PART 1

"Shit!" I growled as I beelined towards the spot where I originally Phased to the docks. It's been less than half a minute since I received the news, but with all the thoughts and fears overflowing in my head, it felt like a week. "Dormouse! Give me a sitrep! What's going on over there?"

"{Can't you check yourself?}"

"Running and Far Sight don't play well together," I hissed as I vaulted over a short fence.

"{Fair. There was a sniper aiming at Angeline. Joshua noticed it and pulled her to the ground, but he was hit in the shoulder.}"

"Noticed? How?"

"{Laser pointer sight.}"

"Ugh… Of course." I reached an isolated spot, but I double-checked for onlookers first. Meanwhile, another question slipped out. "Where are the rest of Praetorian Guards?"

"{Androcles is already at the scene.}"

"Who?"

"{The Praetorian Guard who wears swat-gear in school.}"

"You mean armour-guy."

"{Chief, you really need to fix your habit of not learning people's names.}"

"Not now, Dormouse!" I glanced around one last time, and seeing that no one followed me, I locked onto Josh's mark and Phased in.

It was at the edge of the suburbs of Timaeus, not far from the bus stop where the public transit line that goes up the mountainside passes through. Chances are, Josh and Angie were ambushed on their way back home from there. It's not a highly populated area, but it was still a residential district, so a battle here could turn out disastrous.

After arriving out of sight, I started running again and found Josh and armour-guy at the edge of a playground. My friend was lying on the ground, with a hand over his blood-soaked shoulder, and I practically flew down the street before coming to a screeching halt next to them.

"I came as soon as I heard there was trouble!" I announced my arrival, but to my further shock, I was stopped by a group of people I'd never seen before.

"Stop! Identify yourself!"

"Know your place, fools!" Armour-guy, clad in his Celestial armour and his shield at the ready, bellowed and then stepped in front of the group before giving me a salute. "Lord Archon, sir!"

It was only when I got closer that I realized that the people behind him were all wearing various kinds of robes. I figured they were people from the School. Lord Barnabas had mentioned something about a task force, but I pushed the thought aside for the moment and walked past them to reach Josh. Armour Guy followed right after me as I knelt to take a better look.

"Sir. The Justicar was hit by a kinetic projectile enhanced for Barrier penetration, sir. The perpetrators are still unaccounted for, so I recommend retreating to a more defensible location, sir."

"Thank you for the information," I responded absently while I looked over the guy on the ground. "How bad it is?"

"It stings a little," Josh replied and tried to flash a grin, but it turned into a pained grimace halfway through. "I used the healing magic Angie taught me. I'll be back on my feet soon, and then I'll wring the necks of those bastards, trying to snipe my girlfriend like that…"

"You've been shot, idiot. Don't try to act tough," I scolded him, and if he wasn't injured, I would've hit him over the head as well, for good measure. "I told Jaakobah to come here and patch you up. Sit tight until then and…"

It was at this point that I noticed something. Or rather, the lack of something.

"Wait. Where's Angie?"

"Sir, Her Grace set off to eliminate the assassins, sir, but—"

As if to punctuate his words, an explosion shook the ground under our feet, and when I looked up, what I saw made me do a double-take. The street, along with the playground, was bathed in golden light as everything was illuminated by three pairs of huge, shining wings up in the dark sky. At their center, a girl dressed in the familiar, asymmetrical Celestial outfit of Deus; with her bow drawn and an arrow made of brilliant light already nocked on the invisible bowstring.

"{Update: Ms. Yamako and Naoren Feilong arrived at the hideout. What should I tell them?}"

It took me a second to respond.

"Dormouse. We have bigger problems right now."

"{Wait, let me switch visual feeds.}" After a brief moment, my girlfriend let out a soft noise. "{… I'll give them the rundown and send them after Sir Percival and the Fauns.}"

"Please do."

"{Good luck with that.}"

"Thanks, I'll need it," I whispered through gritted teeth, but before I could come up with a plan of action, Angie let her arrow loose.

It was like an enormous flare that lit up the night sky as if it was daytime, and even more alarmingly, it seemed to be aimed at one of the multi-story apartment blocks across the playground and the small residences past it.

However, before it could make it even halfway, the enormous arrow of light impacted a series of hexagonal flat planes. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, they were lined up between the projectile and its destination, and while it managed to pierce through some of them, it soon lost its lustre and fizzled out, plunging the area into street-lamp-lit twilight again.

Despite my eyes needing some time to adapt, I could still catch the moment when a huge, glowing gust of wind washed over the Celestial in the sky, causing her to careen around for a few seconds before she finally regained control again.

"You dare, mortals!?" she bellowed, loud enough so that it was audible even down here, and when I looked closer, I saw two more people in the sky.

"Dammit, you fool! I almost fell off!" Lord Ambrose yelled while standing atop another semi-transparent hexagonal magic shield, while Lord Gulliver was doing the same a fair distance away.

"Sorry, but the Ley Lines are a bit wonky here," the lanky man apologized while furiously waving his hands, moving the remaining magical panels around to provide cover for the two of them.

"Do you think I didn't notice!?" the bearded arch-mage yelled back, only to duck when an arrow flew past his head.

"Why do you stand in my way!?" Angie yelled even while she was nocking another arrow. Her voice was resonant, sounding both high-pitched and deep at the same time, like when an enormous speaker was cranked up to eleven, so even the tremble would shake your guts if you stood too close to it. "My enemies are in there! How dare you protect them!?"

"We can't let you level an entire apartment block just to catch some assassins!" Ambrose yelled back, and then moved to the side, surfing on his magical hexagon footing in a very familiar fashion to dodge an incoming arrow. "Hey, watch it!"

"If you stand in my way, then you're also my enemies!" Angie declared with literally fiery eyes and… was it time for me to admit that this was probably Deus at this point? No, let's not jump to conclusions yet.

I turned around and pointed at armour-guy, then Josh.

"Get him out of the open, then call for reinforcements. We need to evacuate this area."

"Sir, as you command, sir!" Armour-guy saluted and tried to help Josh off the ground, but the rest remained motionless, so I glared at the mages (even though they couldn't see it because of the helmet).

"What? Do you want a written request turned in in triplicate!? Get your asses moving!"

That finally got the anthill bustling, so I focused my gaze on the sky again. Angie was now focused on Ambrose, so after weighing my options, I decided to make a running start, and then jump before Phasing and landing on the other arch-mage's hexagonal panel.

"Whoa! What the—?!"

He turned to me, seemingly ready to strike, but when he recognized my armour, he blinked in utter confusion.

"Leonard? What are you doing here?"

"I jumped," I told him, and quickly moved on before he could start asking more questions. "What are you doing?"

"Currently? Trying to stop her from blowing up that whole building," he answered, pointing at the apartment block a couple hundred meters away from us. "That's where the shot came from, apparently."

"I don't mean that! Why are you fighting in the open?"

"Didn't have the time to set up a Restricted Field," he admitted, but then he pointed at trees. "Lord Taika is somewhere around down there, and she's using illusions to hide what's happening over here."

"Not good enough. Give me one of those floating thingies, and I'll distract her long enough for you to pull us all into a Purple Zone."

"{Restricted Field, Chief. If you tell him that, he won't understand.}"

He apparently did, because Gulliver nodded, and then frowned at me.

"Okay, I'll deploy a Restricted Space, but… You're a Celestial, right? Can't you fly over yourself?"

"Stop nitpicking me! We don't have the time!"

"Fine, fine!" After that, he quickly chanted something, and a new hexagonal plate appeared next to his. I hopped onto it without any hesitation, and once I was on board, it sped towards the spot where Angie and Ambrose were playing aerial cat-and-mouse with each other. Before I got too far though, the redhead arch-mage called after me. "You owe me one! Next time we're in the cafeteria, it's your treat!"

I didn't know how to respond to that, but I didn't have to, because Judy was still on the line with me.

"{Update: Battle Group One has encountered the Fauns on the outskirts of the industrial district.}"

"Do you mean Rinne and Naoren?"

"{Yes. Reinforcements are on the way there, and there's no sight of Sir Percival, over.}"

"That was quick. Keep me updated if there's a new development."

"{Roger. Central Command, out.}"

As usual, my dear assistant quickly got into her mission control roleplay. I didn't mind it, so long as it didn't negatively impact things, but the odd morsel of levity it provided did feel a little off, considering how tense and chaotic the situation was at the moment.

"Ha! Have a taste of my Atmospheric Ignition spell!" the bearded arch-mage yelled with considerable excitement, only to nearly bite his tongue when I cut between him and Angie. "What? Leonard! What are you doing here?!"

I ignored him and focused on the girl floating in front of me. She was wearing her full Deus outfit all right, and her three pairs of burning wings were on full display. They weren't beating, and she was perfectly still mid-air, but that's just how Celestial flight worked. It had more to do with show than aerodynamics. More importantly, her eyes were just a pair of pale yellow balls of light, their glow completely washing out her irises and pupils, yet I could still feel her gaze on me.

"Polemos?"

For a moment, I considered shifting over to my Celestial outfit, but I decided against it. Angie was currently unstable, so as much as I hated to consider it, a fight breaking out wasn't out of the question. While both outfits had physical enhancements and wards, armour was still armour. I also readied my phantom limbs and spread them out around me, just in case.

"Please, stand down," I told her, trying not to sound too threatening. "This battle is meaningless."

"They are the ones in my way!" she argued back, the intensity of the flames on her wings rising and falling with the volume of her voice. "I must kill the assassins before they can strike again!"

"Are you even listening to yourself?" I argued back and pointed at the apartment building. "You know that place is full of people, right?"

"It's… they're mortals," she responded, her flames waning as she grew more conflicted, but then her eyes coincidentally landed on Josh being carried away by armour-guy and they flared up again. "They aren't my people! I must protect those who belong to me!"

"Yes, and Josh could use your healing, so calm down. Let me deal with this."

"No," she declared flatly, her eyes now glowing with an even deeper golden colour. "We have made a promise. I would be the broad shield of protecting the lives of our people, and you would be the sharp spear to bring swift death upon our enemies. They… they hurt my Josh… ticar? Him. They hurt him, and I can't let them get away with it!"

Apparently, Angie was still in there, but it was hard to say what the current Angie-to-Deus ratio was without taking a closer look at her soul, which wasn't feasible right now. Still, I had to at least try to appeal to her better nature.

"Listen, this isn't you. I can't let you do something in the heat of the moment you'll regret later, so let's go down and talk it—"

And then, right in the middle of that sentence, my danger sense gave me the biggest, most blaring red flag I've received since… well, since I got an icicle in my stomach, really. It was so sudden that my brain could barely even process it, but my body acted on instinct and my torso reflexively twisted on its own. As if in slow-motion, I could swear I saw a glowing streak of pale light pass so close to my helmet I could practically feel the air current. Then, after what felt like an eternity, it was followed by the stomach-cramping sound of a distant gunshot.

Was… was I just shot at? Why? How? Weren't we supposed to be invisible up here? What was Lord Taika doing? Was I not under her spell? Or… shit, did I accidentally dispel her magic when I readied my phantom limbs? Argh! Why did it have to be guns, so late in the game!? Why couldn't the Simulacrum just stick to slow and ineffective magical arrows?

None of those questions had enough time to settle in my head before they were kicked over by the next one, and it all became inconsequential when the alarm bells in the back of my mind started blaring, drowning everything else out.

"They dare?!" Angie roared, her light once again turning night into day over the area, and the sheer amount of power she radiated was giving me goosebumps.

"Gulliver! Where's my Purple Zone!?" I yelled over to the arch-mage in the back.

"Almost do—!" He began, then shouted even louder. "Done! Deploying!"

A moment later, the world flashed in negative colours, then settled into a deep shade of purple. The sudden development made Angie's literal flames of wrath quiet down for a second, which I used to communicate with the arch-mages.

"Finally! I'll go and round up those goddamn assassins! Keep her bogged down for a few minutes!"

"What?!" Ambrose yelled after me and gesticulated at the ground. "Look at the color of this damned place! This is a hack job!"

"I did what I could on short notice," the lanky man on the other panel butted in, but the bearded arch-mage only scoffed.

"It doesn't matter! This whole Restricted Place would probably only hold out for ten minutes at most!"

I ignored his complaints, and only said, "Make sure you don't hurt her!" before I stepped off the platform and, before I could gather any momentum, I Phased over to Josh's side.

My appearance startled everyone present, which included Jaakobah and the rest of the Praetorian Guards as well. Considering the distance, they must've flown here after hearing the news, and they already secured a perimeter. We were under the roof of the nearby coach stop, and Josh was lying on a pair of benches pushed together to form a makeshift bed, with his blood-soaked shoulder already caked over, and I could see some adhesive bandages under the cloth.

"Lord Archon," Jaakobah greeted me with a grim expression, while someone else asked, "Wha? Where did he come from?"

"I was veiled under a spell by Lord Taika," I spoke off-handedly to stave off any further questions and, I turned to the dour man standing next to Josh. "How's he?"

"I already removed the bullet and stopped the bleeding, but he was shot by a projectile bearing a curse that hinders Celestial healing hymns." He paused, and glanced at the guy, then added, "Considering the circumstances, he was lucky. The bullet didn't penetrate deep; it was designed to pierce through Barriers, so the protective wards of his outfit provided effective resistance."

Right. Because of Angie's condition, the two of them were practically always in their modified Uniformers. The assassins must not have anticipated that. I turned to my friend, and while he was still pale as a sheet, he didn't seem to be in as much pain as before.

"How are you?"

"I feel like shit, and it still hurts." He paused and looked me in the eye. "I told you, I'll live. What's going on with Angie?"

"I stopped her from demolishing the neighbourhood for now, but it's a temporary measure at best. We need to catch those assassins before they run away."

Or get another shot, but that was beside the point.

"I'll help," Josh proposed, and tried to sit up, but I pushed him down.

"The patient should rest."

"No, I need to…" He strained against my hand, and I was startled to see that his eyes were glowing the same way as his girlfriend's. For him, it was only his sclera at this point, but I had a feeling it was going to get worse if I let him act.

I really couldn't waste any more time here. I made a split-second decision there and left Angie to the arch-mages to manage, but with every passing second of her in Deus-mode, the chances of her doing something stupid, destructive, or stupidly destructive were rising exponentially. And the least said about her merging with Deus… honestly, I had less to say about that, as I could only guess, but it was something to deal with after this situation was resolved.

"Lord Archon." I was just about to head out, but Jaakobah stopped me by falling to one knee. "I take full responsibility for the events that transpired here. It was my decision that left the Praetorian Guards unable to protect Her Grace. Please punish me as you see fit."

"Oh, for the love of… Stop it, and get up! We don't have time for this!" I hissed and forcefully dragged him to his feet. "We need to catch the assassins, now. That's the first priority. You guys, follow me. We're heading over to that apartment complex."

"Sir, with all due respect, sir," armour-guy interjected with a hand raised. "If we leave now, who will guard the injured Justicar, sir?"

"Call for reinforcements," I told him with a growl and then gestured for the rest. "All of you! Foll—!"

"{Chief! Urgent update!}" Judy cut me off mid-sentence. "{Neige and Agrawain tracked down Sir Percival. They are being overwhelmed.}"

I quickly raised a finger to my ear.

"You mean the Fauns, right?"

"{No, Neige and Agrawain,}" she clarified. "{Ms. Yamako and Naoren Feilong are still suppressing the Fauns at their hideout, and they can't back them up yet. I've called in other reinforcement, but it will take time for them to reach there.}"

"Reach where?" I blurted out, but instead of waiting for an answer, I used Far Sight to look at the scene, and I'm not going to lie, I was left flabbergasted for a second.

In what looked like a small factory with multiple production lines, Snowy was desperately trying to cover Raven Boy's retreat as he was being pursued by… about a dozen Celestials? Yeah, those hoplite uniforms made it impossible for them to be mistaken for anyone else. However, the shock and confusion of that was nothing compared to when Agrawain was sent flying by someone wearing a full suit of pitch-black armour, and wielding a familiar-looking spear.

The assailant hurriedly parried the icicles Snowy shot at him, allowing Raven Boy to get away for the moment, but then they were getting steadily surrounded by the Celestials being commanded by the armoured man, and…

"Fuck… That's Percival, isn't it?" I whispered under my breath, and seeing the plight of my sister and my… acquaintance no longer high on my shit-list, I had to make a decision. It didn't take long, and I gestured at Jaakobah. "Change of plans. You go ahead and secure the apartment building. Try to get as many of the residents out as you can in the process, but focus on capturing the assassins. I'll catch up with you later."

I turned to Josh next.

"And you. Stay put, okay?"

Josh glared at me with glowing eyes, but when I met his gaze, the lights in his eye-sockets subsided and he let out a thoroughly displeased, "Fine."

I didn't wait any longer, and dashed away from the bus stop, about to open a new front in this whole stupid situation. The feeling of déjà vu in the back of my mind would've been amusing, if not for the fact of how infuriating and dangerous this whole thing was shaping up to be. But then again, what else was I expecting? Chances are, things were going to get much, much worse before they'd get any better.

PART 2

"Bloody hell! Why does everything have to happen at the same bloody time!" I cursed under my breath as I looked for a Phasing spot.

"{If you want to head to Site C, you can use the Restricted Space as cover.}"

Site C? Would that make this Site B? What's Site A then? The hideout?

I shook the stupid questions out of my head and Phased into the Purple Zone erected by Lord Gulliver. Judy was right; functionally speaking, my Phasing was practically indistinguishable from going in and out of a Purple Zone to external observers, I just rarely had the opportunity to exploit this fact.

Anyhow, I looked up, and couldn't see either the Deusified Angie, or the arch-mage duo in the sky, but based on the distant explosions, they were still at it. I was sure they could handle things for a while longer, so I honed in on Snowy's mark and got ready to Phase... only to stop and re-evaluate things.

This whole situation was really familiar. Didn't something like this happen when the plots piled up after we tried to capture Fred prematurely? In the end, I was forced to move between multiple locations, and the only reason I could get away with it was because nobody back then communicated with each other. I had a feeling I had a similar situation on my hands, and while I could probably hand-wave arriving here practically instantly by saying I rushed with all my might, that excuse would get increasingly harder to keep up if I was forced to bounce between two or more locations.

"Dormouse? Are you still on the line?"

"{I'm listening.}"

"I need a second opinion. I'm thinking about bringing out Bel to deal with things on Snowy's side. Yay or nay?"

"{That sounds like it would make things more complicated.}"

"Probably, but that's the best idea I have right now. It would make more sense for him to show up to re-capture the old bastard anyway, and I might be needed here again at a moment's notice as Polemos again. It's better not to be at two places at once; it would raise too many questions."

There was a long beat of silence on the communications line, and then she told me, "{Just do it, then. We'll deal with the fallout afterwards.}"

She didn't sound entirely on board with the idea, but so long as it wasn't a hard 'No', I took it.

As such, I focused on the red dot in the out-of-the-way storage room within the underground base, and I Phased right next to Pudding-kun. The disguised mini-shoggoth didn't even stir, already used to my sudden arrivals, so I paid little attention to it and shifted into my Bel outfit. I internally debated whether I should also pick up Pudding-kun to serve as my second layer of disguise, but I decided against it. In case I was forced to shift outfits in a hurry, I figured they might become a bit of a liability.

In the end I settled the mask on my face, and after exhaling hard, I Phased to Site C, as my girlfriend called it.

"Clear the line of fire!"

The first thing that came into my vision was a series of small explosions, as a hail of magical arrows rained down behind Snowy. She was still in her Magiformer, with her wings extended, and she was weaving between the heavy machinery of the factory floor while pursued by a group of similarly airborne Celestial agents wielding bows and spears. Then, she suddenly flashed with orange light, indicating that she used her stealth Sigil, confusing her pursuers before turning around and hitting one of them squarely in the chest with one of her icicles.

"Man down!" one of the Celestials yelled as their comrade fell down and crashed against one of the machines. There was no blood, so their Barrier probably saved their life, but they were still out of commission.

Conclusion: my sister got this. What about the other side?

I didn't have to look for long, as I quickly found another hotspot near the other end of the factory building. Actually, the whole place felt weirdly familiar, even when I was only looking through Far Sight, but it was only at this point that I realized this was where Sir Percival led me into the trap that eventually resulted in my trip to the Elysium and the whole Polemos mess. Was this thematic, or was the Simulacrum just reusing set pieces, I wondered.

I didn't have the time to do so for long, as my attention was drawn to loudly cursing Agrawain bursting through a large automatic door and then doing his whole 'momentarily fade into Purple Zone space' trick to avoid a sweeping spear strike coming his way. Its light was so bright it momentarily disoriented me, and only after it subsided did I get a good look at the one wielding it.

"I've told you in the past, but that only works on people who haven't seen your ability yet," the sickeningly genial voice of Sir Percival explained before stabbing his spear forward, nearly skewering Raven Boy as he popped into realspace.

"Shit!"

He pulled a short sword from his faux-inventory enchantment and parried the incoming strike, but the backlash still sent him flying, while the old man's stance, and even the spear itself, remained rock solid.

Conclusion: Agrawain definitely didn't 'got this'.

While I was slightly worried about Snowy, she was strong, and I was sure she could deal with a group of mooks. Considering that, my time would be better spent saving the young Knight's skin, stopping the old bastard, and figuring out where the mooks came from. And the armour. And the spear. Especially the spear.

As such, I Phased closer and waited for Percival to get moving again before I started clapping, startling everyone present.

"Bravo! Great show! Encore!"

Percival turned to me, his eyes visibly shaken behind the slits of his otherwise featureless black helmet. He pointed the tip of his spear at me, and remained stock still and silent, save for the soft humming of his pitch-black suit of armour. It was shockingly streamlined, more reminiscent of a lean sci-fi power armour than the stylish but still firmly old-school suits of the Brotherhood.

In other words, he not only got his Oaths, including the broken ones, replaced by the Celestials (my money was on Mensah's Unorthodox faction), but he also had new-generation equipment delivered to him. That was… actually a bit of a problem. Over the past couple of months, I've been focusing on replacing our Knights' armours with more versatile Uniformers, but while they had good performance, they were focused mainly on compatibility, and serving as test-beds for future improvements. In terms of raw physical enhancement power output, they lagged behind their original gear, so Percival, a veteran Knight, with a full set of Oaths to fuel a souped-up, Celestial-designed armour was kind of bad news.

Honestly, while I didn't explain that part to Judy, it was half the reason I wanted to come here as Bel. If it came to battle, which was more-or-less guaranteed at this point, I could bullshit my way out of it way easier by relying on Bel being a magical black box. Plus copious amounts of refuge in audacity, of course. Trying to fight him head-on as myself-slash-Polemos would've been… considerably more dicey.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Anyhow, I stopped clapping, and Phased between him and Raven Boy to let him catch his breath.

"Oh, did I interrupt you? My deepest apologies. My excitement got the better of me. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Bel of the Abyss!" Percival's greeting was altogether too loud. Was he trying to warn the Celestials of my presence, I wondered. "It took you longer than expected to show up."

"I was expected? What a strange thing to happen." I folded my arms and slowly shook my head. "Can you see the future too?"

He ignored my comment, and with a hiss, the front of his helmet split in two and opened, revealing his face, which was really neat, but, I had to ask…

"How does your beard go back under the face plate?"

I was once again ignored, and he held his spear horizontally in front of him.

"{Chief, status update. Reinforcements should be there in five minutes. Stall him till then.}/"You've made a mistake by letting me live."

Judy and Percival spoke at the same time, and it took me a while to untangle the two sentences and only respond to the latter.

"Oooh, someone's getting full of themselves, just because they broke out of jail," I spoke in a mocking tone and wriggled my fingers at him. I had no script for this encounter, so I had to wing it, though buying five minutes didn't seem too hard. I reckoned I'd need about as much time to check out his gear anyway, so it worked for me. Anyhow, it was time to get him monologuing, so I cocked my head to the side. "Speaking of which, how did you get away? Last I saw you, weren't you making a close, manly friendship with a bunch of naughty, naughty Fauns?"

That comment made his eyes twitch, and he let down his weapon. In the meantime, Raven Boy got back on his feet again, so I put a hand behind my back and covertly gestured for him to get lost and back up Snowy.

Meanwhile, Percival put a hand on his forehead and let out a low chuckle.

"Deceiving those simple-minded animals was as easy as stealing candy from a child. Afterwards, I only had to safely reach one of the safe houses I set up in Timaeus in advance, and contact my allies."

"Oh, how forthcoming of you," I quipped and leaned back before Phasing to the top of a nearby industrial machine at the end of a conveyor belt, right next to Percival, and landed on my butt. By this point, I've used this move so many times, I could do it with my eyes closed. Crossing my legs, I rested my chin on my fist, and remained completely motionless, even as he took a step back and readied his spear. "Let's chat, shall we? For example, I'm terribly curious about what you're planning here. Since you already made contact, I'm shocked you didn't just run to your master's side with your tail between your legs."

"It wouldn't solve anything," he answered with a shake of his head. "Elysium isn't safe either. At most, it would be delaying the inevitable."

"Well, sure. I bet the kid's not thrilled with any of this, and if the Celestials took you in… Oh boy, I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of those guys!"

Honestly, I almost wished he escaped to the Elysium. I was already kind of planning to deport him there anyway, but for some unfathomable reason, he decided to stand and fight. Even more importantly, while we talked, I extended my phantom limbs and checked his equipment, and sure enough, all of it was a mass of plot devices. Well, most of them, at the very least.

Meanwhile, he continued to talk, seemingly ignoring the battle between his Celestial reinforcements and the duo of Snowy and Agrawain unfolding at the other end of the factory floor. I didn't mind that part, as while I wasn't sure what kind of reinforcements I was waiting for (my money was on Rinne and Naoren), it worked out for me.

"It is an old truth, but sometimes, when something absolutely has to be done, a man has no choice but to do it himself. Fortunately, the plans I'd put into motions before my capture have borne fruit."

"A plan? I love those!" I exclaimed in mock jubilee and crossed my legs the other way. "So? What is yours after this? I mean, you can't expect that I would let you walk out of here on your own feet, do you?"

"Hubris, is the greatest enemy of man," Percival waxed poetically. "Last time, I was caught off-guard. Did you think that I didn't anticipate your appearance this time around?"

"Did you now?" I leaned forward, to the point I was teetering on the edge of losing my balance on top of the big machine. "And what's going to stop me from doing the same thing as the last time we had a cordial chat?"

"This!" He reached behind his back and showed off a small, brown glass bottle. The kind that usually had cough syrup in it. Percival's lips parted into a wolfish grin, and he declared, "I'm sure you know what this is, don't you, Bel?"

"Blood Amalgam?" I guessed, and his grin only widened, making me slightly confused. "Wait, haven't we been here before? I think we've been here before. Didn't we already establish that it doesn't work on me? Or was it another timeline?"

"Maybe not on you, but you aren't the only 'Abyssal' here, are you?"

That made me reel back a little, but before I could contact Judy, she was already on the line.

"{I'll tell Neige to keep her distance and vacate the area as soon as she can.}" I let out a soft breath, during which she added, "{Your backup is on the way, and they joined up with Lord Barnabas. ETA is any time now. Also, the Celestial reinforcements are en route to Site B. I'll update you if there are any new developments. Mission Control, out.}"

Honestly, I was a bit worried about what was going on at Site B, aka with Angie and the arch-mages, but I couldn't leave this place until someone was ready to tag me out. Especially when this bastard was threatening to poison my sister. For the second time.

…

Maybe I should just bite the bullet and make him an exception to the no-killing rule?

My dangerous thoughts must've shown in my body language, as he aggressively shook the bottle in his hand,

"Easy there. This is the real deal. Already processed. Aerosolizes in seconds. Even if I drop it here, the missy over there would have a bad time, you know? So, why don't we discuss this situation like reasonable adults?"

He wanted to have a discussion? At this stage? Was he still labouring under the impression that he could make a deal? Or maybe this was a big ruse, and he was buying time for extraction? In any case, it took some effort for me to remain calm and collected.

"… I don't know. I'm finding the idea of just grabbing you and dropping you into the Mariana Trench more and more appealing by the second," I admitted, without the need to channel my Bel persona at all. "It would need to be a truly riveting topic to hold my interest when that's an alternative. I mean, have you seen what happens to someone in one of those old-timey diving suits when they lose their air and the water pressure crushes the rest of their body into their helmet? I wonder if the same thing would happen to you…"

"Oh, I'm sure we can find something you'll be more interested in," Percival answered genially, though I could see him getting at least a little bit nervous.

Anyhow, I've been still for too long, and some of the Celestials in the back were trying to take pot-shots at me, if my danger sense was to be believed, so I hopped off the top of the machinery and Phased in front of Percival with a disinterested, "Such as?"

"Such as this!" he heaved and pointed the tip of his spear at my face faster than a blink of an eye, making a high-pitched whistling sound in the process. This time, my sixth sense remained silent, but it was still hard to stop myself from flinching. In any case, if that wasn't meant to be an attack, then it could've only meant…

"Actually, this is as good a time as any to ask," I mused calmly as I put a finger on the flat of the spear's head and pushed it a bit, causing Percival to immediately pull it back in a move that was as impossibly fast as his previous feint. I straightened my back and crossed my arm. "Where did you get that?"

"You're curious, aren't you?" Percival taunted me and flourished his weapon. "I can see that you didn't expect to see Ascalon in my hands."

"You are not incorrect," I noted with a mixture of annoyance and genuine interest.

It was currently glowing like a Christmas tree, and its shape changed to look more 'fantasy-ish', for lack of better terms. I now had a bigger, serrated blade at the top and an elaborate vine motif running down the shaft, yet my earlier phantom limb poking had already determined that this spear had the familiar enchantments of Ascalon. The fabled dragon-slaying spear of the Brotherhood, which caused Mom-in-law's unhealable wound (which I healed) and which was held in Sebastian's office for safekeeping (until I took it) and one of the most powerful, legendary, nigh-indestructible magical armaments in existence (until I destroyed it).

Yeah, that last part was a bit of a pickle. I'd jumped through quite a few loopholes to destroy the original via Xiao's dragon breath and replace it with a replica. Which was now in Percival's hands. Which meant…

"Did you get your Celestial allies to steal it for you?" I inquired, and Percival once again grinned at me. "When?"

"Right after Leonard left for Elysium. It wasn't hard to create the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the mansion while I was 'recuperating' there, and then replace the spear in the steward's room with an exact reproduction. No one even suspected a thing."

Okay, so let's recap this: The Knights (as in, Roland and Duncan) tried to steal Ascalon, but I took it before they had the chance to put their hands on it, and I blamed it on Bel. Then I made a fake Ascalon, without the anti-dragon parts of the enchantment, and put it up for auction during the tournament arc to serve as a reason for Bel's involvement. Then, I pretended to destroy the fake one during the battle in the arena, but it was actually the original, and then I handed the fake over to Sebastian, who thought it was the real one, only for Percival to help the Celestials infiltrate the Dracis mansion during the chaos of my disappearance to steal it. Then, the Celestials replaced the fake one, which they thought was the real one, with another fake one, meaning… now there were two fake Ascalons out there.

All I could say to this was 'holy shit'. Why was the Simulacrum so bloody fixated on this damn spear? Was it always supposed to be carried by Sir Percival, I wondered. It would've explained why it used to be a plot device, at the very least. Of course, not this fake one, but I guessed the Narrative was working with whatever it had on hand.

"You tried so hard to keep Ascalon out of our possession, but you still failed," Percival continued to taunt me, and I had to wonder why. I mean, maybe he got over-confident because of his new gear, or because he still thought he was indirectly holding Snowy hostage through the Udug Blood Amalgam, even though she had already retreated out of sight and imminent danger, but neither option really fit his MO.

Didn't he realize that the only reason why he was alive was because I really, really didn't want to kill him? After all, while the thing about the Mariana Trench was a taunt of my own, it wasn't entirely inaccurate. Sure, subduing him non-lethally was going to be a pain-in-the-neck, thanks to his armour and the poison and everything, but if I really, really wanted him dead? I could just Phase behind them, grab him with a phantom limb, and just rapidly Phase a couple hundred meters high into the sky and let terminal velocity sort him out.

My Bel outfit had a ward specifically designed to break my fall. His suit probably didn't, but even if he did, I just had to drop him over the island's volcanic centre. Or Phase a couple of kilometers off the coast and drop him in the sea. Seriously, he was damn fortunate I had to make sure he wouldn't become our literal Knight of Cerebus. Otherwise, I would've already toasted his ass three times over, however little sense that made.

More importantly though, there was something I absolutely had to ask now, while I had the chance.

"Why did you want that spear, anyway?" When I looked at me like I was a hypocrite, I told him, "I wanted it because I'm a collector, but what good does it to you?"

"Could it be that the almighty Bel of the Abyss doesn't know?" He let out a supremely grating chuckle that would've made me irritated even if I wasn't baseline annoyed by his presence. "Then let's make it a surprise! That's the…"

"{Reinforcements on site. Chief, get ready for a dynamic entry.}"

Before I could ask what she meant by that, my attention was captured by the sound of a rapidly approaching combustion engine. Then, without further warning, the corrugated metal wall of the factory building, along with the insulation and the windows, exploded into a thousand little pieces. Through the hole, I could see the headlight of a motorcycle, and on it, two people: the driver, his head pulled in like a turtle's. His passenger, one foot set on the seat behind him and the other on his shoulder, was swinging a large flamberge like a weed-whacker to bat off the flying debris and to widen the hole in the wall even further.

"Agrawain!" the passenger yelled as she leapt off the motorcycle.

"Auntie!" Raven Boy yelled back, and if that didn't make it abundantly clear, let's spell it out: that was Morgana, wielding her signature two-handed sword. Which meant that the other person on the bike was…

"Sister Morgana, duck!"

While still on the rapidly slowing motorcycle, Arnwald pulled out his bow from the storage compartment on the side, and fired a couple of energy arrows at the remaining Celestials circling near the tall ceiling of the factory floor.

"Kids! Come here, quick!" Morgana exclaimed, and I reflexively shouted at her.

"No! Don't tell them to come closer!"

Unfortunately, Snowy and Agrawain were already on the way, while my exclamation only drew Arnwald's attention, who jumped off his bike and nocked another energy-arrow, aimed right at me.

"We meet again, Bel of the Abyss!" I was afraid that he would shoot at me, but then his eyes opened even wider. "And you! Brother Percival! What's truly going on here?!"

"Dear! Leave the talks for later!" Morgana urged him, and that caused Agrawain to lurch to a stop and frown.

"Dear? What?"

"What are you idiots doing up there!?" Percival yelled at his Celestial backup, but by the looks of it, they weren't eager to come down and engage the four of them. Not surprising, considering Snowy already took out a third of them, without being any worse for wear.

Anyhow, with those two here, I figured they would be able to keep Percival occupied, and I really had to check out the situation on the Angie-side. I've done my part by stalling for time, so I figured I'd let the others have some of the action as well. However, just as I was about to bow out, the whole world flashed in inverse colours.

That, I was familiar with. If anything, I was completely flummoxed by the fact nobody had the time or foresight to erect a Purple Zone until now. However, what I didn't expect was that the colours didn't shift into purple, but a bright shade of orange. That was already weird enough, but then I also felt a strong pushing force, and I was nearly knocked off my feet as a pile of broken debris materialized where I was standing, displacing me in the process.

"Well, I'll be damned…" Percival muttered, and for once, I shared his sentiment.

We were definitely in a Purple… Orange… Whatever Zone, but it wasn't the factory. Oh no. It was the bloody dockyard hideout, complete with the warehouse and the broken wall plus roof. And through that broken spot, I could see Lord Barnabas, holding his magitech staff over his head and winding down from channelling a big spell.

Did… Did he just bring the Purple Zone from there to over here? Why? Why didn't he make a new one? Was this more convenient, more economical, or was he just showing off?

All of these questions, and many more swirled through my head as I absently beheld a few more things. First off, since the ceiling of the warehouse was lower than the factory's, the flying Celestials were now outside. Secondly, there were more Celestials present, behind Percival. They used to be in the room behind the door he and Raven Boy came through just as I arrived, and one of the three men had a familiar instrument hanging from his neck.

"How much longer is this going to take?!" Percival bellowed at them, and since the man with the multi-musical-magic-instrument was too busy playing Levan Polka or something, one of his companions answered while readying his sword.

"Any second now!"

"Bollocks!" Percival cursed and, after glancing at me, and then the three Knights and my sister, he swung his hand without hesitation and threw the glass bottle in his hand at them.

My body moved ahead of my mind, and before I knew it, I Phased in the way… only to realize I had no idea what to do next. Percival chucked that bloody thing as hard as he could, meaning it had the power of his armour-enhanced strength behind it. Time came to a crawl as my brain redlined, trying to figure out a solution.

Can I catch it? No, chances are, the impact would be strong enough to trigger the wards and break the bottle. Can I Phase it away? That was a more reasonable idea, and I hurriedly extended my phantom limbs, but the bottle was too fast and I couldn't get a 'grasp' on it, so to speak. I wasted too much time on that, so there was only one option left: retcon. The temporary kind. I would just stab it with my phantom limb, and then make it so that the contents are frozen, or something, so even if the bottle were to break, Snowy would have enough time to get away.

It was my last-ditch effort, so I didn't hesitate. I pierced the thing flying right at my face with one of my ethereal tendrils, plunging me into a fractal of brown medicinal bottles, and then…

And then I came out of it, and time resumed to move at the usual pace, meaning the bottle whistled through the air, hit me squarely in the chest, triggering one of the many wards, blasting its fragments back where they came from, and its contents… Well, what contents? The bloody thing was empty!

"Son of a bitch," I whispered as I watched Percival high-tail it to the side of the three Celestials.

He was just stalling for time! He was waiting for the guy in the middle to open a portal to Elysium, and escape! That's why he was so chatty, and did everything to keep my attention without moving away from the door; he wanted to make sure I wouldn't mess with those three and cut off his escape route. The wily, infuriating son of a…

…

Wait. Hold on. I was still missing something.

I ignored Arnwald's shouts from behind my back, and Morgana's attempts to calm him, as well as Lord Barnabas declaring that he would make me answer for my crimes or whatever. None of that was important. What was I missing? I had to figure it out, and it didn't take long. After all, it was something staring me in the face.

There was no portal behind them. Or in front of them. Or anywhere near them. Even before one of those opened, I could see where it would spawn, and I had a vague understanding of their timing as well, but there wasn't anything like that around the group. But Percival still stood in front of them, fake Ascalon raised to defend them, so they had to be doing something. Something important. But what was it?

My question was soon answered, and in a way I really wished it remained a rhetorical one.

"Coordinates locked in," the man in the middle, stopped blowing his harmonica-balalaika-trumpet-theremin thingie for a second to declare that, and then solemnly added, "Deep Strike team, inbound."

All of a sudden, half a dozen blindingly bright pinpricks of light blazed into existence high above the ground, near the roof beams of the warehouse. Then, each one of those opened into rings, about three meters wide, and there were a series of deep, rumbling booms, followed by impacts that shook the concrete floor under our feet.

The rings of light, some sort of short-lived, one-way portals by the looks of it, immediately closed. Under them, on the ground, six enormous figures of pure white rose to their feet. Their alabaster muscles moved with audible creaks and their golden armours and weapons glimmered faintly in the twilight of the Orange Zone.

Colossi. Bloody six of them.

"Now, we are ready to tango!" Percival declared with a wild grin, and his face plate closed up, somehow perfectly tucking his bushy beard in before fully sealing his face. Even though it didn't make any sense.

But then again, I kind of had bigger problems than that, didn't I?

PART 3

What was I looking at?

No, seriously. Was this real? Did the Celestial Directorate collectively lose all their marbles at the same time? Wasn't just one of these things supposed to be a huge freaking deal? Why send in six of them at the same time? What's wrong with everyone today?!

"{Chief? Are those the Colossi you talked about?}"

"They sure are," I whispered under my breath, and Judy let out a strange noise on the other side of the line.

"{I'm re-routing more reinforcements. Hang tight. Mission Control, out.}"

I really hoped that she was talking about the big guns here, because otherwise, this was going to be a pain in the neck. No, scratch that. I couldn't bring Cal or Teeny out, so this was going to be a pain in the neck either way. Maybe I should've come here as myself after all? Ugh, no sense crying over spilt milk, so let's take control of the situation first.

First order of business: situation analysis.

On our side, there's me, Snowy, the three Knights, and Lord Barnabas.

On their side, there's Percival, six Colossi, and an unverified number of Celestial agents, somewhere between eight to twelve.

Conclusion: we're being outnumbered and outgunned at the moment.

With that in mind, my first priority was to make sure nobody got hurt, the second was to stall for time until more reinforcements arrived, and the third was to level the playing field a bit. The only problem was that these guys weren't going to give me the time to work everything out in peace, so I'd have to come up with a plan while flying by the seat of my pants.

Rapidly glancing around, I honed in on Lord Barnabas and Phased right next to him.

"Hey, you," I addressed him directly, and the startled man looked like he was about to try and bash me with his staff. I leaned out of the way of his strike and continued without mentioning it at all. "This is one of those locked Restricted Spaces, right?"

Seeing that I wasn't about to attack him, the arch-mage took a step back, glared at me, but ultimately responded with a level, "Yes, it is."

"Good. Letting those things out of here would be bad news." I pointedly glanced at the Colossi moving about, as if warming up their stiff muscles. "They managed to get them in. Does that mean other people from the outside can enter here?"

"… Yes."

"Good. Keep an ear out for that." I paused and looked him over. "I don't know what you're good at, but a Magi isn't a good match for these toy soldiers. I recommend you focus on taking down the Celestials until your reinforcements are here."

I didn't wait for him to respond and Phased over to the other side of the Orange Zone, where the three knights and my sister were clustered together. It was only a question of time before the Colossi started moving in earnest, and I had to get everyone up to speed before that.

"Yo," I opened, ignoring the way Arnwald immediately levelled a magic arrow at my head.

"Stay still, fiend!"

"Dear! This is not the time!" Morgana groaned, causing Agrawain to stare at her in a shocked, 'Seriously, what the hell did I miss?!' kind of expression.

"Quite true, Dame Gorgon." I pointed at Snowy, then used my thumb to point behind my shoulder at the enemy group. "You. Stay away from that fucker. He may or may not have Blood Amalgam on him." While the bottle he threw at them was a distraction, I couldn't be sure that he truly didn't have any, and I wasn't in the mood to take chances at this point. Next, I pointed at the Knights and then used my thumb to indicate Percival again. "You three. Keep him busy. I'll take care of the rest."

"You dare to give us orders?!" Arnwald objected quite furiously, but the fact he was no longer pointing his bow at me meant he already got the message.

"T-Take care of the rest?" Snowy muttered in a daze, looking at the Colossi. "Um… Are you… sure?"

I wagged my finger at her, telling her not to act too familiar while I was in my Bel disguise.

"Easy there, Miss Inanna-Dunning. Just because I have a soft spot for your brother, it doesn't mean I won't…" I wanted to say something fitting Bel, like 'Won't snap that pretty neck of yours if you annoy me', but I couldn't squeeze it out, and had to soften it into, "… show you my meaner side. As for your question…"

It was time to return to the standard Bel act, so I theatrically threw my arms open and turned on my heels, facing the six colossi.

"I'm already in the center of attention! Just how I love it!" I exclaimed and then made a practised scraping bow. "I'm not great at tango, but since I was invited to the party, don't mind if I join the dance!"

In reaction, the Colossi let out spirited roars, more or less in unison, and started moving towards me with lumbering gaits. Away from Percival and his three Celestial cronies. That was good. If I wanted to keep a tight rein on this battle, I had to break it up into smaller, more manageable situations. Unfortunately, I was next to the rest of the group, which was kind of counter-productive for this plan, so I immediately Phased behind Percival. Or rather, behind the trio by his side.

"I'm afraid the dance floor is already full, and we can't have any more uninvited guests," I began, and was forced to Phase to the side as Percival immediately launched a spear thrust at me. That was dangerously fast, but I couldn't let it knock me out of my act, so I continued without missing a beat. "As such, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you three to leave. Yoink!"

While I talked, I wrapped my phantom limbs around them, and without further ado, we all reappeared in realspace, inside the currently eerily quiet ruined factory floor. The Celestials were spooked out of their minds by the sudden change in scenery, which turned into abject horror when they realized they were alone with me.

"U-Uaaagh!" the guy on the left tried his best to muster a war cry as he drew one of those Celestial magitech swords made of golden wires and semi-transparent force fields, but I was faster.

While I specialized in swords and spears, I've taken a couple of unarmed combat lessons from Elly and Naoren in the past, and combined with the physical enchantments of my Bel outfit, a single palm strike to the man's chin was enough to send him flying and knock him out cold, which was… well, kind of startling. I hit him that hard because I thought his Barrier would mitigate most of the damage, but it folded like it was made of tissue paper and my blow landed on him like a ton of bricks.

Actually, didn't something similar happen when Jaakobah knocked out the bald guy leading the group that tried to kidnap me after Percival betrayed me? Maybe the Barriers of non-plot-critical characters were significantly flimsier than the ones I was used to. But wait… wouldn't that make them literal plot armour?

Even while all of those questions rushed through my head, my body didn't stop moving, and I stepped up to the second Celestial. This time, I went for a grab, and after getting a good grip on him, I threw him over my shoulder. This time, it was a judo move I borrowed from Josh, and the impact made the second man let out a pained croak, and he remained on the ground. Seriously, these guys were much more fragile than expected.

At last, I turned my attention to the third man, and when our eyes met, he threw his hands in the air.

"P-Please don't kill me! I'm just doing my job!"

Ignoring his pleas, I reached out and yanked the magical portal-instrument off his neck. I chucked it against the ground as hard as I could, and then gave it a few good stomps, for good measure, until it was completely unrecognizable. While this didn't entirely stop the Celestials from sending in reinforcements, as it could be done through portals opened from Elysium, not having someone on this side cooperating would at least make the process harder, it would also limit Percival's escape routes.

I dusted my hands, and sent one last glare at the last man standing.

"You stay here. If anyone comes by, tell them about the situation. Be a good boy, and I won't give you a visit later."

I might've laid the intimidating side of the Bel persona a bit thick there, as he looked like he was about to piss his pants as he hurriedly sat down on the ground and bowed his head.

"Y-Yes! I will!"

All of this took about twenty seconds, but in a chaotic situation like this, that was more than enough to cause problems, so I immediately Phased back into the Orange Zone. Fortunately, my disappearance with the trio caused enough confusion that the Colossi remained mostly stationary, but once I was back in view, they let out a series of roars again and started advancing on me once more.

"Oh, come on ladies! Don't rush! I'll dance with all of you soon, but I have a prior engagement!" I yelled as I Phased around and observed the situation again. Snowy caught up with Barnabas, and they were outside, engaged in an aerial battle with the remaining Celestials. I had no idea how strong the arch-mage was in combat, but so long as he provided at least minimal support to my sister, that side was guaranteed to resolve itself in a few minutes.

The three Knights, on the other hand, were still stuck where I left them, since the big statue monsters were standing right between them and Percival. That was something I had to fix first, so I Phased over to the old bastard's side.

"Oh, my! It feels like everyone wants a piece of me tonight!" I exclaimed, and the black-armour-clad man immediately lunged at me.

"Don't think you can escape today!" He swung Ascalon (sic!) at me, and once again, I was startled by his ridiculous speed. He was easily Penny-fast, and the sound of the tip of the spear made as it cut through the air was freaking me out. "I'll pay you back for the humiliation tenfold!"

I was tempted to tell him that if I wanted to 'escape', I could leave any time I wanted, but the time for reasonable words and snappy taunting was already over. It wasn't quite the time for fighting either though; while the Bel-suit's enchantments were some of the best I could manage, its output was worse than my Lion King armour replicas, which was already slightly weaker than the real deal, and Percival's gear had much higher specs than even that. Combine that with his fully working Oath-replacements, and it meant a one-on-one fight was very ill-advised.

Three-on-one? That was a different equation though.

"Aw! If you're going to be like that…" I began, only to cut myself short as he rushed me down with a series of thrusts, forcing me to duck and weave around them. I couldn't move back either, because the Colossi, by this point quite animated, were also closing in on me. As such, I did the exact opposite and, guided by my danger sense, I tuned up the speed-related physical enhancements of my outfit and closed in on him instead. "… then I won't dance with you after all!"

"Hah!"

Percival yelled and pulled the fake Ascalon back, holding it in one hand, aiming for a low thrust at my waist. The bloody thing was flashing so much it was hard to look at it, and I cursed myself for copying all the non-anti-dragon enchantments on it. In retrospect, I should've used my phantom limbs to disable some of them, or to break the whole thing while we talked, but hindsight was 20/20 as usual, and while it wasn't impossible, it was much harder to do the same right now, with him swinging it around.

More importantly, he was ready to stab at me, so I used this opportunity to Phase, and I wasn't doing it alone, as one of my phantom limbs was already firmly coiled around him. A split-second later, we both appeared up in the air, not far away from Arnwald, Morgana, and Agrawain. Because he was in the middle of executing a thrust, Percival's whole body flailed as he lost the solid ground under his feet.

I couldn't ignore this chance, so I used an old trick, and by activating the anti-grappling array on my back, I gave myself a boost forward, slamming into the armoured man. He was much, much more solid than expected; it almost felt like I just tackled a bronze statue, but to be fair, I should've seen that coming. There was no turning back now though, so I grit my teeth and triggered another enchantment, this time on the gloves.

It was the same one I used to give Zihao and one of the Smok brothers a good smack during the tournament-interruption operation, and while it was specifically designed to be super-effective against Draconians, the built-in force multiplier still packed a wallop. At fifty percent, it was enough to launch Percival's body at the ground at breakneck speeds.

It didn't break his though. While he landed with a deafening crash that left a couple of cracks on the concrete-tiled floor of the faux warehouse, he was back on his feet in a second. Or so I figured, but I couldn't pay attention to him, because Sir Isaac Newton was out for my blood.

The third law of motion sadly wasn't just a strongly worded suggestion, and the same force that sent the armoured old man plummeting to the ground sent me reeling back in the opposite direction. Luckily, since I still had some forward momentum from before, I didn't spin out of control and managed to emergency Phase to the ground and land on my two feet. I was still left staggering by the impact, and the Colossi used my momentary disorientation to close the distance.

Before I could fully collect my wits, all six of them rushed me, roaring and swinging their swords, axes, and maces at me left and right, not giving me a second to catch my breath. Thanks to my danger sense and liberal usage of short-range teleporting, I could weather their initial assault with my skin intact, but this confirmed a suspicion I had from the beginning: these bloody things were pinpoint-focused on me, and me alone. But why?

They were engines of war from the age of the conflict between the Celestials and Abyssals, so maybe they were fixated on me because of that. But wait; why didn't they pay any attention to Snowy then? Or were they specifically sent over to fight me? I mean, to fight Bel? It would certainly explain how whoever approved of their deployment could justify this kind of excess.

Even as I was thinking, I ducked under an incoming axe and hopped out of the way of a shield bash, which hit another Colossus rushing in trying to get a strike at me. Once I got my bearings, I quickly realized that as long as kept my wits and approached this situation methodically, it wasn't that hard to keep these creatures occupied. They were mono-maniacally focused on me and didn't even seem to be aware of the concept of teamwork, so as long as I remained cool and made sure they couldn't surround me, they would get in each other's way about as much as they posed danger to me.

This way, I imagined I could kite them for quite a while, and that was exactly the plan. At least until whatever reinforcements Judy managed to mobilize would get here.

"{Update.}"

Oh, speak of the devil.

"Things are mostly manageable here," I whispered as I Phased over to the side of one of the Colossi, trying to bait another one into charging into it. "What's the situation outside?"

"{Angeline isn't using her Magiformer, so I have no information on her situation. The same applies to the Praetorian Guards, as I can only see the events at Site B through Joshua's eyes. I'm working on a solution for that,}" my dear assistant informed me, just as I Phased out of the way and watched two Colossi tumble to the ground and a third one tackled them.

"Score!"

"{… Are you having fun?}"

"A little bit," I admitted while backstepping and weaving between the attacks of the three living statues still in action. "These things are though, but pretty slow, so it's not hard to avoid them."

"{I can barely follow their movements.}"

"Sure, but…" I paused while I Phased on top of the shoulders of a Colossus and leapt off just in time for another one to knock him in the head with its shield. After landing, I concluded with, "… you don't have physical enhancements."

"{Fair enough, but it's still dangerous. Don't get cocky.}"

"Roger." There was another break, since I had to focus on repositioning myself so that I wouldn't get backed into one of the corners of the warehouse. "I'll be careful. Anything else to report? What about my reinforcements?"

"{They should arrive in a minute or two. Hang in there.}" She remained quiet for a while, time which I spent with further infuriating the Colossi chasing after me. Honestly, that was all I could do to them at the moment; without my trusty (if occasionally naggy) weapons, I couldn't meaningfully injure them. Someone else could, though. "{Chief? Neige says she'll provide backup.}"

Before I could ask what she meant by that, a huge double-ended icicle, as thick as my thigh, pierced through the shoulder of one of the Colossi, nearly pinning it to the ground. I glanced at its source, and saw Snowy in the air through the hole in the warehouse's ceiling, readying another ice spear.

"Tell her to stay up there," I instructed Judy, but didn't discourage her. As much as I was confident in kiting these things, there was a limit to how much I could harass them, so as long as she stayed out of harm's way, I didn't mind the assistance. Those ice spears probably wouldn't cause lasting damage though, considering these monsters had a healing factor comparable to a Chimera's, but I knew from first-hand experience that it had its limits. Also, unlike with 'normal' magic, their resistance did little to protect them from Snowy's attacks, so I hoped the damage would add up over time.

"{Understood. I'll…}" There was a bit of static on the line, and then Judy hurriedly said, "{The Celestial reinforcements your guards requested are about to arrive at Site B.}"

Considering I was fighting Celestials here, I wasn't sure how much of a piece of 'good news' that was, but for the moment, I focused on dodging the stupid statue monsters, and let Judy do her thing. Once I re-established the rhythm of the battle, I kept the Colossi busy while providing Snowy with opportunities to provide supporting fire. Since now they also had to pay attention to her incoming ranged attacks, my opponents were slightly less reckless, which meant I didn't have as many opportunities to play them against each other, but it also gave me enough breathing room to sneak a peek at how things were going at the other side.

Percival was… holding out surprisingly well under the assault of three Knights at the same time. Though again, it wasn't that weird, considering the output difference between their gear. He was still on the backfoot though, which was good enough for me. Then, the tide finally started turning in our favour when Lord Barnabas, floating over the roof after the last of the Celestial mooks were taken out, yelled to the Knights.

"Someone is trying to enter the Restricted Space!"

"It's our reinforcements!" Arnwald shouted back between taking potshots at Percival.

"I'll let them in!" the dark-skinned arch-mage responded by landing on the ground and slamming his staff against the floor.

There was a bright orange flash, and from it, emerged a small yet imposing group. On the forefront, Mountain Girl and Naoren were standing back-to-back. Behind them, Mom-in-law and Dad-in-law were at the ready in their draconic forms. This was the first time I'd seen Abram transformed, and unlike the women of the family, his changes were much more prominent, with multiple sets of huge, ridged horns, his face and body getting covered in black scales, and most of his clothes were shredded as he grew a solid thirty centimeters in height, nearly matching the size of a Colossus.

However, the most unexpected (and in a sense, relieving) presence was that of the silver-haired steward, dressed in his usual dapper butler outfit, and looking at the scene with a mixture of annoyance and trepidation. I hoped Rinne's sword would have some effect on the Colossi, but with Sebastian around, I had a feeling that even if it didn't, the odds were still in our favour. There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel, and I for one—

"{Chief. There's a problem with the reinforcements.}"

Judy's interruption was so sudden and unexpected that I forgot to jump over an incoming swipe from a sword-wielding Colossus, and I had to Phase out of the way instead.

"What problem?" I blurted out in a low voice. "Aren't they up-to-date with the situation?"

Actually, none of them had Uniformers or Magiformers, which meant Judy couldn't directly communicate with them, but even so, it wasn't hard to see who the good guys and the bad guys were in this situation. Only a group of absolute morons would mistake their allies and enemies here.

"{No, Chief. Not these reinforcements. The Celestial ones.}" I really wanted to give a double-take, but it was hard to do with the Colossi bothering me, so I Phased to the other side of the battlefield, and by then, Judy continued her previous line. "{They attacked Ms. Talvipäivänseisaus and the rest of the Magi at the scene. The Praetorian Guards who didn't leave to apprehend the assassins are trying to stop them, but they're getting overwhelmed. They need help to resolve the misunderstanding.}"

Oh, for the love of… Why did everything have to go wrong this evening?!

Groaning, I turned to the mess in front of me and singled out Sir Percival. He was still holding his own against our Knights, but now that the numbers game was against him, his body language was considerably more tense than before. At last, I theatrically shrugged.

"Ah, Percival! You didn't tell me this ballroom blitz would have so many guests! Tsk, tsk, tsk! How are we going to dance when things are getting so crowded?" I dramatically spread my arms, and then let them drop. "Well, a promise is a promise, I suppose. Let me get some fresh air, and then we'll tango like it's nineteen-XX all over again! I'll be back in a jiffy!"

And with that, I bowed and immediately Phased into the familiar storage room in the bowels of the underground base, my momentary transit stop before heading out to deal with yet another inexplicable conflict. Because things weren't chaotic enough yet, apparently…