark on its armour, yet it caused another wave of cheers to erupt from the peanut gallery. It sent a wave of adrenaline through my system, but I suppressed the excitement and let out a pent-up breath. In conclusion, the metallic bits had some kind of power field surrounding them, and since they weren't enchanted but parts of its body, it was likely some kind of Barrier. But if so, wouldn't it also cover the rest of its body? Asking my spear to return to its sword form, I took up a stance again, and this time, I decided to focus on the unarmoured parts.

Recognizing the pattern, I waited until it started taunting me again. As soon as it started shaking its shield and got ready to beat on it with the flat of its sword, I crossed my arms, dropped my center of gravity, and assumed the usual 'Phasing cover-up' position. Lurching forward, I Phased to its left, then changed directions before Phasing directly behind the startled creature, simulating high-speed movement, and then leapt up. Swinging both my swords at once, my targets were the bare arms sticking out of the back of its shoulders, and to my initial surprise, my blades bit deep into the white flesh of the Colossus.

I didn't quite have enough momentum, and my arm injury meant I couldn't push its physical enhancements too hard, so I was unable to sever them in one go. Not that it was ever my intention, but since the edges sunk in much deeper than expected, it seemed that both Cal and Teeny would be stuck in the cuts. That was something I had to avoid at all cost, so I set my feet against the back of the creature and kicked off, tearing my weapons out of the wounded arms, leaving behind a pair of deep, gaping wounds and staggering the Colossus.

Belatedly realizing what just happened, the creature let out a cry that sounded more surprised than pained and swung its shield behind its back. By this time, I had safely touched down, eschewing style for efficiency by not doing a backflip and simply landing on my feet. Glancing down, I couldn't see any blood on my blades, and neither on the Colossus. It continued to roar and flail around, its extra arms dangling from its back and revealing a strange, spongy inner structure that immediately reminded me of the seemingly organic material of the big Celestial towers.

That impression was further reinforced when the Colossus began to rapidly reabsorb the useless appendages into its torso. It was a process more reminiscent of the walls of the Migdál melding into the floors under the musical ministrations of the construction crew than a Chimera's more organic change in response to damage. The added bulk made the creature's entire body swell and ripple, its remaining arms and legs becoming even thicker and its muscles more defined, as if it just went through half a year of bodybuilding in the span of a few seconds.

By the end of it, its already impressive physique morphed into one that would've made even Duncan jealous, and the light in its eyes went from a pale cyan to a deep, angry shade of blue. In conclusion, it appeared that it had little resistance to damage, and it relied on its armoured parts and its ability to absorb and redistribute its mass to defend itself. On the other hand, unlike a Chimera, it didn't alter its body-plan in response to its opponent, though to be fair, we only had a single exchange, so maybe it just didn't have the time to do so. All in all, I was still left curious about its capabilities, and itching to find out more.

"Lord Archon!"

It was exactly this moment that Kane chose to land by my side, displaying his four wings and his combat transformation, which was, unsurprisingly, yet another variation of the usual ancient Greek hoplite outfit common in the Elysium. His colour scheme was dominated by a mixture of red and gold, and the design showed off his toned arms. He also chose to use a magitech shield similar to armour-guy's, and a long spear tipped with a leaf-shaped head, about two heads longer than he was tall.

"Primus?" I turned a questioning look at him, followed by a measured, "What exactly are you doing here?"

"I came to support you!" he declared, his spear already pointed at the Colossus. "Procuring the apparatus to disable the Colossus may take longer than initially expected, so I'm here to take responsibility and hold the Colossus at bay to uphold the honor of the Seraphic Safeguard!"

"I have also arrived," an apathetic voice declared behind me, and I didn't even have to look over my shoulder to realize that it was Jaakobah. "I will provide ranged and healing support for the subjugation."

"Oh, great," I muttered under my breath, but neither of them was able to detect the sarcasm.

"Your Arbiter should also arrive shortly," Jaakobah added, and I could hear him dramatically cock his magitech pistol.

I was just about to let out another snide comment, but then I swallowed it as an involuntary frown settled onto my brows. Letting Rinne loose on this thing was something I wanted to avoid, lest she would get too worked up and blow her cover. Fighting against a Chimera-adjacent magical creature was going to do that, and with all of these eye-witnesses around, it would be only a matter of time before someone would connect the dots. Then I would be forced to explain how she entered the Elysium without anyone's notice, and the only reasonable way to do that would be by playing the Bel card again, but that would then cause another round of outrage, and…

Should I just end this quickly before she got here?

"Director Savir asked me to tell you," Kane interjected, drawing my attention back to him, "to prioritize your safety, Lord Archon, and wait for the Seraphic Safeguard's strike squad. Your personage is too important to risk your life in such a meaningless matter!"

Blinking, I glanced at the man, but he was entirely serious. Was… Was this another instance of reverse psychology? Was Savir trying to goad me into being reckless, or was she in fact asking me to draw out the fight so that…

"I grow tired of this," I growled, much to everyone's momentary surprise, and I directed another glance at the lookout tower. I let my gaze linger for a second, and then faced the Colossus again, and cranked the physical enchantments of my outfit to one hundred percent.

"{Young knight! Your internal injuries will—!}

Ignoring Cal's complaints, I exhaled hard, and through my links with the swords in my hands, I pushed my body even further. Even with all of that combined, I would only be able to reach the baseline performance of my Lion Knight gear, and only temporarily, but it was more than enough. I'd drawn this out for too long already, and I was getting fed up with this entire situation.

Channelling all that indignation, I took a measured step forward. Neither the Colossus nor the onlookers could make sense of what I was doing, but I continued to walk with leisurely steps. As expected, the moment I got within its reach, the Colossus let out yet another flaccid bellow and swung its sword at me. Predictable.

Despite its enormous size and tree-trunk-like arms, it was far from impossible to parry it. The second the blade got into my own arm's reach, I used Teeny to bat the incoming strike away. The large sword bounced off as if hitting a solid steel wall, revealing an opening the size of the Grand Canyon.

Following that, I changed the direction of my next step and ducked under the creature's raised arm. Before it could react, I swung Cal upwards with all my might, and the blade easily bit into the spongy flesh of the Colossus's armpit. Like carving tofu, I sliced right through, feeling minimal resistance as I sent its arm flying, along with a few of the leather tassets attached to the breastplate. I didn't know if it was due to the enchantments or the rush of adrenaline, but time slowed to a crawl as I watched the limb slowly fall to the ground. Nevertheless, my arms didn't stop moving, and neither did my feet. Even as I pulled Cal back after the successful slice, I turned to my right. With both my hands high in the air after the successful parry and counter, I swung them down at same time.

In a flash, I moved past the creature as it belatedly staggered. While the cut was shallow due to my less-than-ideal posture, I still managed to cut deep enough into its right thigh to unbalance my opponent. It frantically tried to step back and out of my range, but I stomped my foot hard to shift my momentum and followed right after it.

Seeing that, despite its injuries, it was already moving to intercept me with its shield, I reflexively Phased to its other side and slashed at its remaining elbow. While I wasn't able to sever it in one go with Teeny, a follow-up strike with Cal did the trick. In the meantime, I could see that the creature was already in the process of reforming its missing right arm. It never got the chance to do so, as now that I reduced its bulk by two limbs, I could move on to the next step, and I rammed its chest with my shoulder.

As my Leoformer outfit met with the Barrier around the Colossus's armour, it immediately triggered its defensive wards, and the clash of the two caused a small explosion of magic at the contact point. I was braced for it. The Colossus wasn't, and without its arms for balance, it toppled backwards without much recourse in the matter.

It landed on its back with a thud that shook the ground under my feet, but it was too early to rest on my laurels yet. Before it could get up, I swung Cal again, aiming the same spot on its right leg I previously cut, and this time I was successful in severing the leg. Once it was detached, I immediately kicked it away, lest it could rejoin the main body. The Colossus was still struggling at this point, its eye-lights going from blue to a flickering indigo. Ignoring its trashing, I switched Teeny into its spear form and nailed its other leg to the ground with a single, vicious thrust.

Once I let the spear go, half of my mana supply was cut off, so I had to act fast, before the Colossus could regenerate its limbs, I reached down with my free hand, and with a single tug, I tore its breastplate off its torso, revealing an indistinct mass of spongy flesh underneath. I was once again thankful for the fact that these things didn't bleed, otherwise this would've been the goriest thing I've ever seen.

Hypotheticals aside, under the stunned eyes of the onlookers, I casually walked over to the fallen arm of the Colossus, pried the large golden sword from its stiff fingers, and after returning to the twitching body on the ground, I unceremoniously stabbed it in the chest, pushing through with all my strength. It still wasn't enough, so once I'd done as much I could with my hand, I raised a foot, placed it on the flat pommel, and stomped on the sword until it was buried down to the hilt, securely nailing the creature to the ground.

I was tempted to let out a tired breath, but I had appearances to uphold, so I grabbed the shaft of Teeny, and with one last burst of effort, I twisted the spearhead with all my might. In the end, it was more 'tearing' than 'severing', but I managed to get the last appendage off the torso of the creature, now pinned down like a giant bug in an entomologist's collection.

Considering all of that a job well done, and the Colossus functionally disabled, I let out a long breath and turned all the physical enhancements down. I was consequently assailed by a sudden onset of vertigo, but I toughed it out as best as I could.

"Lord Archon… I…"

Kane looked like an especially confused fish out of the water as he walked over, stepping over one of the discarded limbs on the ground. Right behind him, he was closely followed by Jaakobah, with Rinne arriving last from a different direction, and even though her face was hidden by her helmet, I was about two hundred percent sure she was pouting under it.

Now that the 'crisis' was averted, my honour guard also closed in on us, and I could practically see the scene where they would prostrate themselves in front of me to ask for my forgiveness, or something equally trite. Needless to say, I wasn't going to have any of that, so before they could get a word in, I returned Teeny to its sword form, dramatically sheathed both of my blades and turned at the group with my best 'hard-ass drill sergeant' impression on my face.

"Have this Colossus analysed for traces of tampering." I waited for a beat, and then addressed them individually, "Primus Kane, tell the directors that I will be returning my quarters to rest. Prefect Jaakobah, you are in charge of the investigation. You can use my Arbiter. Leave no stone unturned." I faced Rinne next, but she nodded at once and stepped up to Jaakobah, so I was sure she already knew her job. "As for the rest of you, continue to secure the area and then support the investigation to the best of your abilities."

I didn't even wait for their responses before turning on my heels, and after a quick wave at the magical cameras, I walked off the field, surrounded by the cheers of the crowd. I could hardly care less about it though; I had more important things to worry about, such as finding a quiet corner from which I could check the three head directors' responses, and find out if I made the right call by cutting the fight short or not.

PART 4

"This is insanity!" Director Mensah hissed, holding his head in his hands, much to his co-conspirators' annoyance. "That was an antique, third-generation Colossus, in mint condition!"

"Don't be so melodramatic, Dolion," Director Savir scoffed at him and would've probably said more if not for a small hitch in the road causing their ride to shake.

In keeping with the stupidly anachronistic theme of the Elysium, the three head directors were riding a simple horse-drawn carriage right out of a Victorian era. Unlike my lavishly decorated parade chariot, their vehicle was closed, with even its small windows draped with thick blinds, so they could barely be seen inside the fairly cramped cabin.

"Losing a single Colossus is an acceptable price," Savir continued where she left off, causing the third passenger to let out an annoyed grunt.

"A price for what?" Tsephanyah asked, sounding as livid as I'd even heard him. "For making the Archon even more popular with the masses?"

"Don't be daft, Acacius." Savir rolled her eyes and made a vague gesture with her right hand. "All of this was within expectations."

"Not mine," the bespectacled director continued to fume.

"It's because you're only focusing on the Colossus," she responded with barely disguised exasperation. "You have to look at the bigger picture, and once you do that, you'll realize the plan was, while not smooth, ultimately successful."

I was waiting for them to discuss what said plan was, but since the three of them were already aware, they naturally didn't go into any 'As you know'-style exposition dumps. Instead, Tsephanyah let out a sigh and crossed his arms.

"What should we do about Primus Kane?"

"He seems to be firmly on the Archon's side," Director Mensah followed him up, seemingly done with sulking. "That means he now has the Seraphic Safeguard."

"I've already set things in motion to keep him in check, so you don't need to worry about him," Savir answered with a thin-lipped smile, prompting Tsephanyah to sharply exhale through his nose.

"Another of your 'leverage' plans, I presume."

"Indeed. Am I that predictable?" she responded with a broader smile that didn't reach her eyes at all, and now it was the other male director who exhaled hard.

"Leverage this, leverage that. I still don't think it was worth exchanging a Colossus for it."

This time, Savir levelled a borderline disgusted stare at the man and rubbed her forehead.

"I thought we were over this, Dolion. The Colossus was an integral part of the plan, and its loss was entirely within reasonable expectations. It's not my fault you didn't take me seriously when I told you he would choose to fight it."

"To be fair, Eris, his skepticism wasn't unfounded," Tsephanyah cut in, his tone sounding a little weary all of a sudden. "If I didn't see it with my own two eyes, I wouldn't have believed anyone would be foolish enough to face a Colossus in single combat."

"That's because your lack the necessary insight into these matters." Savir's off-handed response made the man's brows descend into a frown, and after a beat, she decided to elaborate. "Whether it is Leonard Dunning or Archon Polemos, neither of them would be able to hold themselves back in that situation. It was only natural that the moment we presented him with a powerful opponent, he would come up with an excuse to fight it. It's in his nature."

"Really? And since when did you know the Archon so well?" Mensah's eyes narrowed into suspicious slits behind his glasses, but the female director brushed him off with a throaty chuckle.

"I'm simply good at uncovering people's depths," she answered with a self-satisfied smirk, and couldn't keep herself from gloating further. "Our Archon is a simple man. He craves validation and danger, the fame of a hero and the adoration of the masses. I knew for a fact that so long as we set the stage for him, he would forget about everything else and jump at the first opportunity to save his underlings, fight the Colossus, and bask in the glory of the moment."

…

As confident as that sounded, she was evidently a terrible judge of character. Who would've thought, right?

In any case, whether her plan was based on a misunderstanding of my motivations, my self-propagating fame as the Chimera Slayer of Critias, or our pre-amnesia interactions, was not very important in the grand scheme of things. The significant piece of this whole discussion was the plan itself, and by the sound of it, they set me up with the expectation that I would personally fight the Colossus. Now, I just had to piece together the rest of the puzzle and figure out why they thought that was a good idea.

"Did you also know that he would pick the Colossus apart in a matter of seconds after he took the stage?" Tsephanyah levelled another pointed question at her, and this time, her smug bravado fell back to give way to an ambivalent shrug.

"I admit, that part caught me off-guard as well, but it was by no means beyond expectations. If he was easy to handle through force, we wouldn't need to go out of our way to gain leverage over him."

"I get that part, but was it necessary to sacrifice a Colossus for it?" Mensah echoed himself again, and this time, even Tsephanyah seemed tired of him acting like a broken record.

"Yes, it was." After stressing that point, Savir extended her right palm and forcefully poked it with her left index finger, probably for further emphasis. "We needed to focus his attention. So long as both the Archon and all of his allies within the Elysium were paying attention to the Colossus, my agents could move without fear of interruption."

Okay, so just to summarize: They set up this whole public spectacle and created a fake crisis with the Colossus to keep me busy, just so that I wouldn't be able to pay attention to whatever else they were doing. For ten whole minutes. What the heck could they achieve in that time, I wondered as I exited from Far Sight for a moment and rubbed my eyes.

I was already back in my quarters and sitting on the couch, in my regular, non-Leoformer clothes. My body was stinging all over after going into overdrive like that, so I had to take them off to make sure I won't end up with those mana burns or whatever all over my body again. More importantly, I glanced around and tried to continue my previous train of thought.

Did they use the opportunity to bug this place? While that sounded plausible, they didn't need to go through all that trouble to do that; there were more than enough opportunities to do it whenever I wasn't around. But then what else could they have meant? The word 'leverage' came up a bunch of times, and if it wasn't some kind of secret, or the lives of my self-nominated underlings, then what else could it be?

I mean, technically they could've threatened my friends back at Critias, but they also didn't need to do this whole song-and-dance routine to try that. As far as they knew, I wasn't aware of whatever was going on outside of the Elysium, so there was no need to distract me from…

"…"

Feeling a sudden chill running down my spine, I paused and examined that thought a bit closer. If I looked at it objectively, the only reason why they would've wanted to bog me down was to keep me from using Far Sight, or to Phase somewhere else. Of course, they didn't know about either of those abilities, so they couldn't have planned any counter-measures against it… but the Narrative did.

As much as I hated to jump to Doylist conclusions, the number of times I was interrupted while using Far Sight was quite high, and more than a few of them were suspiciously convenient, cutting me off just as I was about to learn something critical. Looking at it impartially, everything made much more sense if I presumed Narrative influence trying to keep my out-of-context abilities in check.

Let's take that presumption a step further. If my hunch was right, it meant that the Narrative itself wanted to distract me from using my abilities today. That meant that whatever it wanted to keep away from my attention had to be not only plot-critical, but also an event I would've unquestionably interrupted if I'd gotten wind of it. However, I was distracted, which meant that I didn't interrupt whatever the Narrative was brewing, which meant that…

Even as the chill still kept running laps on my back, I hastily closed my eyes and Far Glanced at Judy. To my imminent relief, I found her in the company of Elly, back in the Dracis mansion where I left them. Next, I checked my sisters, but they were also safe and sound, with Penny and Tajana arguing about something insignificant and Snowy trying to mediate between them. Okay, so whatever happened, it wasn't about my family.

My next obvious option was Sir Percival. If they could somehow get their hands on him, then he could certainly serve as a form of leverage against me, though not in the way they might've expected. That made way too much sense, but to my surprise, I found him in his cell, chilling while reading a book he requested from Snowy the last time she interrogated him.

So, if it wasn't the old bastard, then who could—?

Before I could even fully formulate that thought, I finally noticed the obvious elephant in the room, and a quick Far Glance later I sprung to my feet, startling the swords laid on my lap.

"{What happened, young kn—?}"

I couldn't catch the end of that, as I split-second later I was already in a room on one of the lower floors of the tower. With a flick of my phantom limb, I turned on the lights, while another opened the automatic door in front of me. Without any ceremony, I reached outside, grabbed hold of the person dashing down the hallway, and forcefully yanked them into the room. The moment they were inside, another flick of my phantom limb closed and hard-locked the door, and then I ducked under a clumsy punch blindly aimed at my face and put a hand over the panicked face in front of me.

In the meantime, I could hear a bunch of angry feet thundering down the same hallways and waited until their sound died down before staring into the eyes of the guy in front of me.

"Josh," I uttered flatly, using every fiber of my self-restraint not to shout. "What the fuck are you doing here?"