Ashley had called out for Cerise to dispel the protections Klava had (albeit literally) smacked onto the mech. Despite still being a bit shaken up by her mind-controlled twin nearly shooting her leg clean off, causing her to stumble back a few steps, she nodded to the Knight of Tomorrow and fired a dispelling melody in the direction of the mech.

"Shit-!" Finn cursed to himself. Luckily for Ashley, he had been too busy holding Mika off to react quickly enough. He rushed to move it out of the way before-

"It’s down, hurry!"

With Cerise’s confirmation, Ashley aimed at the mech’s cockpit and fired a charged-up beam dead through the middle of the glass panel. The Timekeeper practically launched himself out of his seat and reached for Morning Dragon Fruit to shield her from the resulting detonation, willingly taking the brunt of it. He had a contract to abide by, after all.

Even if it felt agonizing as hell.

The cockpit filled with technology and plasma, but it all dissipated an instant later. The mech had taken a bit more damage to its internals, but the pilots had both been damaged by the attack, albeit one far more than the other.

"Oh!" Morning Dragon Fruit’s screen displayed a nervous face. A squared off jaw of chattering teeth and trembling eyes cast a glow on Finn’s face. "Welp, you did good my boy. I don’t think we should let that happen again. Oh El-Ninio! Give mommy some reinforcement."

The demon no longer hid within the ceiling. It stepped down into the room with everyone else. The room quaked a bit as it lowered itself in. Not only that, but it peeled part of the magic damping metal the ceiling was made of and coiled it around the cockpit. "Where we’re going, we don’t need to look through our canopy glass." MDF said ominously as the cockpit was sealed up. "Besides champ, you’ve got the best monitor in the house!" And with that, MDF’s face switched to the view of the hidden cameras inside the room with them. "I’ll be your eyes, you continue to be my hammer of vengeance!"

Mika wasn’t about to let them close off the only avenue of attack that seemed to work. She turned around the corner and fired a soaring cat head at Klava, who backed off of Raven. With her partner having a few more seconds, Mika raced for the Behemoth and ran up its leg. She swung onto its arm and raced towards the cockpit. If she could break the canopy before it was all covered up, maybe she could have that fight with Finn that she wanted, and even put down MDF while she was at it.

Just cause he was injured, didn’t mean he couldn’t see Mika coming. His face twisted into a scowl.

"Drop dead already!!"

Once she reached his line of sight, she was immediately met with a heavy blow from the Timekeeper’s weapon itself, the glass canopy completely shattering around her. She didn’t even have a chance to raise her claws.

Her body became a spirit. She could have swam into the cockpit, but she didn’t. Instead, she floated off to the pillar she had initially come out from behind. Elroy finished padding up the cockpit as soon as she returned to normal.

Mika felt different than she had before. Her heart was pounding faster, and worry was creeping into her veins. With a growl, she pounded the side of the pillar she was hiding behind.

"Ash- Orion?" She struggled to make legible sentences. "I-don’t-know-if-we-can-beat-it-now-what-do-you-want-to-do?"

Raven was taking shots at Klava, but she was skating around too fast to ever really get hit. She probably should have come in for a second attack at some point, but she didn’t. Instead she moves away, skating off towards the other end of the room.

"‘Scuse me." She soared past Ashley. Moments later, Raven came running over and grabbed Cerise’s twin’s arms and forced them behind her back.

"I’ve got this Orion." With Cerise’s help, she pulled out handcuffs and got them on her sister. "I have no idea how to help Cerberus. I can’t do anything to that mech or that monster."

Meanwhile, Marrie wisely chose to stand back as the fiery explosion engulfed Sofron. Though the embers had not faded before he turned around and lunged for her. Of course there was a trick, even if he didn’t know what it was. The flames parted for his howling visage, causing his mouth and eyes to appear to be on fire. Again, Marrie was pressed for time, and needed to move sooner than expected.

She ran. Sofron punched a hole in the wall right where Marrie’s head used to be, but Marrie hadn’t turned around to look. Binky was keeping the other end of the hallway cleared out, so there wasn’t much resistance on her way back. Marrie even managed to take out another mook and recover some of her mana

"Are you going to come back here or what?" Binky said, half amazed and half concerned but likely too quiet for Marrie to hear anyway.

Marrie had arrived near the door, and both her and Sofron prepared their gambit. Marrie drew her pistol, and Sofron raised his hand. Marrie hand-loaded a bullet, and a Thompson machine gun appeared in the Baleful Butler’s grasp. She had just enough time to shoot before Binky pulled Marrie back into the room. Sofron got off a few rounds, but all of them hit the metal inner wall of the room the espers were fighting in. She didn’t get to see her handiwork, but she could hear it.

"Gahhhh!"

…Followed by the sound of ice freezing a man to the wall he was closest too. Sofron had used many expensive melodies, and that last shot of Marrie’s may have wiped out the rest of his mana.

"Don’t just stand there, free me you imbeciles!"

"He’s going to get free again." Binky swapped her magazines. "We’re running out of ammo too. I don’t suppose you grabbed any last time you were out there, did you?"

But there would be no time to answer, as Klava came flying in with her katana at the ready.

---

MDP looked a little uneasy when Himiko approached the table to speak with Fritzi, but the pounder placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and held his shield up.

"Hmmm, why am I here relaxing?" Fritzi sloshed her tea around. "I’ve been anticipating a distraction, and am confident that our current forces will eliminate the Hand without my help. I’m here specifically for surprises like you, Himiko." After her brief but no less accurate description of what she was doing, she watched Himiko roll out her new identity with all the pomp and flair of a vtuber debut. Fritzi even clapped after Himiko finished her transformation and sat down. "All the original names were taken, huh? Well, I’ll take that under consideration. But you know we’re not on an ivy league college campus right? I can call you whatever I want." She pushed her cup aside so that she had room to lean forward. "Because I can make choices. I assume you can too. Escaping confinement had to be a choice, coming here had to be a choice, telling me that neither of us are willing to compromise or find common ground was also a choice. But there’s only one choice that matters, and it’s one you have to make."

Fritzi reclined in her seat.

"You’re either going to try and enter the Golden Trove, at which point I’ll have to stop you, or you can go away and enjoy your freedom until we decide we need to collect you."

---

Meanwhile, Oros observed all the different going-ons from the safety of her divining blade. She was positioned towards the back of the Golden Trove where there were fewer ways in. But you really didn’t need a divining sword to tell that things were getting chaotic. There was all the commotion at the front of the building, the dragon blasting their way through the side, the other dragon. It was a regular clown fiesta.

"Finally!" Oros sheathed her sword. "I was worried goldieglocks would never show up! About fuckin’ time!"

"It gave us time to get ready, at least." Sharr looked at a computerized watch that was showing her a readout of some kind. "Looks like the mech is still holding up."

"Glex isn’t going to get in our way this time, is she?"

Sharr only laughed. "I think she has her hands full with Penny."

"I guess not totally owning her was the right move then."

"Alright, let’s-"

"Hold up!" Oros threw her arms up in the air. "Just wait a second, everyone will know what we’re planning if you say something now. Let’s just- Okay, it seems like it’s ending. We should have some privacy now."

Ashley allowed herself to feel a small sense of accomplishment when she realized that her attack had succeeded in further damaging the mech, although that feeling was muted by the fact that the astoundingly durable machine still hadn’t been fully taken out of commission. She would need to hit it at least one more time, and the chances of her being able to do so were diminishing by the moment. Indeed, no sooner had the glow from her technomantic attach faded, then Behemoth!Elroy stepped down into the chamber and began crudely wrapping the crippled mech in an extra layer of armor taken directly from the magic resistant ceiling plating. Although Mika tried to make a strike before the cockpit viewport was sealed up, a mighty thrust from Finn’s Instrument prevented her from accomplishing anything, other than using up yet another of her valuable “get out of jail free cards”. At the very least, Raven had been able to disengage from Klava and subdue Cereza. But that still left them with few options for dealing with the primary threat. Looks like it’s up to me… Ashley reflected, her eyes narrowing as she focused on her target. Yet, if the Knight of Tomorrow was going to do something, she’d have to move fast.

Powering up yet another firing solution, Ashley darted toward the mech with all the speed her esper form could muster. The moment she set into motion, she called to Mika over her comm link. “Cerberus, you and Paradise keep watch over the twins. I’m gonna see if I can put this walking scrap heap down for good…”

While the behemoth was certainly a threat, Ashley knew that the mech, and its occupants, were the bigger danger. Once it had been taken out of action, she and, if needed, a transformed Binky could deal with the towering titan. Dashing between the crimson giant’s legs, the high-tech heroine slid to a stop beneath the damaged mech, where the extra magic resistant plating had yet to be applied, pointed her techno-wand up at the machine’s bulky body… Please let this be enough… And fired.

---

Whether Vermilion's reaction or remarks bothered Himiko, it didn’t show on her face as it remained neutral and expressionless even while Vermilion spoke. Letting her finish everything that she had to say as she sat in complete silence. Her golden eyes focused on Vermilion with an unblinking gaze, it was only when she had finished that her gaze drifted away. She gave the Golden Trove a brief glance that lasted a mere second as a flicker went through her eyes as they turned towards the bird upon her finger.

“A pity, but it is what I anticipated and expected from Gemini, but there is very little you can hide from these eyes now” Her gaze turned back towards Vermilion as her golden eyes began to glow with an intense brightness. Making use of her Eye of Aigorost for the first time to increase her knowledge and gleam more information about Vermilion.

Eye Of Aigorost -100 mana

Tilting her head aside as she spoke her eyes returned to their normal golden color“If so easy it is to collect me, why wait until later, we both know you far outclass me, the longer you wait the more time you allow for me to grow stronger” propping her head up with her free hand as she reclined back herself. Despite knowing the power difference between them, and the reputation of Vermilion, Himiko showed no fear or uncertainty. Her convictions remained strong regardless of the odds or the situation as she did not fear her own death or even failure. She had crammed down those thoughts and emotions deep into her core long ago.

“Soooooo….honestly speaking, I’m far from being the biggest concern you will have to worry about, there is already a greater danger to Gemini within Gemini’s ranks, not to mention your misguided belief that this operation will eliminate The Hand, at most you’ll only be removing a finger while paying an equal or greater price if things go sideways which I have a feeling is going to happen rather soon” Her tone matter of factually, her remarks straight to the point without a shred of emotion. Viewing what Vermilion was doing while the intense battle inside the Golden Trove was underway as a waste of time for someone of her skill and caliber.

“We both know this situation will only end in one of two ways, either you kill me and stop me, or I kill you and proceed with my crusade…though I suppose there is a third option if I get extremely lucky and win by some miracle and you survive, I get to scramble that little pretty brain of yours to get all those sweet secrets you keep to yourself and turn you into a powerful ally, but that is a pipe dream…so my choice should be obvious by now, I’m not going anywhere, I live for my crusade and I would die for our crusade….” Even after her answer, Himiko remained seated and showed no sign of open hostility. Her golden gaze remained fixated on Vermilion, head still tilted and propped up with her free hand, her Endless Eclipse remaining perched upon the index finger of her other. She did not make the first move, instead allowing for Vermilion to respond or make it herself.

Time was on Himiko’s side, and the longer she kept Vermilion busy the better. Even though she had originally come to gather one of the three artifacts from Time Keeper, Cerberus or Orion she had been presented with a new opportunity. She knew she wasn’t ready to face off with Vermilion one on one, but she was one of Himiko’s primary targets for her own personal goals. If it meant having a chance to eliminate one of her biggest obstacles here and now to get to one of the three artifacts she was willing to take that risk. It wasn’t every day you could take out two birds with one stone.

Breathing heavily, Marrie had just enough time to say "Thanks for the save!" between Binky pulling her into the room and her asking about ammo.

"Shit, I didn't-" and then it happened. She turned towards the incoming feeling of cold, Instrument turned backwards and at the ready. But when the back of the blade collided with the enemy's katana, her face went as cold as Klava's magic. [Devour Chance]

"You're alive!?" Following through with the technique (if it can be called that) that she'd tried to practice, Fenrir's 'fins' caught Klava's blade between them as Marrie's wrist twisted to bring the two Instruments to both point upwards.

"And an enemy?" Marrie managed to ask her mostly rhetorical question as the shock began to wear off. GEMINI had said that Dragonfruit could mind control people, was that what was happening here? Had Maiden been brainwashed, or was she doing it of her own free will? Or worse... had she always been a plant, working with Sofron?

She wasn't sure how much longer the dampening effect he had put on her would last. She stole a glance behind Maiden to see how Orion's promise to defeat the mech was going and- ... God damnit. It looked like there was some progress, but now a behemoth was there, and the mech seemed to have been repaired from some damage.

She decided to shout at... well, anyone who would listen. "Gravity works great on heavy things!" That was all she could manage to squeak out with her voice breaking from the shock of having to fight a somehow still alive Klava. The best thing she could do was keep her sword stuck in Fenrir's fangs, but that left Maiden with a potential opening, so she had to...

What? What could she do here? Possibilities ran through her mind, but...

Shit. She have to just rely on her physical prowess, at least for now.

But she could still shout into the ether once more, her words coming a little more clearly from her dry mouth. "Sofron's gonna be here in a moment! Someone needs to cover our backs!"

Despite the banner not featuring Marrie, she’s just as important to all this as everyone else. So this time, her part is coming first!

Binky only had enough time to flash a smile. Before she could say anything else, Her eyes went wide as Klava and Marrie’s steel met.

*clank*

Klava’s arm trembled. Marrie’s technique seemed to be working, even if her face showed a complete lack of faith in her own skill.

"There’s the quick and the dead, and as you can see, I’m plenty quick." She brought her foot up. "And for the record, I’m not an enemy or ally, I’m a professional." She kicked Marrie square in the chest just as she blurted out something about gravity. Did anyone even have gravity melodies? or is this like Tsubomi talk where she was being cryptic?

Klava’s weapon was free, and a followup was possible, but she didn’t take the opportunity. She shot off down the hall with Binky only having enough time to point her gun at her. Firing was risky, especially with Marrie on the other side of her target. "We need to wrap this up soon." Not long after she said that, the sound of ice shattering came down the hall. Sofron was free, but he was most certainly out of mana now.

"I-I need an opening!" Mika looked over her shoulder. She was quite far away from everyone else, and both the mech and Elroy were bearing down on them.

Binky nodded at Raven, and they switched places. While a normal gun could run out of ammo, an esper’s weapon could fire so long as they stayed transformed. The only issue was that her pistol wasn’t up to the task of suppressing a tommy gun.

"Okay, Marrie, right?" She fired down the hall, mostly to keep the goons at bay. "There’s two espers in there, right? We need to take them out." She loaded her gun. "I think I can take out the one guy, it sounded like he needed help. But that other one is too quick for me. I can offer you support if you need it." She fired a few more times. "I don’t think we have much time to plan, so if you want to say something, say it now."

Binky looked between the miko, Mika, and the chaos Ashley was charging into. Mika hadn’t moved from her spot, and it seemed like the mind controlled twin had been detained enough to not be a huge threat, so long as Cerise could watch over her sister. But having Mika around would be useful. She just seemed a little scared at the moment. With a sigh, Binky stepped forward.

"Cerberus! Here!"

Binky had put it off long enough. She sprinted towards the demon as she transformed into Dr Feelgood. The demon attempted to reach over the mech and swipe at orion, but Binky’s saw denied it purchase. She leapt over the mech as Orion slid under it. She was on her own now.

Her techno wand crackled to life as she fired on last shot at the underside of the mech. Certainly with the wrap job the demon was doing, it couldn’t possibly cover such an area with wall peelings. And she was right. It was fully exposed and likely the last chance for a clean shot.

Her wand fired.

She held her breath.

A beat passes. And then, the mech started to crumble into pieces above the Knight of Tomorrow. They had finally done it. The mech was out of commission, at last. But Ashley should probably get moving before she gets crushed under a bunch of scrap metal. Her adversaries certainly had the same idea. Still clinging onto Morning, the Timekeeper had no recourse but to eject himself out of the collapsing machine, landing on the floor with a roll and a coughing fit. "Fuck-!"

Meanwhile, the demon was falling backwards through the wall in the building. It broke apart around Elroy, and one of his outstretched hands pulled Binky through with him. As soon as they disappeared below the edge of the opening, Boteg soared down after them.

"Shit is getting crazy in here." MDF added. "Okay boy, you got this. I still have plenty of reinforcements. You just need to, uh, protect me."

"G-Got it." Finn strained out, healing himself up as much as he could and quickly stumbling to his feet. He needed to do something about Ashley soon, before the entire building ended up destroyed with everyone still in it, at this rate. Distance first though.

"You got this, Timekeeper! You are the shit, you are the shit, you are the shiiiiiiit!"

---

Endless eclipse patiently waited its turn to speak. Once Himiko had said per piece, it began to fill her mind with knowledge.

"They say we have two ears because we’re supposed to listen twice as much as we speak." Veronica shrugged her shoulders. "Though I feel in your case, there’s just a straight channel that bypasses your brain." She set down her cup and placed a hand on the edge of the table. "I’d have preferred to save my strength for the others, but I get it. You want to talk big, but don’t have the nerve to make the first move. Then allow me…"

By that point, Endless Eclipse had finished its job.



Unfortunately, Himiko would not be able to act on her newly acquired knowledge before being struck by…



…The table.

It moved suddenly and without warning. One moment the table was a foot away from Himiko’s chest, in the time it took to blink it had slammed into her. Not only that, but the table had been charged with a potent melody, as Himiko’s ribcage erupted violently. She couldn’t assess the damage though, as the upper half of her torso had been thrown over the back of her chair. Meanwhile, the chair containing her legs and lower torso rocked backwards until her knees touched the table. It didn’t tip any further backwards. The esper had been totally bisected by a single attack.

"O-Owos!"

Magical Dream Princess moved to try and heal the dying esper. Veronica, while extending her pinky, lifted her cup off of the table so that she could hurl the saucer beneath it at the girl. Pink pounder threw himself in front of the incoming attack and deflected the saucer with his crooked sword. Rather than shattering, it bounced off his sword with a loud clang. Next came the cup, that he also deflected.

"You’d better leave-"

The table, on the other hand, was swung at him. It was far too much for his abused sword to handle, and he ended up toppling over sideways. The table faded away in a sea of sparkles before Veronica hopped to her feet. She grabbed the chair she had been sitting in and rushed towards the pastel princess and her patient.

But she had enough time to touch the wound. Miraculously, both halves of Himiko’s body stitched themselves together. "That took up a wot of my mana…" But she wouldn’t have long to sulk. She raised her wand just in time to brace an incoming chair swing and was knocked into the pounder’s arms.

Before Himiko could react, Veronica shoved her foot under the chair and kicked it upwards, flipping Himiko over. Then she caught the devil's back chair in her other hand.

This was going to be an uphill fight.

As Marrie brought herself back to full height, coughing a few times as she did, she turned to keep track of Klava, just in time to hear the sound of Sofron being freed. Shit, she was fast. With Raven's support, she hoped that the fight would end soon.

"Just to watch out. That guy's got a tommygun for an Instrument, and his Melodies can weaken yours if he hits you with one. Maybe the bullets too. He also likes fire and explosive Melodies." She shrugged her shoulders a few times, trying to loosen some of the tension that was filling her body, and cracked her neck in both directions.

"Claims to be immortal, dunno if that's real or if he just is good at healing. He might be out of mana, and I'm down to try whatever plan you can think of if you want to lead, but if not, I think we can win if you can keep his shots off me and not get shot yourself."

A short pause. "What's your element? Mine's wind, if that helps."

"I… Am wind as well." Raven huffed, speaking quietly now. After waiting a moment, she could hear murmurs from inside the hall. "Guess they’re strategizing too. If he’s out of mana, his melodies shouldn’t be a problem. How about this, I’ll go in first, then you can follow in behind me. I might not have a shield, but I can shoot him before he shoots me. Then when the ice queen comes in, I’ll get behind you and assist as best I can. Sounds good?"

Marrie nodded. "Yeah. Here’s hoping Maiden can’t give him mana back." With that said, Marrie prepared her Instrument and stood aside, ready to follow through with Raven’s plan.

Raven quite literally, flew into the hallway. Sofron had his tommy raised, but so was Raven’s pistol. He started to spray the hallway with bullets, but they all passed under Raven as she fired back at him. She scored a hit on his shoulder, his chest, but all it did was got him to stumble backwards. He hadn’t looked nearly as fearful or bothered as when his head had been nearly cut off. She then flew back out of the hallway with Sofron shooting after her.

"Okay, yea, he’s pretty durable." Raven looked to her shoulder and noticed she was bleeding. "Just a flesh wound, but it looks like Klava’s hiding behind him, so we need a way to deal with him first."

Marrie paused for just a moment in thought. "If you have to spare mana, a Storm Melody could let one of us get close. Otherwise, our best bet might be to disarm him, somehow. I’m… pretty low on mana right now, but I could probably get a good hit in if…"

I could probably get it done, but I’d be out for a while… A glance at Raven. If Maiden is full up, that’d be a tough fight…

"If you’ve got the ability to hit his arm, wrist, whatever to get him to drop his Instrument, preferably with a Homing Melody so it hits where we want, and something to make it stay that way for a bit, I could rush before he can retrieve it. Then you’d have to keep him playing hot-potato with it while I fight Maiden."

Wait… Didn’t espers detransform when they dropped their Instrument? "If he doesn’t get it soon enough, you might be able to put him out of the fight from a distance. Otherwise we might be playing hide and seek for a bit. Was there anyone else still standing besides those two?"

"Disarm huh?" Raven lifted her plasma katana. "Yea, I think I can do that. I don’t have very strong melodies, so I wouldn’t expect my wind to be able to keep him at bay for long, but how about this?" She touched Marrie, and the wind around her started to pick up. "It won’t keep you safe if you charge him, but it’ll stop a stray bullet from hitting you." With a sigh, she looked back to the doorway. "Alright, let’s do this!"

Raven entered the hallway again and looked in their opponent’s direction. "Well that kinda sucks." A massive ice block slid down the hall after Raven, forcing her to retreat further down. With the doorway clear, Klava launched herself back into the room feet first. She struck Marrie’s weapons before rebounding and landing a short distance away.

"What are you guys doing? Gossiping about boys or something?"

"In a sense!" The ice implied that there wasn’t any further fodder in the area, so Marrie decided to focus on Maiden while she had the chance. Although… With the Storm only having a few seconds left, Marrie rushed towards Klava, aiming to feint a stab but actually slash across her arm. She could only hope that Raven could deal with Sofron for a little while.

With a somewhat frightening thought in mind, she jumped backwards instantly after attempting her attack, allowing her Instrument’s chain to extend to a few feet but keeping her hand on the hilt. Even without much mana, she should have a slight advantage in the fight, so long as Klava didn’t do what she was afraid of. She banished the thought from her mind in case there were any mind-readers hiding in the area.

The best thing she could do right now was wait and draw out the fight, she decided. Any attempts to end it early would likely be fatal to someone, and a great way to run out of mana if there was need for more later. That decision led her to turn her Instrument around again, fins forwards, and take a defensive stance.

But all while Marrie went about performing her incredible display of feints, changes of mind, banishing her thoughts from anyone who might be looking, Klava was just standing there.

"Is that what you’re going with? Just making sure."

Klava stabbed the ground with her katana, and ice ripped along its surface. Both she, the floor, and Marrie were starting to look a bit frosty. But neither of them were frozen solid, rather, everything just felt kind of slick. The floor beneath Marrie’s feet felt like it was covered in soap.

Then Klava slingshotted away, one of her belts had wrapped around a nearby pillar and pulled her away. She surfed along the wall, her additional belts helped her ignore gravity. As she slid over the doorway, she tossed a few frozen icicles at Marrie. She even pulled out a tungsten rod, nearly identical to Marrie’s, and hurled that at her as well. With that done, she slid down the wall and came flying at Marrie.

Up until now, Klava had always used a dagger. And while that was still the case, her knife’s edge rapidly froze over, getting longer and longer. Soon Klava was not rushing towards Marrie with a dagger, but with a full sized katana. One made out of ice that shined like glorious Nippon steel.

Marrie may not have followed through enough to connect, but she was glad she hadn’t now. With the slippery floor, it was all she could do to dodge or deflect the icicles flying at her. Which is why, when she saw the metal rod coming at her, she grabbed it with her left hand. Unfortunately, this threw off her balance and she had to use it to catch herself on the floor, but the impact cracked enough of the ice to use it as a very small cane and push herself back up to full height.

Holding the rod out in front of her like a second knife, she wore the tiniest of smiles. "You know, two fliers with a dagger? Seems I’ve lost my niche." Despite the confident words, Marrie only stood still, both her Instrument and the tungsten rod held like swords in a defensive stance. Her feet were almost stable, but her back foot moved slightly in preparation for Klava’s incoming attack.

"It’s kay, we can fix that easily enough."

And then in a puff of snow, Klava appeared on the other side of the tungsten rod. One of her belts wrapped around Marrie’s leg as she skidded away. She fell onto her back as the ice maiden curled around again. Between the melody she cast earlier and her velocity, Marrie didn’t have much recourse but to slide after her. At least she wasn’t going to get rug burn on the smooth floor.

She skated up to a wall, at which point she released Marrie on her way up it. The ice maiden backflipped off the wall, souring over Marrie, and bringing down her sword to split the girl in two. All while Marrie slid towards a metal wall at breakneck speed.

Marrie kept her left hand tightly on the tungsten rod even as she slid around by her leg. Her Instrument’s chain extended to its full length in the hopes of catching onto something to slow or stop her movement, but to no avail. Instead she found herself looking upwards at Maiden while rocketing forward. With the ice-blade coming towards her, she cast a Melody to try to survive, desperately trying to throw her instinctual Note choice out the window.

{Intangible - Bronze Self - Shield} -80

She watched as Klava’s sword bisected her now-ghostly body, returning to corporeality just as the blade left the area of her head, and just in time to slam into the wall feet-first with her Shield Note active. A nice bonus was Fenrir’s chain managing to catch on Maiden’s Instrument as it trailed in the air behind her before smacking Marrie in the head right as she turned back to face her opponent. Unfortunately the tungsten rod of Klava’s also smacked her right in the forehead after being freed from Marrie’s grip by her intangibility.

"Geez…" Marrie said as she both picked up the metal rod with one hand and whipped her chain around with the other, trying to throw Klava’s landing off-balance. "If you’re that upset about it, there are easier ways to fix it." Her body was still bent halfway over in a crouch as the last word left her mouth. With one foot against the wall like a sprinter’s starting block, she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her from her latest near-death experience.

"I’d rather you just get out of here. Maybe jump out a window or…"

Sofron fired his machine gun. The ice block that Klava had used to get Raven out of the way was being pushed back. Once it slid past the door, Raven was briefly visible, pushing the ice block back down the hall.

"Huh."

With a wave of her hand, an ice wall appeared before Klava in the space between her and Marrie. Then with a kick, it began to fall towards the misty esper. All while Klava rushed off to help Sofron make his daring escape.

"Great idea." Marrie took the slightest moment to appreciate that the instinctual Melody she had thrown out would have been perfect, possibly better than what she had actually done. "I’ll do just that." She cast a Melody through her planted foot.

{Bronze Touch - Portal} -32

Luckily, the oldest portal was the entry-point, causing Marrie to fall through the other portal and out next to the window in the hallway, coming out behind Sofron. It was too soon to use another Melody, but she took advantage of the momentum from passing through and rushed over to him regardless, her semi-physical feet stepping as softly as she could to not alert him. Upon reaching Sofron she wrapped her left arm (still holding the tungsten rod that Klava had gifted her) over his shoulder to place the rod under his shooting hand and stabbed her Instrument into his wrist to try to sever the muscles that led to his trigger finger.

"Hi again~" Sofron had to be able to feel it when she twisted Fenrir counter-clockwise inside his wrist, trying to pry apart the scaphoid and radius bones if not cut the whole hand off. "I don’t really appreciate you shooting at my allies."

It was true. Pain or not, if he didn’t have the muscle fibers in his tendons attached, he probably couldn’t fire his weapon. "How did you-" Was all he could grunt out. He released the handle on the Thompson and attempted to shove it into Marrie’s ribs, but it was somewhat awkward with her being positioned behind her. With a groan, he dropped the gun. Though it seemed that Marrie’s initial theory that the gun was his instrument was not the case. Even as the seconds ticked by, he did not untransform. "It doesn’t matter, anyway." He managed to groan out with Marrie having a choke hold on him. He was able to use his only free hand to give himself the ability to speak. "Ice Maiden is going to kill that agent, then she’s going to come here for you." He coughed. "And you don’t have what it takes to kill me."

The ice block filled the hallway, and while there were a lot of bullet holes in it, none of them went through to the other side. Meanwhile, the sound of Klava and Raven engaged in combat could be heard from the other side.

"You’re probably right." Marrie didn’t let up, but did shift her Instrument’s location to just inside his thigh, then adjusted her balance to begin slowly dragging him towards the portal. "But there are better options than that."

When she finally reached it, she turned herself and Sofron around towards it. She cast a Melody to tie his good hand to his body, then began the arduous task of angling herself and her captive in such a way that she could get them both through it and onto the floor of the other room without falling back through it.

{Gold Touch - Restrain} - 64

"Hmph." Sofron looked at the confrontation between Finn and Ashley. "Ah, that boy is full of surprises." He smiled. "I’d have never suspected him to fight so hard." With a groan, he rolled over onto his side. "I suppose I’ll just lay here while you do whatever it is you’re doing." He laid back on the floor. "I do not understand the young in this day and age. Not. One. Bit."

"That’s fine. We probably couldn’t really understand you either. But we'll have plenty of time to change that, later." Having said what she felt she should, Marrie took stock of the situation. The two girls who had to be twins were… fighting? Hard to tell, one was handcuffed. As much as Marrie wanted to help Orion with the mess she was dealing with, she knew that Maiden was just as important, if not more.

And so with a deep breath in and an equal exhale, she steeled herself and ran towards Raven and Klava’s battle.

Marrie hadn’t exactly been tardy in Sofron’s capture. It sounded like the fighting had gotten a lot more intense after she pulled out of the hallway. But when Marrie peered into the hallway, there they were. One of Raven’s arms (still holding a pistol) had been frozen to one of the walls, and Raven was doing her best to defend herself with an energy katana. She was also on her back on top of a frozen puddle, with Klava strafing side to side, waiting for an opening to deliver the final blow. She appeared to be perfectly calm, like she was waiting for the dry cleaners to finish one of her outfits.

And she adjusted her grip on her knife, preparing to strike.

Shit, really!? At least Raven was still alive; Marrie had lost a limb in the past, this should be fine. As long as… The blue-haired esper stopped in place, raised her Instrument to point towards Klava in an attempt to draw her attention, and cast a Melody targeted at Raven.

{Bronze Projectile - Quicken - Homing - Blink} - 84

Around half a second later, when the projectile hit, she was crouched in between Raven and Maiden, ready to try to block the incoming attack. That’s not good… She’d wanted to Transplace, but with so little mana she didn’t have any other choice but to Blink instead.

But Klava was a good distance away now. In fact, she was standing by the door where Marrie had come in. The fragments of an icy string glistened before evaporating away. There must have been a trap in the doorway to teleport Klava to its location when Marrie came through.

"I’m not really in the business of dragging things out."

She extended her arm, and an ice block formed in front of her. One that filled the hallway and had rows and rows of spikes facing Marrie and Raven. But weren’t they a bit too blunted to look like traditional spikes? Either way, touching them would not be good. With a kick, Klava sent the ice block careening towards the two espers. The back of the hallway was still blocked off by Klava’s first ice block, which made getting smashed a very real possibility.

Speaking of smashing, seeing that Klava was no longer where she just was, she turned and, gripping her Instrument sideways to not cut or stab her, smashed the ice holding Raven to the floor. She hadn’t intended to smack her with Fenrir, but in her panic she put too much force into it.

"I really hope you have some sort of flamethrower or a lot of mana left! But if not…" Marrie glanced behind herself at the other ice block, then back towards the incoming one before turning on her heels and rushing to get Raven’s severed arm and gun free. It took her a second or two, but soon she had the arm in the crook of her elbow and the pistol in hand. With a quick shot at the highest of the spikes, she shouted to Raven, "If you don’t, then can you buy me, like, eight seconds!?"

"Sure, I can try!"

Raven growled and stabbed her energy sword into the ground. It held fast, and seemed to be securely inside the concrete floor. She couldn’t remove her hand from the sword as the ice block neared or risk detransforming. But when the ice block slammed into the sword, it stopped dead in its tracks.

Then the ice block lurched forward again, but stopped.

And again, and stopped.

And again.

Raven lowered her voice. "She’s out of mana." Raven sighed. "She’s trying to kick it into us. She has a pushing melody that would be much better to use right now" The woman stopped to think for a moment. "Do you have enough mana to do anything? I’m not completely empty, but I don’t think I can push this hard enough to catch her unaware."

"I have one option, but it’ll only work if you don’t need what little you have left. If I can borrow a little, I can get us out and hopefully take her down before she realizes we’re not here."

"Borrow my mana?" Raven lifted an eyebrow. "I mean you can, but how are you- Ow!" She pulled back her arm, then gripped her sword again. "I only have one of those left! Be gentle!"

She’d tried to be as gentle as she could with the chain, but desperation made her hit Raven a little harder than that. "Sorry, but now…" Marrie knelt down next to Raven to touch the ground next to her sword, and cast a Melody. She’d have to time it right, but…

{Bronze Touch - Portal} - 32

As soon as the two espers fell through the portal, Marrie grabbed Raven and pulled her to the side so she wouldn’t fall back inside the one next to Sofron. With her out of the way, the blue-haired esper put Raven’s other arm and pistol on the ground next to her.

"If you can keep this guy here from finding some way to break free, I’d appreciate it." As she said ‘this guy’ she poked Sofron with the tip of her foot. "I think this means we’re all out."

Without her sword, Raven pretty much needed that pistol to stay transformed. So she was quick to pick it up again. Then she turned and aimed it at Sofron. "Do I look like I’m going anywhere?" He said with no shortage of annoyance.

Marrie stopped for a second as she had an idea. She gave Raven a thumbs up and slowly began towards the hallway.

As Marrie approached the hallway, she’d notice that the sound of Klava kicking the ice block had stopped. In fact, she couldn’t hear much of anything but a slow walking pace. It was hard to judge the distance, but they couldn’t have been too far away from the door. Klava started to whistle as she approached.

Shit. There’s no way she thinks we’re dead… Which means I’ve got one shot at this. Well, only two options were there, and one wasn’t great. So Marrie reached into her Style once more for her pistol, this time grabbing a magazine instead of a single bullet and loading it in. Not trusting herself to try something new, she stabilized her gun on the side of her Instrument like she’d practiced, and rushed into the hallway to crouch down and aim towards the whistling.

She really hoped that Klava hadn’t picked up the tommygun…

Of course she hadn’t, she was too stylish for that but that didn’t stop one of her belts from coiling around Marrie’s legs and tripping her up. She fell onto her back, but her composure remained unbroken. The professional dragged her target closer and spun her dagger in her hand. Marrie had just a moment to line up a shot, but how would the pacifist choose to aim in such a decisive moment?

"Gotcha." Marrie spoke through gritted teeth. Her finger pulled the trigger right as the barrel pointed towards Klava’s suprasternal notch. She couldn’t fully stabilize herself with her being dragged along the floor, but if the bullet hit anywhere in that general area it’d give her the chance to force everyone who’d been fighting to survive, whether they wanted to or not. And if it didn’t, at least she still had her Instrument in hand as well.

The bullet ripped through Klava, close enough to where Marrie wanted it to go. Her blood spurted out of her back, but the professional killer didn’t cease her momentum. Her dagger’s frigid edge extended while she thrust and pierced just a few inches above her heart. Klava pursed her lips as she gave the knife a twist, at which point the ice knife broke in half as she partially collapsed over. If Marrie had the medical knowledge, she might assume that the knife had severed her pulmonary vein and cut into her lung, which would give her a heart attack in a few minutes if not seconds. If she didn’t, she would at least know that her lungs were filling up with blood, given that every time she coughed, it sprayed all over Klava’s face. Neither one of them would last long like this, yet the first to transform would be at a disadvantage, possibly.

Fuck! No time to think. Marrie thrust her blade forward, as much as she could with the pain she was in, and prepared to cast the one Melody she could. Fenrir found itself in Klava’s wrist, just enough to attempt to get her to drop her knife. But she was too stubborn, and perhaps with death looming her aim was off. That’s when Marrie dropped her grip on her own Instrument, letting it dangle a few inches on the chain as it stayed stuck in Klava’s wrist, then pressed her other hand against Klava’s gunshot wound, still holding her pistol. Klava’s other hand reached to grab her wrist, but both of their strength was starting to fade.

{Bronze Touch - Stabilize} - 0

She couldn’t assume that Maiden wasn’t stupid enough to not detransform, so she had no choice but to use it on her instead. The entire time from dropping Fenrir, its chain was extending to allow her hand that had been holding it to begin ripping away anything that might be Maiden’s Instrument from her and throwing it aside. She only had a few seconds, but she’d gotten every bit of clothing that seemed likely. With a bloody cough, her last ditch effort was to kick away Maiden’s knife and force her onto her back before leaving her esper form.

As soon as she could breathe again, Marrie shoved Klava, and she rolled onto her back. Then she stood up, grabbed her Instrument’s non-magical form, and took a few steps back, keeping her pistol at the ready just in case. But Klava was out cold. Weakened or dying targets usually fell unconscious when touched by a stabilizing melody.

One of the Miko twins leaned into the hallway to see what was going on. Her eyes wandered from the wounded but unconscious woman on the floor to Marrie. "Do you need any help?"

Marrie’s head whipped around towards the voice just barely faster than the rest of her body, but the speed she was moving at made her fall over onto her side, gun pointed straight up into the air. Somewhat embarrassed but more concerned at the potential danger, her neck craned to look at the speaker only to fall back to the floor after seeing who it was.

She groaned, but did respond."Pllllllllleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaasssse." With the adrenaline slowly leaving her body and her fear that transforming would kill her, she was barely able to keep focused on anything. "Both of us took a probably fatal hit, if you can help me make sure she makes it out of this, and hopefully stops being an esper too, that’d be great." Marrie sat up and carefully removed the magazine from her pistol, making sure not to point it anywhere but towards the ceiling to not accidentally shoot someone. She’d wait to empty the chamber until she was completely sure the fighting was over.

"I don’t think I can turn back into my esper form anytime soon, so I really hope whatever was going on in there is done."

"I’d say it’s starting to wind down." She kneeled down beside Klava. "It looks like you stabilized her. If I remove her instrument from her hand, she could transform back and wake up. I can heal her a bit so her condition isn’t so grave, and then we can remove her instrument when it’s time for her to wake up." And she did just that. In a wave of light, the girl’s wound was partially healed. "It’s dangerous to move around like that. Why don’t you wait until we’re all ready to extract? Then we can guard you while we move down the hall." With all the portaling Marrie did, they didn’t have a clear path out to where Boteg was. There was a hole in the far wall they could all use to escape and not risk running back into the building. "Oh! Do you have a connection to anyone from Maverick Alternative? There’s no need for them to act as a distraction anymore, so you can tell them to back out." Fritzi would also need to be notified, but that was Ashley’s responsibility.

"I’ll trust your experience." In all the commotion, Marrie hadn’t checked the cameras in a while. She grabbed the older phone she’d been using to watch them and set it on the ground, then pulled out her personal phone. A few buttons later and she’d sent a message to all the Mavericks she had the contact info for.

‘Upstairs is about done, feel free to pull the distraction back out.’ Honestly, she wasn’t sure if they’d want to do that, or if they would check their phones, but hopefully all of them beeping at once would help if they did want to leave. But just to be safe, she called Stacy directly to give her the news as she switched the camera view to downstairs.

It all happened so fast that it had been like a blur, before she could even register it Vermillion had gone on the offensive and bisected her. What surprised her even more was the information that she had gained from her Endless Eclipse and how fast it had processed into her mind nearly as quickly as Vermillion's first attack. Her brain had hardly any time to even register that her top and lower halves found themselves apart, nor MDP’s efforts to heal her and make her whole again. Her mind was already racing with how to act upon the information her Endless Eclipse had been able to obtain. It was finally time to exert as much of her full power as she could muster. Her Endless Eclipse had taken up some mana and cost her the use of her most powerful melody which needed her max mana but it had been well worth the sacrifice.

It was only when Vermillion had flipped her that the world around her came rushing right back into focus. When she landed she rolled backwards up and onto her feet as her Endless Eclipse came back to her shoulder. Her golden gaze locked onto Vermillion and the makeshift weapon she wielded with an emotionless expression ready to defend herself as she moved back a few more feet to put a more comfortable distance between her and Vermillion "Be wary of anything Vermillion touches, it will act as her instrument, even if there isn’t anything obvious nearby for her to use, she can still summon, trying to hinder her movements will be more difficult than a normal opponent and she can survive dismemberment, target her head." Himiko quickly and cooly relayed the finer points of the information to her allies in a matter of seconds as she knew Vermillion wouldn’t let up.

"B-but you said we didn’t have to huwt dem…"

Himiko’s Endless Eclipse fluttered into the palms of her hand as it emitted a golden glow, her two revolvers emerged from within its starry void and into the palms of her hands before it fluttered back to her shoulder. She knew she had to get serious, and get serious quick as she brought both revolvers to bare on her target, they began to emit a bright golden glow as she the ground around her cracked and she emitted an intense heat that scorched the area around her before a pair of powerful golden flames erupted from the barrels of her revolvers merging into a single projectile that ripped through the air straight for Vermillion's head creating a backblast behind Himiko that threw up debris.

[Gold Projectile][Homing][Damage X] = -192 mana

Veronica may have looked silly fighting with two chairs, but she was an expert in duel chairing and was in tune with her weapons. She pointed one of the chairs at Himiko’s guns the moment they fired, and they struck the bottom of the chair. The resulting impact got her elbow to buckle, but did little else. Another effect of an esper’s weapon was that they never broke regardless of how absurd they were. She might have been able to block the attack with a notebook if she so desired.

"We didn’t have to hurt them, until they decided to hurt us first" , shooting a sharp glance towards MDP before her attention returned to Vermillion. It was going to be trouble trying to get in and around her defenses with her tricky abilities. Though that was hardly a surprise considering her status within Pax Septimus. Himiko would just have to get more creative if she was going to overcome this troublesome obstacle.

The chair in her outstretched arm vanished in a puff of black smoke just as the pounder closed in. She immediately appeared behind him as he charged right through her position. "I hadn’t realized you hated me so much, Himiko." She used her foot to flip the dish into the air, and caught it with her free hand. She circled the combatants until her back was at the golden trove again. "You know I’m just a middle man, right? There are people far higher up in Gemini than I. They will appoint someone else to my position if you kill me." She tapped the side of her head with the saucer. "It’s no different with you. You may want to disrupt our operation, but dark web espers such as yourself are only a problem because there are people who support you. For someone who wants to change the world, you’re setting your sights awfully low."

"Hate? I do not hate you, if anything I pity you" countered while keeping her revolvers trained on Vermillion even as she repositioned, Himiko shifted and kept the distance between them. Her expression remained neutral while Vermillion went on with her explanation. Himiko gave her a small shake of her head as it was clear that Vermillion did not truly understand her.

"Of course I’m aware, the higher ups' elimination will come in due time but as for you, you are still a powerful piece on the chess board of Pax Septimus, one that is standing in the way of my current objective, if I have to kill you then I will, if I’m able to avoid that and make use of you then I will" Her eyes never moved from Vermillion as she gestured with a shrug of her shoulder towards her Endless Eclipse upon her shoulder while keeping the revolvers aimed towards her foe. "What makes me different from all of those small time ‘dark web’ espers is this little birdie, but since you feel like you know so much about changing the world and think I’m setting my sights too low, then what would be your grand plan" cooly responding to Vermillion's claim before ripping off a few shoots from each of her revolvers sending three bullets from each for a total of six with careful aim and precision. The gun's barrels flashed and the concussion filled the air, sending three towards her legs, aiming one for each knee and one for her gut and three towards her upper torso with one for each shoulder and the last for her head.

As the first shot came in, Veronica’s chair vanished, only to be replaced with the giant tea table they had been seated at earlier. Additionally, a shadow obscured her and the table, covering her position with a black fog. "I don’t know. Keeping Pax Septimus from imploding is hard enough. Plotting to overthrow the world order makes me tired. Maybe you’re right. I guess I misspoke."

"Maybe it needs to implode…" Himiko responded as Vermillion disappeared from view. Her abilities were problematic but Himiko had an idea that might help get around them if she could pull it off. It wouldn’t be easy, especially not with Vermillion obscuring herself from view and summoning whatever she needed at the right time. Himiko repositioned so she was closer to her two allies while keeping a wary eye on the black fog.

The pounder and MDP had regrouped behind some of the vehicles Maverick used to get here. In particular, they had taken refuge behind Billy’s rat-rod Cadillac. "We need some kind of strategy, she’s going to hurt MAGICAL DREAM PRINCESS if we keep playing roshambo with her."

"Can we just sneak inside?" MDP added weakly.

Looking out of the corner of her eye towards MDP and The Pounder Himiko gave a small nod of her head "I have a strategy in mind, but in order to pull it off I’ll have to be able to switch spots with Vermillion which isn’t going to be easy without being able to keep track of her, we can try to sneak inside afterwards if it is possible, but I have a feeling she isn’t going to let us go without pursuing" Putting away one of her revolvers briefly to free up her right hand. A golden blaze appeared in the palm of her hand as hot molten obsidian started to form. Slowly shaping and morphing into the shape of a sword as it started to cool and harden. Creating a shiny black blade that her golden aura glowed within the reflection.

[Gold Self][Craft] = -32 mana

"If you are able to draw her out, I’ll switch places with her, but make sure neither of you are near this blade…" Taking the blade and jamming it into the ground, cracking the street around it at her feet as she retrieved her second revolver. She wasn’t sure how effective her next move would be, but it was worth a shot, even if it bought them some time.

"You know I can hear you, right?" The sound of something metallic and plastic being picked up could be heard on the other side of the screen. "At least wait for me to make some noise… Like this!"

Earlier, the weretigers had drawn weapons to fire on the incoming Maverick espers. Some of them had died and left behind their machine guns. It was those guns that were now being fired through the shadow at Oros the Greedy.

"It's about time you got a better taste in weaponry…" Himiko calmly remarked as the bullets tore towards her.

MDP attempted to grant her cover by creating a fat, plush, unicorn. It was absorbing the shots, but each bullet was ripping into the oversized stuffed animal and chipping it into felt and cotton chunks.

Himiko appreciated the makeshift cover, but she knew it wouldn’t last forever against the barrage of bullets. It did at least buy her some time to make her next decision as she looked towards the Pounder. Gesturing with her right hand to motion that she wanted him to go around from the right side before speaking. "I need you to come over here so we can do something about that smoke and push up together, Princess you can stay here" Her words contradicting the gesture of her hand signals as she was on the left side and away from where she wanted them to move. Wanting him to follow the gesture and not her words, using the smoke and the cover of the unicorn to her advantage.

The pounder looked at MDP, nodded, and prepared to sprint.

Using the last bit of cover, Himiko rolled out from it to the left while staying on the ground on her stomach to keep a lower profile, both arms extended in front of herself pointed towards the source of the bullets that exited the smoke trying to trace them back. Taking careful aim she ripped off two shots from each revolver hoping to at the bare minimum disrupt her fire and get her attention drawn towards Himiko to allow MDP and the Pounder to make a move more freely.

Veronica’s gunfire stopped almost as soon as Himiko started firing. She could hear something hard and plastic land on the stairs, then a gun skidded out from behind the shadowy veil. Then the veil disappeared, but not before the table flew through the air and slammed into Himiko’s cover, blowing her cover into shredded cotton and felt.

Pink Pounder managed to get half way up the stairs when Veronica charged him with an open umbrella. He placed his shield between the incoming attack and his V.I.P. to stop her advance. As soon as she struck the shield, his eyes glowed red and he lunged at her with a savage swing. As powerful as it was, it wasn’t enough to break the GEMINI agent’s guard. The umbrella closed and she started fencing with the pounder, keeping the knight between herself and Himiko’s position.

"You’re not too shabby, sir knight! No wonder we hired you in the past."

"All I care about is-"

"Yes, you said it a hundred times. Yet you continue to undertake such dangerous missions with her." Her off hand swirled with dark energy. "Perhaps you’d like to take a vacation, if not retire?"

Himiko glanced over towards what remained of the stuffed unicorn that had served as her cover and was glad she had decided to move. She turned her attention towards the action, narrowing her eyes at what she saw. Vermilion was smart to keep the Pounder between them as makeshift cover. It made Himiko’s next course of action more difficult as she needed a clear view of her target to strike without harming the Pounder or MDP. If she was going to pull this next move off she needed the Pounder out of the way and Vermilion not to understand her true intentions.

She got herself back to her feet as she quickly moved towards where she had jammed her obsidian sword into the asphalt coming to a stop right next to it. Glancing towards the sword then towards The Pounder and Vermilion, she gritted her teeth, a new idea started to formulate in her head. There were two ways to try this, but one was more risky then the other, if the first didn’t work, then she had no choice but to do the second but hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

"Move!, I need a clear shot!" Himiko called out to the Pounder hoping that he could shift the engagement to clear her view towards Vermilion. Her wording was intentional to try to mislead Vermilion into what she was actually trying to do, having no intentions of firing off a single round from her revolvers. If she could swap places with Vermilion she could set off her trap and hopefully catch her off guard. But first she needed the Pounder to play into her plan as well to help set it up and give her a window of opportunity to pull off the swap.

"I agree! Give her a clear shot!" While it likely wasn’t because of Veronica’s order, the Pounder did end up hopping backwards. But by that point, her melody had manifested. A grenade launcher appeared in her hand, and it made Veronica incorporeal. Likely an attempt to dodge the bullets that Himiko never intended to fire. She immediately began firing shells into the air. Each shot was followed by a hollow pop until all eight cartridges were deployed. Then Veronica turned towards Himiko and opened her umbrella, at which point she became tangible again. But then the smoking canisters landed on the ground, and her form was swiftly obscured. Along with the rest of the stairs.

"She’s rather cautious, isn’t she?" MDP spoke up, but went unanswered by her guardian.

Much to her chagrin Himiko’s plan would have to wait a while longer. She would have to shift gears and deal with this new obstacle before she could try to pull it off.

But it seemed as though Veronica had stopped her assault for the moment, as nothing could be heard. At least, nothing over the hissing smoke bombs.

"She isn’t interested in a head on battle, she wants to waste our resources and keep us from our objective but two can play that game" Himiko’s golden eyes remained focused on the smoke as she tuned out the sound of the hissing smoke bombs. If Vermilion wanted to keep playing hide n seek then it was time to play it themselves. "Stay alert and be prepared to strike when she makes her move, we won’t go into that smoke or play into her tricks…" Using her words once more as a misleading weapon with no extra gestures. To avoid falling into a predictable pattern that Vermilion could use against them she had told the truth.

Having last seen Vermilion facing her with an umbrella before the smoke obscured her figure, Himiko knew she couldn’t stay where she was at. Slowly and quietly starting to shift her position as she moved to her right so she wouldn’t be in the same spot Vermilion had last seen her, and in hopes of circumventing the defensive utility of the umbrella. She knew better than to carelessly waste any mana on a big attack without having a clear opening. She was always wary of opening fire with her revolvers to give away her current position as she continued her wide arc. Both revolvers aimed towards the smoke with her golden eyes intensely focused and searching for any sign of Vermilion's next move.

Himiko was certainly taking her opponent seriously. They had the advantage of numbers, but they couldn’t waste their mana here if they wanted to take advantage of the fight happening inside. She was likely right. Veronica appeared to be going for a stall or exhaustion tactic. The issue was that while Himiko and her companions could choose how much mana they expended on melodies, they couldn’t choose how long they waited for the smoke to clear. Depending on conditions, smoke grenades could take a very long time to clear, and often lasted for minutes in the least ideal situation. But the hissing should stop momentarily, and Himiko would be able to hear what Veronica was doing.

Something did occur to her while she waited. If Veronica couldn’t see through the smoke, then why did she put it up? It was a stall tactic for sure, but even Veronica had to realize that merely putting up temporary barriers would pass eventually. It was an open space, and even if the smoke didn’t clear fully, it would become easier to see through with time. It wasn’t like time was on her side either. The longer things dragged on, the worse shape everyone was going to be in. Nothing was stopping Himiko from attacking others as they left the building.

Then again, Endless Eclipse hadn’t revealed what Veronica was keeping on her person.

Could she have inferred goggles?

Himiko heard the gun shots, but couldn’t get out of the way in time. A tight group of shots ripped through her right shoulder and arm. Before the firing could continue, Pink Pounder placed himself and his massive shield between Himmiko and the gunfire.

"You’re not MAGICAL DREAM PRINCESS, but you are her quest."

It bought enough time for MDP to erect a brick wall. It was about waist height and was as wide as two pounders were tall, but the entire construction was made out of gingerbread, frosting, and gumdrops. The gunfire had stopped, if only for the moment.

Despite the pain of the wounds, Himiko kept a neutral expression as her mind quickly mulled over the current scenario. She gave PP and MDP a small nod of appreciation for having come to her aid. She wasn’t used to her new powers and they could only do so much to close the gap. The current situation wasn’t tenable with MDP having already burnt through too much mana because of Himiko. Which left Pink Pounder who would likely be limited by MDP having to use up so much mana and being more vulnerable as a result.

"We can’t keep waiting for hew to make the fiwst mouov!" MDP moved in to heal Himiko. "I don’t have much mana weft, but Pwink Pwoundah is okay." She whispered.

Himiko kneeled down with her confidence shaken after considering her options, glancing towards MDP out of the side of her eye as she took care of the healing, she momentarily placed down the revolver in her right hand to free it to reach up towards her Endless Eclipse. Pulling a tungsten rod from its starry void, gripping it tightly. "I can try one last thing, if that doesn’t work then I’m out of options, she is far stronger and has far more resources then what I’m capable of producing, she will always get to make the first move in this situation so we may be forced to retreat if this doesn’t work" calmly addressing her two allies with brutal honesty as she wasn’t used to working with others. Whether Vermilion heard or not did not matter to her at the moment as it wasn’t much of a secret by this point.

Lowering her voice now for MDP and Pink Pounder "We need to create a greater heat source around our area, it will help us blend in and become nearly invisible as long a she stays in the smoke with those infrared goggles as her only means of seeing, it should allow me to grab the sword and take a more direct approach, you two may do whatever you wish during that time…" With that she rose to her feet holding the tungsten rod like a javelin as she heaved it up over the candy land wall that had been formed by MDP. Kneeling back down to grab a hold of her revolver again. If Vermilion did have infrared goggles then hopefully the rod would escape her notice until it landed and provided a momentary distraction.

Turning now as she aimed her revolvers behind them targeting everything she could in sight, buildings, landscaping, tables, chairs it did not matter as she fired off a weakened blast from her revolvers as they had barely even glowed. Hoping to create a backlight behind them by lighting whatever she could on fire. If she could pull it off, then she could get her hands back on the sword she had created earlier. The previous plan wouldn’t work with how Vermilion was choosing to fight, there was no way she was going to be able to hit her with that kind of melody. It was time to resort to the much riskier backup plan. Himiko would have preferred to avoid it, it was direct and it put herself in far greater danger. She didn’t have much choice in the matter, she may not get another shot.

[Bronze Projectile][Ignite][Scatter] =-72

The fires that Himiko created were temporary and clustered to an area that was only twenty feet wide, but it was better than nothing.

"I’m going to have towo bwing down the wall." MDP placed her hand on it. "If we cwoss in fwunt of it, she wiw see us." And with that, the gingerbread wall crumbled.

"Oh wow!" Veronica called out. "You might have some grey matter between those ears after all."

Then Veronica shot again. This time Pounder was able to put himself between everyone and the incoming bullets. "Our heat signature looks too different from the flames." Pounder growled. "Set me on fire."

"W-what? Pwounda…"

Pink pounder looked at Himiko "DO IT!"

Even Himiko had been taken off guard by his request, her golden eyes darted between Pink Pounder and MDP as she hunkered down behind him. Her usual emotionless expression remained, but there was confliction within her eyes. Something in her gut told her to trust him against better judgement. She didn’t have much time to consider it, she had to act, even if she thought it was a questionable idea it was better then having no idea at all. "Very well…I hope you know what you are doing, I need to get to that sword and I need to get within close range of Vermilion if this is going to have any chance of working…here goes nothing…" Himiko whispered as she set down her revolver and outstretched her right hand as it began to glow with an intense golden heat as she placed it upon Pink Pounders back. A golden flame ignited from her hand as it spread across Pink Pounder's body as she lit him ablaze.

[Bronze Touch][Ignite]=-32

It might have been the weakest flame Himiko could manage, but being on fire was always going to be absolute torture. The Pounder roared as he was transformed into a human bonfire, and he charged towards Veronica. The fires behind them were starting to die down, but the Pounder’s larger form, engulfed in flame, and being much closer to Veronica gave Himiko all the cover she needed to recover the sword she made. MDP lined up behind her as they prepared to charge into the smoke behind the Pounder.

Seeing the opening presented by the Pounders' risky gambit, Himiko was able to reach her sword as she quickly snatched it up by the hilt. Stashing one revolver away so she could wield the blade freely in her right hand. Turning her attention now towards the wall of smoke as they approached Vermilion's position. It was now or never, she only hoped that she was able to pull this plan off. She was thankful for the Pounders efforts, she would have to find a way to repay him if they made it out of this alive.

With sword in hand, she charged in right behind the path that The Pounder forged, feeling MDP’s presence right behind her. "We don’t know her precise location, I will need your help to draw her into a melee engagement, so be ready to defend yourself when she strikes, once I get eyes on her and get within melee range you need to brace yourself and try to keep some distance…" Himiko relayed to MDP quietly as they burst into the thick smoke. Himiko stayed tightly behind The Pounder knowing he was the most obvious target, her eyes searching for any sign of movement. Ready to spring into action the moment Vermilion struck, she would have to capitalize on it to close the range and put her plan into motion.

But as the case typically was with Veronica, it was almost impossible to predict her actions.

Once they were on the other side of the smoke, they could see it. Veronica was there, her M4 was in one hand, but her other was gripping a gigantic, multicolored bouncy castle. It nearly obscured the walkway into the building with its size, and the entire thing vibrated when she fired. Why Veronica would have chosen to erect a bouncy castle at this moment was a conundrum that may never get answered.

But it might have had something to do with Binky and a giant red demon falling from the sky.

The bouncy castle’s height allowed Veronica to look straight over the Pounder’s head at the two espers following behind him. They were so close, and what happened next might decide everything.

The moment Himiko laid eyes on Vermilion she went into action, her eyes focused on Vermilion's current location, judging the distance and the angle she would need. Her mind raced with various factors and calculations as she quickly came up with a new plan on the spot. There was no time to question what Vermilion was thinking, or what else was happening around them. Gripping her sword tightly in her right hand she came to a sliding stop angling her body to the side as she drew back the sword as far back as her right arm would go.

Her golden gaze locked onto her target as she put all the effort and strength she could muster into it. She drove her right leg forward, bringing her right arm over the top like she was a pitcher in a baseball game. Releasing the sword from her grip as she flung it towards Vermilion atop her bouncy castle. It flipped through the air as it approached Vermilion's position but it soon became clear that it was going to fly right over Vermilion's head and miss hitting her completely. Something the doctor-turned-magical girl observed as it happened.

Himiko, following through with her motion, quickly brought up her revolver while the other one manifested back into her right hand from her Endless Eclipse. "Shit!" Himiko uttered in her frustration after seeing the trajectory of her blade as she took aim with her revolvers, a fiery golden glow surrounding her and her weapons as the ground and air around her heated up. Tapping into as much power as she could possibly spare in a last ditch effort to bring Vermilion down. Unleashing a fiery golden beam from both barrels of her revolvers as they conjoined into one singular powered strike. The energy unleashed whipped her hair around and shattered windows as it flew towards its target, the ground cracking around Himiko as she put as much remaining mana into it as she could.

[Gold Beam][Homing][Damage X][Full Enhance] = -384

The sword missing had been part of the plan, Himiko having feigned her frustration about missing. Hoping that Vermilion would drop her guard from Himiko’s reaction and would turn her attention away from the blade and towards Himiko herself. She had never shown anyone this little trick before, having only ever crafted a single knife in front of Mika without using its secondary use. Just as she fired off her powerful blast, she remotely triggered the blade just as it reached above and slightly behind as it began to glow molten red, cracks forming along its blade, before exploding extremely hot and sharp shards of Obsidian. Intending to catch Vermilion by surprise and strike from two angles at the same time, even if it meant using an underhanded trick.

Perhaps to no one’s surprise, Veronica was able to easily phase out of the way of the incoming beam. The explosion behind Veronica’s back was harder for her to predict. Burning obsidian ripped through her form, but the doll didn’t as much as budge from the impact. The gun in her hands disappeared and was replaced by a fire extinguisher, which she used to blast herself with. Her form vanished behind a veil of smoke.

The demon was far too large for the bouncy castle, and when they landed on it, the entire thing sprung into the air and rolled onto its side, all while Binky was sawing away at its chest cavity. It flailed its massive arms and even smacked the front of the building, which opened a hole in the wall.

"We’re going in, right?" The pounder was already moving to take Magical Dream Princess into the hotel.

Part of her plan had been a success and had given them the window of time they needed to advance into the hotel. She knew it had been unlikely that she was able to eliminate Vermilion completely, so this would do just fine. Binky and the demon were another story, but she hoped that clash would keep Vermilion busy long enough for them to get what they came for. Himiko’s gaze lingered briefly on Vermilion's last location before she turned to run towards the newly formed opening. She knew they would encounter one another again at some point, it was inevitable. However Vermilion wasn’t what she was here for, she had other more important matters to handle. "The faster we get in there the better, before they finish off that monster and have time to get in our way" Himiko moved with the Pounder as they proceeded into the Golden Trove. Giving one last look behind her of the carnage between Binky and the demon.

…and from that carnage appeared a certain tea drinking esper. But she was all out of tea.

She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy, Vermilion wasn’t giving up her pursuit any time soon. But Himiko had nothing left to hold her off or slow her down. Her eyes narrowed as she was uncertain of what to do next, but the one thing she could do was to stay ahead of the tea touter.

Himiko and the others were able to get into the lobby. There were no espers or monsters present, but it was clear a fight had happened here, and a big one. There were quite a few corpses, and it wasn’t immediately apparent what direction they should go in.

"We need touo fwind a star case!" After a brief look around, MDP pointed at the back of the building. Sure enough, there was a large, grandiose staircase that the trio could use to get upstairs. "Dawr!"

"Good,we need to move quickly, we will have unwanted company soon…" Himiko responded as she turned towards the staircase, taking a look behind to track Vermilion’s approach.

Veronica was not too far behind. Mid-stride, a motorcycle appeared under her and she sat on it. It looked like a ninja bike, with flames painted down either side of it. It wasn’t going to take long for her to catch up.

Perhaps worse, there was still fighting ahead of them. Himiko could hear the carnage unfolding on the floor above.

Considering the current situation, things looked dicey with the real possibility of being sandwiched by threats from below and above. Himiko knew they were already outmatched with just the one threat they already had in pursuit. Being trapped between Vermilion and whoever was still fighting on the floors above was not an optimal situation. As the trio started up the steps, Himiko saw that Vermilion was approaching faster than before with her new transportation. She was being a bigger pain in the ass to handle then what Himiko would have liked. Turning towards MDP and the Pounder to address the situation "I don’t have any mana left after that last shot, if either of you are able to take out this staircase behind us that might slow her down long enough so we aren’t surrounded when we reach the next floor" She knew it wouldn’t slow Vermilion down for long, but it was still better then doing nothing if either of them could manage it.

"Kay!"

Destruction was not something MDP could do, but she could "take out" the staircase another way. After they had gotten part way up, MDP pointed her wand at the ground and covered the floor in a glistening jelly. It was filled with giant granules of sugar and even a few sprinkles.

Sprinkles, sugar and jelly was the last thing Himiko had ever considered being a useful obstacle but she wasn’t about to complain. Despite not anticipating MDP’s method, it seemed like it would be up to the task of slowing Vermilion's pursuit. "Good job, that’ll slow her down"

Veronica's motorcycle began to decelerate as soon as it drove into the jelly. Between motorcycles not being great at climbing stairs and the jelly, it looked like Himiko and her group would be able to make a clean getaway. But with a hop, Veronica was standing on top of her motorcycle. And then with another hop, a surfboard appeared beneath her and it flew up the rest of the stairs. Once at the top of the stairs, she hopped off and continued on foot.

"Bad move, Himiko!" Veronica sounded rather jubilant for someone exerting themself so much. But as a doll, perhaps she wasn’t really exerting herself at all. "If you still want me to kill you, you can turn around right now."

Chancing a glance back over her shoulder to check on Vermilion's progress, Himiko saw she was closing in quickly. Her ability to change her mode of transportation at a whim was quite troublesome but there wasn’t anything she could do about that right now. "No thanks, not interested in tea and crumpets at your little tea party today, maybe some other time" Himiko replied as they were about to reach their destination with Vermilion hot on their trail not knowing what they’d find.

And then, the chaos ahead.

Fortunately, between the mavericks and the freelancers present, no one could be sure if Himiko and her crew were just more freelance espers or agents of the hand. The fighting had spilled into several hotel rooms and down many corridors. It also looked like a dragon had disintegrated part of the floor. Speaking of, it looked like two of them were fighting outside.

Himiko’s eyes quickly scanned the chaotic scene as her golden gaze darted from one thing to the next in rapid succession almost like a machine. Taking in the situation, it quickly processed through her mind as she got a grasp on their surroundings and potential hazards and threats in a matter of seconds. For as bad as their current situation was, their arrival was a bit of a blessing. It was clear that everyone present on this floor was already engaged in battle throughout the various rooms and corridors and didn't give Himiko and her allies a second look. The two dragons battling outside wouldn’t be an issue, unless the one that wasn’t Boteg decided to interfere; they had nothing to worry about on that front. This would work to their advantage and keep some of the heat off of them as they made their way further up the building. It was clear that none of their targets were present so the trio would have to keep things moving.

"They aren’t here, we have to keep moving up until we find them….follow me…." Himiko begun to say before turning to look back in Vermilion's direction. "We still have to do something about her…" Reaching down to the ground grabbing a piece of rubble that had been part of the corridor wall. Before running as fast as she could, her golden eyes continued to dart about as she sped down the corridor heading towards her best estimate of where the next set of stairs should be. Tossing the piece of rubble over her shoulder and back down the corridor towards Vermilion in pursuit. Hoping that she would be cautious after Himiko’s earlier use of her special remote explosives and mistake the rubble as one of her bombs. Even if it only caused her to hesitate for half a second she would consider it a success if it let them keep a little distance between them.

The stone flew into Veronica’s path. She drew a saucer and whipped it onto the other side of the stone, at which point she teleported to its position.

"Dat onwy made hew fastew!"

However, as they neared the stairs. It looked like there might have been an obstacle…

To Ashley’s immense relief, her shot was just powerful enough to finish off the mech for good. Yet, no sooner had she recovered from her leap away from the war machine’s wreckage, then she saw its pilot land only a short distance away from her, the young esper having ejected from his crippled creation with MDF in tow. The high-tech heroine was vaguely aware of Binky having transformed and forced Behemoth!Elroy through an outer wall, but she trusted her mentor to handle that particular foe. She had her own opponent to deal with…

More like a piece of shit, the Knight of Tomorrow reflected, her eyes narrowing to glare at the young esper even as MDF tried to bolster his confidence. "Cerberus, prepare to engage Timekeeper on my signal," she whispered into her comm.

"Aff-firm-mate-I've..."

"So, is this really what it’s come to, Finn?" Ashley inquired. "Is this really the kind of person you want to be? A pathetic puppet with The Hand pulling your strings? What would your sister say if she saw you now? Or Olivia? Or Betty?" the Knight of Tomorrow continued, transcendent, technomystic power slowly, but inexorably, building up at the tip of her techno-wand with each word spoken.

The machine had opted to keep his mouth shut at first, knowing no matter what he'd answer, it'd just get twisted against him. But the way the Knight of Tomorrow had described him; a pathetic puppet of the Hand, that earned a scornful laugh out of Finn.

"Like you're one to talk, you bitch..." He hissed back, his eyes not glancing back at Ashley herself, but to the charging techno-wand aimed at him.

"You’re working with the very same monsters who brainwashed her!"

"Oh please, I'm not fucking around with Von Carnage's vicera right now, am I?" Finn rolled his eyes. The grip on his own weapon tightened, ready to act soon as she fired.

"Even we hated that asshole." Morning Dragonfruit added.

"Anyways, believe it or not I actually do have my own reasons to be collaborating with these other heathens. Once I'm finally out of this shithole and far away as possible, everyone's gonna move on from me in the end. Betty, Olivia, Lydia- They'll find something better with me gone, they'll all find something better, and they'll move on in the end. And I'm not letting the likes of YOU stop me."

No one would miss him, he surmised.

"So that’s it, huh?" Ashley inquired. "You just want to run away? Fine. I won’t be stopping you." At that, the Knight of Tomorrow fired her charged up energy bolt, not at Finn, but at MDF.

[Silver Projectile][Powerful][Charge][Homing][Avoid][Damage X] = -135 mana (114 mana remaining)

"Cerberus, now!" she called.

Even if Ashley wasn't actually aiming for him, Finn was still technically holding onto MDF. Any attacks aimed at her would always run the risk of hitting him instead. Not like these dumbasses cared. He rose a brow when the Blunder of Tomorrow fired a projectile melody at her, then - his expression dropping into unamusement - swung Atropos at the orb.

The melody was suitably potent. While such a melody could normally out maneuver anything it came across, an esper's finely tuned affinity for magic meant that they always had the chance to intercept it. While many had doubted his competency in the past, there was no doubt that the Finn standing here today was different than the ally Ashley had parted ways with. Atropos too, was no longer the same. The rapier transformed into a scythe and cleaved through the ball of techno energy. It detonated upon being struck this way, and Finn stumbled backwards. An opening for her partner to exploit, but Mika hesitated, and Finn recovered his balance.

"Honestly, not sure why I even answered. No answer out of my lips will ever be enough to sway you into reconsideration, I already know that. Or perhaps considering what's calling the shots behind your own strings, maybe the vitriol for me came pre-packaged. Who knows?" Another venomous chuckle, as if his hatred stemmed from something much deeper.

Mika came charging out from behind the pillar. She was moving fast but something was off. Instead of the weary look of indifference that was typically on Mika's face, she looked nervous, apprehensive. As she neared everyone, she began to slow up as the techno wand finally fired.

Finn gave the...weirdly hesitant Cerberus a side glance. "What's up with her?" The Timekeeper bluntly asked. It was too much to hope, but maybe Mika finally caught on that something was off?

Ashley was honestly wondering the same thing. Mika’s inconvenient hesitancy was worlds removed from the girl’s earlier aggressiveness, and even more concerning than Finn’s blocking of the high-tech heroine’s attack. Did the lack of an easy way to cheat death really shatter the feline agent’s resolve so comprehensively? After all, it wasn’t like any of the other agents present had access to such an ability to begin with. Whatever the case, this wasn’t the time for an impromptu therapy session.

"Keep it together, Cerberus," the Knight of Tomorrow told her subordinate. "I need your head in the game!"

Mika nearly jumped out of her skin at the unusually harsh command. At least, unusually harsh compared to how Ashley normally behaved. "R-right!" She steeled her gaze. "I-I want this. I want to kill him myself." Mika brought her claws up, and spirits began to circle her. While Mika was psyching herself up, Ashley snapped off a quick shot at Timekeeper’s legs to force the young esper on the defensive. But Mika hesitated and the opening was wasted. "I'll join mom, or ah-venge her, I can't lose here." Her teeth clenched as a roar erupted from her throat. "This is for mom, you coward!" Mika lunged for Finn with as much force as her legs would allow.

Ah, there's the fire- wait WHAT?!

It was a bit too easy to catch onto what Ashley and Mika were trying to pull, even as he was being forced back into the line of sight for the next attack. But did he hear that right? Mika was blaming him for Su's death?! When Cerberus lunged at him, Finn quickly flicked a small blink melody behind him to dodge the attack, kicking her in the back.

"You've got to be joking, are you that stupid?! You can't actually be going as far as to pin Miss Fang's death on ME." He scowled down at Mika. "Or would you have preferred an enthralled Betty to slaughter every agent that was present back then?!"

The Timekeeper would've glanced back at Ashley, a dim hope that she would actually play the devil's advocate here, but he already knew she wouldn't.

For her part, Ashley didn’t have time to give a lengthy response to the rantings of a petulant child, not when she was so close to achieving her team’s core objective. Swiftly dodging around the kicked Mika, she snapped off another quick shot at Finn’s new position, before charging towards him with her glowing shield raised.

"You may have screwed up in the past," the Knight of Tomorrow told the young esper. "But it’s your actions now that make us enemies."

Mika rolled to her feet. "It must be lonely on top of that high horse!" She positioned herself behind Ashley's shield. "Stop using her name!"

Predictable.

Pointless.

Dreadfully...dull, in a way.

The machine couldn't even be bothered to be angry anymore, the stoke of fire quickly snuffing out as he raised his scythe up to block the incoming shield bash. There was so much he wanted to be angry about, sure. He wanted to scream at them, scream at everyone for how he's been treated. But why would anyone suddenly have the gall to listen to what he had to say?

It's just selfish little Finney throwing another tantrum because nothing is going his way.

It's just that stubborn little brat who won't just shut up and stick to the script like a good little puppet.

It doesn't matter if that pathetic fucking jinx had been suffering for god-knows-how-long and with no one that could help him, if they were even willing.

After all, the worthless little failure was better off dead than helped.

He had grown so tired perpetuating this in trying to stay alive. Nothing he would ever do will be enough for Pax Septimus, nor for any one of his dreadful overseers. No one cared about Finnegan Vanhorn, they only cared about the caricature of Timekeeper. This was only going to end one way, and hopefully everyone he did still care about wouldn't miss him. It's a shame. He had really hoped to find his own happiness some day.

Maybe in the next life he'd fair a bit better.

Ashley raised her shield to block the young edgelord esper’s scythe, even as she thrust the glowing, now far larger and far sharper, prongs of her techno-wand into the boy’s leg.

[Silver Touch][Powerful][Damage X] = -68 mana (46 mana remaining)

The two agents could hear a prominent tick-tick-ticking as their attacks finally struck.

There, having to share space in the hand helping carry MDF, was a black pocket watch no one else would recognize but him. The clock face was spinning, ticking faster and faster and out of control as unfamiliar magic slowly eclipsed his arm. The Timekeeper's body began to unravel piece by piece and become one with it, and yet, he had no reaction. No fear, no pain, just an empty, apathetic stare primarily in the direction of the agent in front of him. And soon that was taken too as he was completely encompassed and rebuilt.

The glass frame of the clock face cracked. The Timekeeper was finally gone. Finn was gone.

And something perhaps far worse now stood where he once did. It adjusted the grip it had on Morning Dragon Fruit, and quietly dawned its top hat, staring down Ashley and Mika.

"Wow..." MDF laughed darkly. "I had no idea he could do this! Best, body guard, EVER!"

Ashley’s eyes winded in a mixture of shock and horror as Finn was seemingly consumed by the strange pocket watch, only to be reborn as a far more imposing figure. "W-What the…?" she murmured in stunned confusion, even as she leapt backwards to avoid any possible new attacks.

This was bad. The Knight of Tomorrow had no idea what she’d just born witness to, but far more distressing than the possibility of Finn fully sacrificing his humanity was the more immediate threat whatever he had become presented. She was almost out of mana, and that was besides the fact that she had never been particularly suited to combating enemy espers to begin with. Mika had also used up a great deal of her mana supply as well, and even if the feline esper was at full strength, the high-tech heroine had her doubts that she’d be able to handle this new threat alone.

"What’s this?" Ashley inquired with a confidence she did not even remotely feel. "A present from The Hand for being their obedient puppet?"

While their prospects in a fight with the gothic nightmare Finn had turned into were far from ideal, if they could anger him enough to make an exploitable mistake, they might just have a chance against him, even if it was an admittedly slim one.

Mika had seemed apprehensive about attacking Finn previously, and seeing him turn from a little metallic crybaby into a metallic harbinger of death did not give her any more confidence. "O-Orion?" She tapped the girl's arm. "I think we should go now. Maybe someone who's stronger than us can fight him?"

"I wish we could," Ashley replied, keeping her voice low. "But I have a feeling that Binky might be the only other agent strong enough to beat him, and she’s already dealing with the giant. If we retreat now, we may not get another chance at eliminating MDF, which means the potential for even more agents to get brainwashed by it."

"Somehow..." Mika took a step back. "I don't think he's going to just let us get away."

"What's wrong?" He spoke with a monotone voice, tilting his head as his glowing eyes continued to stare down Ashley and Mika. In his free hand formed a railgun, and he aimed it between the two of them. "You got what you wanted. Why do you still hesitate?" It was too late for them to regret anything, the damage was already done.

"Pretty sure this isn’t what either of us wanted…" Ashley muttered as she moved to shield Mika, while firing a bolt of neon green energy at the menacing figure’s center of mass.

"So it is still him in there..." Mika steeled herself. "Then we can still win!" Rather than stay behind the protection of Ashley's shield, Mika strafed around the giant automaton.

...So they were willing to die here, despite being unmatched?

Were they that loyal to GEMINI as to lay down their lives to their cause? What useless bravado. Ashley's little blot of energy did nothing against the machine, and did nothing to stop him from opening fire on her.

An interesting aspect of espers’ instruments is that they are effectively unbreakable. Thus, the railgun shot was unable to penetrate Ashley’s energy shield. However, the weapon’s massive kinetic energy was capable of knocking the Knight of Tomorrow off her feet and sending her flying across the chamber to crash into one of the massive support pillars. The impact left a large crater in the side of the column and completely knocked the wind out of the high-tech heroine, whose battered body slumped to the floor. She was badly hurt, and was finding it a challenge just to remain conscious. As she struggled to catch her breath, wincing in pain with each gasp, she watched through half closed eyes as Mika faced off against the metallic juggernaut alone…

Mika wasn't far now. She lunged for her target. Which wasn't Finn, but the TV he was carrying. She knew she couldn't beat the metal monstrosity, but that TV couldn't have been that strong. She just had to harm it.



...Which was why earlier, while psyching herself up, Mika had placed a spectral snake in her palm and hid it from view. If touched, it would detonate with a devastating, piercing explosion, saturating everything nearby in her spectral venom. She could only hope that she could get close enough to hit MDF. With any luck, Ashley had provided the needed distraction for her gambit to work.

As Finn turned to face her, the phantom serpent detonated. It did little against the machine, however...

"Ah-!" It was enough to not only, finally strike MDF, but enough to cause him to lose his grip on the TV. Morning slipped from under his arm and roughly tumbled onto the floor a short distance away from the two. Finn; or whatever this was that vaguely mimicked his voice, would've tried to reach after her, but he couldn't afford to lose his focus on Mika.

The question was, is she actually dead?

And it was a question Mika planned to answer herself.

She lost the element of suprise. It would take a moment for the poison to do anything to the hulking esper if it was going to do anything at all. Monsters always dissolved when they were slain, barring special situations, and she wasn't about to count on Morning Dragon Fruit expiring just because she landed a solid hit on it. More spirits coalesced inside Mika's arm as she backed away from the giant. MDF had to be wounded if they weren't talking after that, but maybe they needed one more shot of her venom to turn off for good.

"Repugnant brat." Soon as Cerberus fired her double-tap shot, she was met with the buisness end of the machine's railgun slamming against her side, knocking her away in the same direction as Ashley. He quickly moved to where MDF landed and picked the TV up.

...

The screen was shattered into pieces, revealing its inner-workings corroding away by poison thanks to Mika's attack. The occasional spark of electricity crackled from exposed wires, but there was no sign of life from Morning Dragon Fruit. He failed. Of course he did. The heroes were going to win in the end, inevitably. Such a funny thing. But how was he going to explain this to Bookman??

"...Forgive me, Miss Morning." He quietly sighed.

For her part, Ashley could only struggle to keep her eyes open enough to watch the combat unfold, unable to even spare a shot at the fallen MDF for risk of accidentally hitting Mika. Thankfully, the feline agent seemed to have matters in hand, a double shot of mystic serpentine energy having apparently taken the tv entity offline at long last. Thus, while the Knight of Tomorrow’s first pained words when her fellow agent came skidding to a halt beside her were, "A-Are you all right, Cerberus?" her second were, "D-Did you destroy it?"

Normally an improvised weapon attack like that wouldn't have done much damage, but this iron duke seemed to pack a punch with everything he did. Mika's body laid in a crumpled heap. She tried to pick herself up but something broke inside her. "Hngh!" Groaning, breathing, doing anything seemed to hurt. This was the first time Mika had suffered from an adversary's attack, and it hadn't been an especially light one. "I, e-gh." It looked like MDF was starting to evaporate. It was almost like watching one of those sad movies where the hero cradles his dying lover in his arms, only this time it was a mechanical monster and a very sassy TV. "Yes." She managed to squeak out. But that didn't solve all of their problems. They still needed to get out, and didn't she still want her revenge?

The sound of the machine slowly walking up to the two of them snapped her out of her thoughts, stopping just in front of them. He glanced away, to where Binky and Elroy disappeared, in the direction where Marrie faced off against Sofron and Klava.

"...Mmh. Is there really no one around to come help you?" He tilted his head, eyes then glancing down at the injured agents. "This seems almost too easy."

As soon as she heard Mika’s pained groan, Ashley placed a trembling hand on the feline girl’s back and filled her battered body with as much healing energy as she was able to muster. The feline esper flinched when she was touched.

[Bronze Touch][Powerful][Charge][Heal] = -36 mana (10 mana remaining)

Even as she did so, she could hear the metal monstrosity’s approach. Gritting her teeth in both anger and pain, the Knight of Tomorrow glared up at the gothic titan that was once Finn. She wasn’t even going to dignify his mockery with a response. Even if they died here, at least their target had been eliminated, making The Hand substantially weaker and preventing them from brainwashing anyone else. That had to count for something.

But while Ashley was thinking of her past actions, Mika was thinking of her future ones. Despite everything, it seemed that Ashley had decided to treat Mika instead of herself. Was this some last ditch effort to atone for past mistakes, or did she think Mika could somehow stop whatever this was. Mika didn’t know.

But what she did know was that she had the power to fight this thing.

Mika pulled out the pink jade pendant. It was uncanny how much it looked like her grimoire, minus the color. She didn’t know if she could beat Finn’s new form with this, but she could tell it would give her a chance. A shot at revenge. Red spirits began to soar around Mika, ones much scarier than her original animals. The head of a ferocious wolf, a man-eating bore, even a huntress. They danced around her in red light.

"Shit-!"

This operation had been so surreal. As much as she critiqued Ashley’s leading ability, she had to admit she was fairly brave. Mika had thought she could face down death, but that was because she believed it would be as painless as her false deaths. But Finn had shown her that fighting could be painful. Did Angelie suffer like that when she died? Did her mother? And despite this pain that Ashley had been suffering now, she chose to alleviate Mika’s suffering. The light got brighter, and a rabid elk joined the dance.

It wasn’t just Ashley though. There were all kinds of things happening in the Golden Trove. She had always regarded freelance espers as unworthy of trust. Yet there Marrie was, fighting alongside Binky and Raven. Could she even contribute? It was just respectable that she was holding them back. An angry hippo joined the dance, and the light grew brighter.

But that was all done now. There was nothing stopping Ashley or even herself from reverting to their human forms and trying to flee. It would be cowardly, but… No, that really wasn’t an option. There was no one here who could fight what Finn had become. Maybe Fritzi, but that was a long way to travel. That kooky doctor had always praised her. Not as much as she praised Finn, and look where that ended up? An alligator joined the dance.

Sam and Jacqueline, who knew where they went? But she remembered interacting with them. Jacqueline in particular had come over to her house, and she said something embarrassing to her. But the day she lost her mother she was the first person to try and comfort her. That must have been hard. She couldn’t picture herself comforting anyone, much less seeing the value in it. A hawk joined the dance.

All that considered, why had Mika persisted this long? Why did Su bother to take care of her and eventually die for her? Why did Angelie die for her? Why was Ashley doing it in spirit? Was it all just for this moment? A rhino joined the dance.

The dancing animals all took position behind Mika. The red huntress sliced open her palm, but no blood came out. Then she stepped behind Mika and placed her knife against her neck. But Mika didn’t flinch. Then with a gasp, Mika closed her hand and the spirits faded like a mirage.

She stepped in front of Ashley, putting herself between her wounded companion and the colossal enemy esper. "You can’t call us easy when you failed." Mika had no difficulty sounding like a confident agent, but she needed to keep her hands on her hips to prevent them from shaking. "Finn?" It felt weird to call it that, but Mika sincerely believed that there was a part of him still in there. "What are you doing? You’re going to kill us? And then what?" She sighed. "Why did you even leave to begin with?"

"Who said that was my intention?" The machine tilted his head again. Mika wasn't immediately going on the attack. "The Hand was just a source of convenience." He lifted his own hand up. "Believe me or not, there are powers outside this reality plenum that wish to conspire against me. Bigger fish than any of us could fry. I originally intended to take advantage of what I could from collaborating with the Hand to escape their grasp, as you saw with my mech before...well..." He dropped his hand with a hollow, almost tired chuckle.

"I had hoped neither of us would've resorted to using our back-ups. Or at the very least, I hoped that you wouldn't. Pathetic, isn't it?"

"Y-You… h-haven’t changed… at all…" Ashley told him with a sad, tired smile between pained gasps. "A-Always trying to do… everything yourself… I-I’m not… gonna pretend… I know what you’re… going through," she added. "B-But, if you were… in t-trouble… we c-could have helped you…"

"This isn't something that anyone could've easily helped or understand. Beyond that, who'd ever want to help someone who's almost no better than Oros the Mad?"

Mika pinched the bridge of her nose. It was taking a little bit to shift gears. "You were fighting us pretty hard back there." She didn’t really have a desire to continue that discussion though. "What do you mean as bad as ‘Oros the Mad’? She’s like, killed people. On purpose." She sighed. "You didn’t kill mom. It was a mistake, and you didn’t know killing those frogs would make the ghost stronger. Maybe Betty wouldn’t be alive if you did something different. I don’t know." Mika looked away.

"No, I was aware. I just tried my best to avoid giving Gunther any leverage." Pointless. Finn carefully walked up to Ashley, offering a hand to help her up. He didn't have healing notes anymore. "But I am serious when I say if I hadn't been there to serve as a distraction, Betty would've done a worse number on the team at the time." Speaking from experience, she was hellishly stronger than he was, then. The machine lowered his head.

Mika groaned and folded her arms. "Either way, if you screwed up or not I don't hold it against you."

"I never wanted to be put upon a pedestal for my actions, nor feel like I was being demonized by them simply cause I was trying to survive. It just...felt like no one genuinely cared about the real me, only what everyone wanted me to be in their eyes. _{I can't blame them...}"

"W-We did care, Finn," Ashley replied with a tired sigh as she slowly took the offered hand. The Knight of Tomorrow knew full well that they were completely at the gothic creature’s mercy, so if he chose to offer it, she would gladly accept. "I d-don’t know why… that’s so difficult… for you to understand."

"It didn't feel like it. Everyone might have had well intentions, but not the best ways to go about it. I'm sorry." He carefully helped Ashley up to stand.

They hadn't gotten through to him before, and it didn't seem like they were going to get through to him now. Mika placed her hand over her face, quietly fumed a bit, and then turned towards the giant. "Now what?"

"I'm not sure how the rest of your team is fairing, but you've done your job, there's no reason for you to linger here any longer than you should. Especially with one of you still injured." The machine essentially told her and Ashley to retreat.

"S-So you’re just… going to let us go…?" Ashley asked. It would make sense if he saw himself as merely a freelancer whose job had just concluded, but still…

"If you're willing to do the same for me." Finn glanced back at Ashley, then down at himself. "I'm not exactly human anymore. But I'm not sure if this means I now count as a monster either." They say an esper's form is their idealized self. So did that mean he always meant to become this? He couldn't say.

Ashley sighed. "Our objective… was to eliminate MDF," she told him. "That objective… has been accomplished. I don’t… see any reason… for us to remain here. C-Come on, Cerberus," the Knight of Tomorrow added as she began hobbling her way towards the exit. "L-Let’s… see how… the others are faring…"

It wouldn't take very long to find out, because an untransformed Marrie walked through the doorframe, a pistol in her right hand, and two smartphones in her left. She was trying to get through to Stacy, but wanted to check what had happened now that the fight against Morningfruit seemed done. It took all the willpower she had left not to drop the phones when she saw the plague doctor thing.

"Is, uh... Is everything okay?" she asked with a shaky voice, not yet sure if she should aim the last bullet in the gun at the mecha-doc. Said mecha-doc simply waved hello.

"Gale…?" Ashley couldn’t help but wonder aloud. She wasn’t expecting the freelancer to have reverted back to her mundane form, but seeing that was the case, it hopefully meant things had gone at least somewhat well in the corridor. "W-We’re… okay," the Knight of Tomorrow replied with a nod after the freelancer’s question finally registered in her exhausted, pain-fogged brain. "MDF’s been… eliminated, and this… this individual is… no longer a threat." At least, she dearly hoped so, even if only for the time being. "H-How are… the others?" the high-tech heroine asked, her weary voice tinged with concern.

The untransformed girl waved back at whoever was in the bird mask. "Uh, Maiden's... alive. Down for now, luckily. As long as Sofron hasn't broken himself free, he should still be down too. Got help from your other Wind esper, she lost an arm but only in her esper form, I think?" Marrie checked one of the phones in her hand again for a moment, telling it to dial Stacy again.

"And..." She looked around for the twins. "I've got the first floor on camera, if you want to see it. Trying to tell Maverick they can pull out now." Her left hand waved in the air to show the second phone. "So... who is the 'individual,' anyway?"

While the others talked, Mika just waited for the Miko twins to do their thing. One of them was getting ready to heal Ashley while the other approached Marrie. But while the healing melody stirred into existence, something else stirred at the far end of the room.

The giant hole in the wall gave an impressive view of the city. But something long and bestial reached through the opening. The space above them came alive as a giant snake opened its mouth and set itself into the ceiling. Then two individuals fell out and landed before everyone. One was Sharr Webber, the other was Oros.

"It’s okay, kid!" Oros reassured Marrie. "I just looked at the ol’ eclipse a little bit ago, and Maverick Alternative was able to slay Tony. It was a little disappointing since it happened off screen, but have you seen the Patron count for this Reality Plenum?" She pointed over her shoulder. "Anyway, everyone’s pulling out, but that stitched up voodoo doll lost her head again. So uh, you’re going to be calling her for a little while." Oros eyed everyone else present. "Are you kidding me!?" She clenched her teeth. "I had money riding on you transforming first!" She pointed at Mika. "What the hell happened!?"

The feline esper looked around. "I-"

"Ruined! Everything!" Oros sank to her knees and seethed. Then she opened a wallet and passed a hundred dollar bill to Sharr. "Can’t believe time boy had bigger balls than you in the end."

From behind his mask, the machine sneered at the depraved duo. "So my intuition was correct." He turned his attention primarily to Sharr. "Come to collect more than just bet money, Miss Rizzo?"

"Something like that." Sharr slid the money into the neckline of her dress. "And to marvel at the handsome young man you've grown into. You're more imposing than I thought you'd be."

As battered and exhausted as she was, Ashley simply watched Oros and Sharr’s arrival (and the former’s antics) in dull silence as her injuries were slowly healed. If the pink-haired pervert was to be believed the operation had proven more successful than she’d imagined. Still, there was one pressing question weighing on her mind that she felt the need to voice. "H-Have… either of you… seen Binky?" the Knight of Tomorrow asked. "S-She… fell out of the building… while fighting a behemoth."

"There was a behemoth? Was that the loud crashing coming from in here?" Marrie stopped trying to call Stacy and put both phones away. She didn't get an answer about the guy in all black, so she focused on looking around for Sofron. He was still at the edge of the room, with the one armed esper standing over him with her pistol.

"You want even more stuff resolved off-screen?" Oros shook her head before looking at her blade. "Yea, Binky’s fine, Elroy got saved, and Regina’s settled down. I’d have more clear details but SOMEONE can’t add more than once a week!" She slammed her sword back into her scabbard. "Anyway, who gives a shit about some En-Pee-Cees? You guys have your own lives to worry about!"

Well, that was a relief. The news about Regina less so, but Ashley still hoped there was a chance that the fiery freelancer could also be successfully rescued. And speaking of rescued…

"I hate to say it, but Oros is right," Ashley wearily conceded. "We should probably head up to the roof now, before any more security shows up." Turning to Marrie, she asked, "Is that portal of yours still open?"

"That wasn’t what I meant." Oros interupted. "Come on, man! Aren’t you supposed to be the ‘smart one’ or some shit?" Oros walked forward. "Think about it, we’ve killed the Hand to the last few members. The gems and vandals are all in the building, including the raid bosses. Binky’s using the last of her mana to extract Elroy, the Fritz is making her way up here, and plot twist, Boteg decided to fly downstairs for back up. You bastards are all by yourselves without a drop of mana left!"

Oros’s rambling torrent of revelations made Ashley stop in her tracks. Of course Boteg had stranded them, although the news that the director herself was making her way up to them was a bit more reassuring. Perhaps there really weren’t any further hostiles poised to attack them. Well, aside from the ones right in front of them. While she was classified as a Depraved esper, and was certainly insane enough to fully justify her title, Oros had never been hostile towards the Knight of Tomorrow, or GEMINI as a whole. On the contrary, she had only ever assisted them, and seemed to be a fellow opponent of The Hand. Even so, the perverted pinkette’s current attitude had Ashley on high alert, despite there being precious little she could do about the drama unfolding before her…

Oros ripped her sword out of her sheath. "Meanwhile, I’ve been picking up allies! Maybe you know some of them?"

From the portal behind Oros, a figure descended. Their dragonfly wings enabled them to swoop through the air swiftly, but also with great control. They appeared to be a fairy, but were much too large to be tinkerbell. Her blond hair fluttered like a cape, and her outfit shared a likeness with flowers. After a quick flight around the room, the great fairy landed beside Sharr. A bow appeared in her hand, seeming to twist into existence out of a fragment of her dress.

"Remember Faith? This is her now. Feeling old, yet? And that’s just one of my new super cool friends." Oros grinned at her own joke. "Nobody here has to die if I get what I want. And Penny Junior?" Oros chuckled. "I’m not sure what goes through that terrified, irrational mind of yours, but fighting me would be a bad idea. I mean your new look is totally sick and everything, but I’ve got some pretty good backup, and I’ll absolutely make sure everyone you care about in this room dies."

Finn hummed in thought, tilting his head as he looked over Faith. Or whoever was left, he wouldn't be surprised if Oros had done anything to her to make her change loyalties. But how bold it was for the Mad to assume what he was feeling. If anything at all. Far as he was concerned, his head was the clearest it's ever been.

"And what are you exactly holding us hostage for, exactly?" He asked Oros, by his tone alone one could tell his brow was raised.

With her now free hand, Marrie started counting on her fingers. She stopped after three. If she was perfectly honest with herself, she didn't really understand what the Hand was all about. "Is this a time to be serious or is the demand something strange again?" Not that it really mattered to Marrie, considering she couldn't transform for a while yet. She didn't know if healing a human esper healed their esper form or not, but this would be a terrible time to try to find out, so she tried to push the thought from her mind.

"Heh." Oros looked between Marrie and the Iron Duke. "The two of you are so dense! Well, I guess it makes sense for Penny Junior to be dense, given they are all metal now." She grinned.

"Riiiight, like you wouldn't have any other agenda besides taking over this Reality Plenum with Aigorost. My mistake to assume otherwise." the Iron Duke crossed his arms.

Oros only grinned at the Iron Duke’s response. "You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this. You know I’m the one who took care of the Iron Queen, right? I mean I don’t advertise it, and quite frankly the Patrons have known for years now. But yea, that was me. And then the gems, mavs, freeloaders, and the handies had to show their big stupid mugs. You know their presence is kind of a problem for someone like myself."

Someone else fell through the portal. They looked like a white and black blur as they flipped through the air. They landed in a kneeling position. They gave their messy white hair a moment to settle before standing up. It was another woman, but one that was unusually tall and had a child’s face. She reached into the air, and a large dart gun fell into her hands. Finn froze up, he recognized who it was.

"Another old face joins us, eh?" Oros placed a hand on her hip. "Sorry we couldn’t all join you at once. What’s her tits there with the flower over her eye? She was kind of problematic."

Elise was dead too? No wonder she didn't show. Finn quietly stood there for a moment, then huffed.

"But enough about that. I have a feeling one of our guests of honor is going to show up soon. So start asking more interesting questions or kindly step off to the side." she waved everyone over with her sword.

"Talking with you's still pointless." He backed away, electing to just stand near Sharr. At least she didn't sever his legs.

Mika remained by Ashley through all of this. "We’re not going to let her harm Fritzi, right?"

"I don’t know what good we could do in our current condition," Ashley replied with a sigh. "But I’m not just going to stand around and do nothing. At least, if she even intends to attack the director in the first place." Returning her attention to Oros, the Knight of Tomorrow continued, "To reiterate what ‘Penny Junior’ asked, what, exactly, do you want from us?"

"I want you to stand aside and do nothing. This’ll all be over shortly."

Marrie spoke up again. "There's still at least two of the Hand left, plus the leaders of Gemini and Maverick, the Crusaders, whatever they call themselves, and... Well, the Freelancers don't really have a leader even at the best of times. If this really is about taking over Pax, it's not the best time to do it, just because the groups are a bit tired. They're in the same place and working together, after all." Marrie stepped to the side where Oros had waved. "Then again, it probably isn't. It's probably about the cult that..." Memories flashed through her mind, but she was too worn out for them to elicit any emotion they would normally carry with them. "The ones who attacked the water distribution."

"I can’t follow you anymore Marrie, and I doubt anyone else can either. Are we sure I’m the mad one here?" Oros pointed at her chest. "Yea, cultists get thirsty too. What about it? This is absolutely the time to attack. I know you want me to do the big dumb badguy thing and explain my evil plan in detail to you but there’s a few problems with that. Number one, I’m the hero. Number two, we’re waiting, number three, it’d be way easier just to show you after the magic happens. But it’s all going to stop today." She waved her arm. "Also, you counted them wrong. Justine, Kellogg's Boy, Morning Glory, and the dragon-mage you forgot about were all fingers. But you are right! There’s two more members. But that doesn’t matter! Because I’ve got my own group, and it’s even better because we’re all girls!" She smiled. Something was coming up the stairs. "It’s them."

With a final burst of energy and speed Himiko bolted up the last flight of stairs reaching the final floor and the wide open area littered with the debris of battle. She slowed down as her eyes flickered from person to person, quickly taking in their face and making note of who was here. There were far more people present then she had anticipated being here which was troublesome. The good news was all three of her targets had gathered in a single location. The bad news, Oros was here and she hadn’t come alone. It wasn’t going to get any better when Vermilion arrived on the top floor to add to the already tense standoff. Once Himiko reached ten feet from the two sides she came to a stop flanked by the Pounder and MDP. Her Endless Eclipse perched on her shoulder as her eyes scanned the Gemini, Maverick and Freelancer alliance. She turned her head towards Oros the Mad, her expression unchanged

"I see you have been busy building your collection of tools, you know why I’m here and what I want." Himiko broke her silence as Oros met Oros.

"Oh yea? Well why should I give you anything other than an ass whooping?" Oros the Mad grinned.

"Mmmm…" Sharr observed everyone present. "There are just too many people up here. Too many distractions, too many names to remember, too many details to juggle at once." She turned to the Iron Duke. "Finn? Would you be a good little murderer and take care of Oros for me?"

"Eh?" Oros pointed at Himiko with her sword. "Neubenheimer over here isn’t Oros, she’s-"

"Not a single person here is loyal to Oros the Mad. They obey my command, and my command alone. They won’t help her." Sharr placed her hands together. "There’s still a happy ending here for everyone, but you need to get rid of Oros."

The Iron Duke bowed his head, turning his sights back to Oros the Mad. "Of course, Miss Rizzo. Or am I to properly address you as Miss Webber now?" He casually asked, even as an industrial-looking glaive formed into his hand with a flourish. In a literal blink, he launched himself back at Oros for the first strike.

In all the commotion, from Oros saying she was confused to the Plague Doctor attacking, Marrie couldn't get over a single comment. She did get out of the way, what? But that thought and its payload of confusion were knocked out of her by the speed the metal man was moving at. Both physically, and his apparent instant hatred for Oros. On instinct alone, she found herself transformed into her esper form. A single bullet wouldn't do much right now, anyway, though she'd only think that if and when she later tried to rationalize her suicidally stupid decision to refill her lungs with blood.

Her free hand jumped to her throat as she coughed out some of her liquid lifeforce.
"_{A-... a little help?}" she barely managed to choke out her request, the syllables coated in crimson, to the half of the twin espers who was nearest.

Another healing arrow quickly struck her. "The hell are you doing, kid?!" Cereza shouted.

While Marrie was blood letting herself in front of the Miko, Sharr was observing the fight, if it could be called that, between Oros and the Iron Duke. Though unlike her engagement with Penny, Oros was not doing especially well here. Part of that was because Finn was a substantially stronger esper, but also because when Oros and Penny fought, Sharr was the one who devised the strategy to win. She sighed. "She was so annoying." Sharr turned away from the spectacle and looked at the espers in her immediate vicinity. "Well, my big super evil plan doesn’t involve quite as much death, but I do need a few things from you." The first person she approached was Mika. "I believe Oros slipped you a pendant?" Sharr extended a hand and waved her forward.

Mika only stared back at the woman. Or girl, as that was what Sharr looked like in her present form. "Why do you want it?"

"I just want to keep it out of your hands." With a snap of her fingers, an identical amulet appeared between Sharr’s fingers. "See? I can make my own if I wish." She tossed it to Mika, who inspected both of them. "I can make a third one, but I think you get the point." Still, Mika hesitated to hand them over. She looked between the two, but it was apparent on her face that she couldn’t find a reason not to hand them over. "Come on, you didn’t have the guts to use it. You actually want to live." She waved Mika on again. Mika handed over the duplicate, but held onto the original.

"Angelie." Mika choked out the name. "She died so that I could have this."

"Oh? Want it as a keepsake? I can render it inert if you’d prefer, but you’re not keeping it as it is."

"What is it?" Ashley inquired as she took a closer look at the amulet. "A second grimoire?" The fight between Oros and whatever Finn had become was concerning in it’s own right, as were the injuries of Marrie’s esper form, but there was precious little the Knight of Tomorrow could do about either of those situations at the present moment. She didn’t have a clue what Doctor Webber’s real agenda was, so any insight she could glean on the subject would be helpful. "And what, exactly, does your plan entail? Aside from eliminating an infamous Depraved esper."

"Mmmm, probably something similar to what Oros wants, only I don’t feel threatened by Gemini or Maverick Alternative. That’s the main reason why anyone kills anyone right? Oros the Mad is a threat, so she needs to go. But you? Dr. Moller? We’re all on the same page aren’t we?" Sharr’s mischievous smile grew.

The cat girl wasn’t going to wait for the conversation to shift. "It's something Oros tried to give me." Mika confessed.

"To be a bit more precise, it’s an artifact that consumes an esper’s mana and turns them into something else." Sharr turned back towards the fight. "Oros and I were talking about some things and the topic of the most suicidal esper in Pax came up. She thought it was Mika, I thought it was Finn. So to test them, I made two such artifacts to see who was the more suicidal one. We both waged that our chosen target would use the artifact before the end of your encounter with Dragon Fruit, and I won."

Oros was half fleeing, half fighting the Iron Duke as he chased her around the room. "Are you bastards really going to just stand there?!" It wasn’t clear who she was talking to, but nobody answered her as the battle continued. Well, one person did.

"Oh, but I thought you had wanted to fight me. Not so fun being on the other end this time, isn't it?" The Iron Duke's taunting was all she earned in response.

Mika pinched the bridge of her nose. "It wasn’t good that I hid that from you, Orion." She groaned. "Part of me didn’t think you’d care, another part wanted to use it some day." She looked at the pendant. "But I can’t. I want to live. I want to be here and do things with everyone. I want to see mom too, but not like this."

"Right." Sharr placed her hands on her hips. "So how about you hand that over now that you know you’ll never use it?"

Himiko knew better than to try to brute force through this situation. Himiko held up a silent hand in a gesture for MDP and Pounder to stay put, Himiko moved toward Sharr and Mika until she was within reaching distance. Her golden gaze locked with Sharr, before drifting towards Cerberus, wordlessly extending her hand, palm up towards Cerberus. Her Endless Eclipse fluttered its wings upon her shoulder, a firm emotion free expression on her face, neither asking nor demanding anything.

While Sharr continued her 'request,' and Himiko tried to... whatever she was planning to do if Mika gave her the pendant, Marrie finished coughing up her lungs. Or at least clearing them. She gave a weak thumbs-up to Cereza and turned to Orion.

"Do you know this lady? Doesn't sound like she's GEMINI." She turned to look toward Oros toe Mad, but spoke to Mika instead. "If the pendant is something dangerous to the person who called their goals their 'big evil plan,' then it's probably something worth keeping."

"I don’t think Doctor Webber is on anyone’s side but her own at the moment," Ashley replied, before her tired visage turned to face the newest arrival. "And I have no idea who this person is," the high-tech heroine added, even if they did seem strangely familiar. "But something tells me there’s even less reason to give them that pendant." The entire situation was feeling more and more like a twisted fever dream with each passing moment, and as she finally took note of MDP and The Pounder’s presence, the Knight of Tomorrow couldn’t help but wonder if she wasn’t suffering from the effects of an internal injury the miko twins had missed while healing her.

Mika turned her palm up and gazed into her hand. It took ten or so seconds, but eventually she let her hand drop with a sigh. "Of course, it’s Himiko."

Himiko. So that was it. Ashley couldn’t imagine how the anarchic esper had escaped confinement, let alone the reason for her altered appearance, but her mere presence boded nothing good.

Mika groaned before extending the pendant towards Sharr. "I’m never using this power. If you’ll leave us alone, you can take it."

Sharr reached out and squeezed the pendant. There were no sparkles or visual flair, but given how Mika was examining it after the fact, it seemed that she had altered it somehow. "My side is order, Orion." Sharr strutted past Himiko and stood before Gemini’s squad leader. "And I can sense your confusion." She cast out her arms. "But just think about all the things you did and how that must make me feel."

"Everything I’ve done here was to weaken a force bent on the cruel exploitation of this city’s population for their own vile ends," Ashley replied. "I don’t know how much order, or lack of it, The Hand’s removal will bring to Pax Septimus, but I think it will be a considerably safer and more peaceful place with them gone."

Sharr groaned. "I wasn’t talking to you." She adjusted one of her gloves. "Anyway, now that we are talking, I’d like your grimoire. It’s the last piece of this puzzle. What would you like in trade for it? Information? Another grimoire? Both? Hopefully I’ve demonstrated how amicable I can be with your subordinate."

"M-My grimoire…?" Ashley echoed, her voice filled with incredulity. Of all the things the enigmatic young woman could have said, that was pretty much the last thing the Knight of Tomorrow would have expected. "Why?" she pressed, even as she tightened her grip on her techno-wand. "What makes it so special compared to any other grimoire?"

Sharr sighed. "Ah, the simplest sounding questions are always the most difficult to answer." She laughed. "But a shortcut exists. Are you familiar with Alan Watts?"

"Not particularly," Ashley replied.

"The long version it is." Sharr clicked her tongue before folding her arms behind her back. "Let’s pretend for a moment that you can become completely omnipotent.You can have dreams that feel so real that they are indistinguishable from reality. These dreams can last as long or short as you care, and be about anything. I imagine your first few dreams would be perfect fantasies." She looked to Mika. "Maybe you’d dream everyone you loved was still alive." She looked to Finn. "Maybe you’d dream people could empathize with you." Then to Himiko. "Maybe you crave freedom." Then at Marrie. "Maybe you just don’t want anyone to die in your dream." Finally, Sharr’s gaze returned to Ashley. "Maybe for once, you’d rather not be the lynch pin holding everything together. Either way, you could have the perfect dream for years or decades or even centuries. Perfect lives where nothing bad ever happens. But you’d get bored." She smiled. "Then you’d crave adventure. And as those adventures wore on, you might even get bored of them." Her eyes settled on Oros, who was on her fourth life and soon to be her fifth. "Maybe you’d partake in some truly depraved things. Maybe after being the hero for so long, you’d like to become the villain. It’s a dream after all. It’s all for you." The corners of her lips curled down. "But then something wakes you up from your dream. Not completely, but enough for you to be aware that you have some control over what goes on. I’m sure you’ve woken up at four in the morning before? It’s too early to get up so you try to fall asleep again. But you can’t because the red LED light on your alarm clock is too bright. Even if you could, the dream has been altered. You get back to sleep and you’re still dreaming about that alarm clock. It’s so tiresome." Sharr yawned into her hand. "I have a few alarm clocks in my dream. Oros was one, Finn and Mika had the capacity to become alarm clocks, but either didn’t or never will, and now you hold the last one." She cast out her arms. "Because I made all of this. This entire scenario is one I wanted to experience. There isn’t a grimoire in this world that I didn’t create… except for yours." She placed her hands on her hips. "And that’s why I need you to hand it over."

It took a moment for Ashley to respond. Everything Doctor Webber said seemed completely ludicrous. Was this just a side effect of staying around Oros for too long, of encountering whatever had driven the perverted pinkette herself so undeniably insane? "So… You’re telling me this entire world, this entire universe, is just some simulation you’ve created? And my Grimoire is from whatever world exists outside of it?" She took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled it. "Okay, assuming for a moment what you’re saying is true, and you really did create every other Grimoire in existence, then who created mine?"

"How troublesome…" If what Sharr had said was truly the case then there wasn’t much Himiko could do about it. There was no use in worrying about it, especially when Himiko knew that Orion’s grimoire wasn’t the only thing that Sharr had not created that existed in this world. "That grimoire isn’t the only thing that isn’t part of her creation that found itself in her grandiose scenario…"

"Oh my." Sharr turned to Himiko. "We have a regular Sherlock Holmes over here." She turned back to Ashley. "I’m giving you the long version, but it’s still the condensed version. You are aware that ‘horrors’ linger just outside the veil of our world in the elemental chaos, correct? Technically they are the ones shaping the world, but they are only involved because of pacts made with people like me. I do not think it would be wise to involve them in this discussion. Nor would sharing their names with you give you a better understanding of what they are." She pointed at the floor. "The point is that several individuals and myself wanted to create something. That thing has been tainted by a number of unseen hands, and well, you can see the shape Pax is in. I make no attempt to claim I’m a god or any such nonsense, but those horrors everyone’s concerned about? The ones that might take an interest in our world? That's already happened."

Ashley frowned. She was indeed aware of the theory that such eldritch binging existed within the Elemental Chaos, or perhaps even in whatever lay beyond it, as well as the fact that their powers were so vast, far vaster than any behemoth, that if one were to ever appear, it would be a world-ending event. With that in mind… "So, you’re saying a horror created my Grimoire and gave it to me for some nefarious purpose?" she asked in a somewhat skeptical tone. Because, if that was true, if everything she had ever done to protect Pax Septimus had unwittingly advanced the schemes of something bent on the city’s, and indeed, the world’s, complete destruction…

"I don't know." Sharr confessed. "It's possible, I suppose. It's nothing I can prove one way or the other. And even if I could, you'd call my credibility into question, correct? What makes the horrors I'm willing to sign pacts with different from the rest?" Her smile returned. "But at the end of the day, we're both agents of Gemini, are we not? Maybe you can understand why I think your grimoire's continued existence is a bad idea."

"Are we both agents of GEMINI?" Ashley asked. "I wouldn’t think a true agent would be making pacts with eldritch horrors," she noted pointedly.

Marrie chose now to speak up. "Does it matter? If GEMINI's job is to fight them, then you need it. If it's not, then you need it. If this lady's telling the truth, why assume they're evil? If they're shaping this world, they're already a part of it we need to accept, right? But first..." Marrie turned towards the fight between Oros and the Iron Duke, then raised her pistol. "Stop fighting, damnit!" She fired the last bullet it had from the chamber at Finn's back. With all the metal on him, she figured it wouldn't do much to hurt him.

"Ugh, do you want to die next so badly??" Finn spoke up in response. Despite his focus being on Oros; Who he had thrown all the way across the room just now, he'd been half-listening to whatever bits of the conversation he could catch. Not even a minute passed before the sounds of a minigun being fired rung out next.

"I never understood why they called that a minigun!" Oros shouted before she hid behind Faith. The bullets smashed into an invisible barrier that surrounded her person.

Marrie turned back to Ashley. "Look. If anything we just heard is true, then you need to think really hard about this. Don't let something less than your absolute deepest ideals determine what you do. Because anything less is, apparently, telling her she's free to be god for everyone here."

Himiko remained focused on the back and forth between Orion, Sharr, and Marrie. She finally let out a sigh of disapproval of what had been said between the three. But at the very least Marrie seemed to see part of the picture. "So narrow minded, you learned nothing during our mission together did you Orion, when I asked you to open your eyes to the truth of this world…I expected more from the team leader of the prestigious G.E.M.I.N.I" Himiko’s gaze shifting from Orion to Sharr as she crossed her arms over her chest. "She has spoken part of the truth to you, there are agents of these entities within this world, but it's not so simple to place them into neatly organized boxes, like our lovely Marrie has suggested not all of them are evil terrifying horrors, if that grimoire of yours is truly a creation of one of these entities that does not mean that it was given to you to advance some nefarious scheme automatically, it’s not that cut and dry, not all entities seek death and destruction and considering what you have done while in possession of that grimoire this entity and its influence seems more interested in some noble justice rather than anything of pure evil." Lifting her right hand from her forearm as she gestured towards her Endless Eclipse perched on her shoulder as her eyes shifted back towards Orion. "You see Oros is but a title bestowed by one such entity, Oros the Mad isn’t the only Oros, nor is she the Oros of this realm, that would be me, Oros the Greedy, we are both servants of the same entity, but as you see I’m doing nothing to help her of my own free will, we have different goals and desires which leads to difficulty getting along, yet we are both linked to the same entity, its influence is evident within us and is something that is undeniable, but we aren’t simple mindless drones, you can buy into the story of your grimoire’s continued existence being a bad idea and hand it over to Sharr and whatever entity she has made a pact with like Cerberus and allow them to create what they desire, orrrrrr you can hold onto it and continue your own pact you have only learned about now with whatever entity that has chosen you, so many choices, so little time…"

Mika had been quiet the entire time, but she had her palm raised up in front of her face. "She… doesn’t seem to be lying." She looked at Ashley. "Neither of them have, from what I can see."

Sharr’s brow twitched. The Gemini researcher pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes, thank you for that contribution, Himiko. Good to know making deals with the Hand has given you an inkling of an idea of what’s going on."

Mika glanced at her hand for a moment, then back at Ashley. "I don’t think I need to confirm that, do I?"

"No," Ashley replied, her voice tired but firm.

Sharr refocused on Ashley. "I understand. It’s easy to tear everyone down around me, so maybe I can demonstrate my benevolence?" She pulled out her phone and typed up a message. As soon as she clicked send, both Marrie and Ashley’s phones vibrated. "I’m High Priest. The secrecy was necessary for a few reasons. It’s hard to keep much a secret digitally, and I knew Oros the Mad would make stupid requests if she knew I could get in contact with you two."

"I figured High Priest’s true identity was either Oros or yourself, so I can’t say I’m surprised," Ashley replied. "Even so, what Gale said makes sense. Himiko as well, as much as I hate to admit it…" Their words, along with the faint voice in the back of her head reinforcing them by advising that giving up her Grimoire wasn’t a particularly good idea, had convinced the high-tech heroine on what choice she would ultimately make. "If I were to give you my Grimoire and take another in its place, I might still be an esper, but I wouldn’t be the Knight of Tomorrow. I know in my heart that I was given it for a reason," she told Sharr. "And that reason isn’t to hand it over to you, or to anyone else. So, I’m sorry, but I can’t let you have it. I can only promise that I will continue to use it to protect this city and to build a brighter future for everyone who lives in it."

"Really now?" Sharr raised an eyebrow. Then she grinned and raised her fingers in front of her face. "But then you always seemed like a logical sort." With a snap of her fingers, her body erupted into magical sparkles, and the Knight of tommorow was faced with another knight of tommorow. Identical to her in every way. At least visually. "If I'm going to be frank with you, I never got the appeal of science fiction." Sharr of Tommorow spun so that Ashley could better see how similar they were. "Regardless, I'm sure that persona is important to you. The only difference between you and me right now is I have increased mana regeneration and the ability to fire off charged melodies instantly. My flesh is also as durable as iron, without sacrificing flexibility. And look at this!" She raised her shield arm, and it expanded untill it was big enough to shield the Iron Duke, should he have decided to hide behind it. "You're really going to tell me you'd prefer to hold onto that old thing, being the puppet of some entity you don't even understand?"

"As opposed to what?" Ashley asked, sounding entirely unperturbed by Sharr’s little magic trick. "Being your puppet instead? Honestly, if you have so much power, why is me keeping my Grimoire such a threat? Especially if we’re presumably on the same side?"

Sharr let out a slow, irritated sigh as she changed back. "I’m not all powerful, I just plan better than you do. I knew you were going to be difficult so I replicated the Knight of Tomorrow with a few bonuses. The point is… Wait." She placed her fingers against the side of her head. "Not really, how much longer can you hold her?" She groaned when she received a response on the other end. "I’ll have to make it work then. Do what you have to do." She removed her fingers from the side of her head. "Very well, Orion. You’ve made up your mind. I wish we had more time. We could have delved into the duplicitous nature of horrors like Aigorost, Glexaroth, Michodor, Heiphorion, Bicoradoon, and all the rest. But there’s only one way anyone gets what they want in Pax Septimus." Sharr looked back at her two cronies and pointed at Ashley. "Get me her grimoire."

The girl with the giant dart gun leveled her weapon at Ashley and started firing. One at a time, the needles weren't too difficult for her to block, but the speed was ramping up, and so was the impact they were hitting the shield with. Faith hesitated, but ultimately raised her bow and prepared to fire.

Marrie's eyes widened just before the first dart was fired, and she quickly turned towards Cereza. "Hey! Toss me one of your arrows!" Without turning away from the twin, she shouted to Ashley, "Hey Orion, how long do you think you can hold that back!?"

"N-Not for too much longer!" Ashley replied, wincing as each projectile slammed into her braced shield with ever-increasing speed and power.

"Please work!" Marrie said as she caught the arrow from Cereza. She instantly brought her Instrument down on it. Oh my god it worked. It had, she'd taken a bit of mana from it. Which was unfortunate that it came from an ally, however... Now armed with that knowledge and a slight bit more mana, she rushed to stand in front of Ashley. She didn't go directly in front, since she wasn't feeling suicidal, but to the side and within reach. She couldn't cast any helpful Melodies quite yet, but she could at least try to help deflect the darts. Especially if doing so would give her a bit more to work with.

Marrie was able to take in some mana from all the attacks coming Ashley’s way. The issue was that the projectiles were only coming out faster and harder over time, and her tiny bladed weapon wasn’t up to the task of blocking all the shots. As much as Ashley struggled with her small energy shield, it was even worse for Marrie. Her chained weapon was excellent for dealing with weapons in close range, but a poor choice for dealing with an automatic dart gun. Worse, the shooter knew that a small change in trajectory would be all it took to take care of the extra line of defence. With a barely perceptible sweep, a row of darts was planted all along Marrie’s torso, going all the way down her left leg. In addition to the pain, Marrie noticed they had a strong scent. Though it was impossible to place what flower it reminded her of.

"W-What are you even doing?!" An incredulous Ashley asked Marrie.

The firing stopped, and the dart gun appeared to overheat. Five rods extended out of the back of the gun and flooded the shooter’s vicinity with a red mist. The shooter inhaled deeply, and a look of pure bliss crossed her face. Then her body changed. She hulked out, and her clothes stretched to conform to the expanding shapes underneath. The nimble shooter dropped her dart gun and pounded her fists together.

"Aight, now we, gunna tussle…"

With a lunge, the hulked out shooter covered the distance in a wink and rammed her shoulder into Marrie, throwing her into Ashley’s shield. She continued to advance, with her arms reaching for the mistborn esper.

"Get back!" the Knight of Tomorrow instructed, before snapping off a quick energy bolt at one of the roided up gunner’s legs.

While Marrie attempted to remove the darts from her leg, Ashley gave her some covering fire. The arcane projectile hit true and exploded violently. The flesh on her lower leg burned away in an instant. Only the bone remained. The sort of damage Ashley had inflicted was not common for espers or even humans.

The gunner stumbled forward, knocking Marrie to the ground. Her leg was attempting to mend itself as her flesh grew and stitched itself together. She grabbed Marrie by the leg and flung her into the wall before reaching again, this time for Ashley.

After dealing with the hyper-resilient natures of nearly all her recent adversaries, it actually came as something of a surprise to Ashley that her shot was able to have such a potent effect. That said, her current foe’s regenerative abilities were equally potent, but the Knight of Tomorrow wasn’t trying to kill her opponent, merely incapacitate her enough to gain some breathing room.

"Chill out, my guy." The gunner grabbed Ashley’s shield and pulled.

"Maybe I would, if you stopped attacking me," the high-tech heroine hissed out a reply, before bringing up her techno-wand so that the hand grabbing her shield was between its vertically-oriented emerald prongs and firing a glowing bolt of destructive energy into it at point blank range.

"Just gimmie the grim, man!" Like her leg, the shooter’s arm bone was cleaned of flesh between her wrist and elbow. That didn’t stop her from reaching for the shield with her other arm, or taking her now half defleshed arm and trying to swat the side of Ashley’s face with it. "Gimmie the grimmmmmmmm!"

Further to the back, Oros the Mad gasped. Technically unwounded, technically on the brink of death. She had run out of free escapes and only had a few tricks left.

"I guess I’m going to have to get serious with you!" She cast her katana behind herself and grinned. "Alright asshole! Fight me like the man you pretend to be!" If Oros’s sword blows were negligible, her bare hands weren’t going to be any better. The only thing she had going for her was that she could use her final defensive ability to become immune to everything for six seconds.

Then another portal opened up. It wasn’t one of Oros the Mad’s portals however. It did look familiar though. And soon, the Iron Duke would know why. Mary and Betty stepped through, both fully transformed.

"What the heck’s going on here?" Betty looked at the ongoing fight.

"Don’t get distracted!" Mary cautioned as some monsters started to pile in around zer. "Finn’s gotta be up here somewhere! He only joins the most chaotic fights!"

Oros the Mad looked at the newly arrived and grinned.

Finn sighed. Great, as if this place wasn't crowded enough. Why the hell were those two here?? "...You know you're going to detransform without your weapon right? He turned his focus back on Oros. She was probably considering hurting Betty or Mary in order to get under his skin. "Although I am curious who you really are behind that bright-ass hair of yours."

Oros continued to smile at the Iron Duke. "I think you’re going to be disappointed." In a puff of pink smoke, Oros the Mad’s body changed, but only slightly. She looked younger, and her hair was shorter, but still had a black cultist outfit and pink hair. There was also a second sword by her hip. "Oh yea!" She said while examining her hand. "We are so back!"

Before Mary or Betty could even wonder what was going on, Oros threw her hand outside, and a black orb appeared. It was distorted, and there were a few shimmering stars hiding in its depths, but it was more than a mere set piece. The thing had a powerful gravitational pull, and Betty and Mary were being pulled outside. Betty grabbed a hold of Mary’s arm and planted her sword in the floor. Then, faster than she could blink, Oros severed her arm, and the two were dragged towards the black sphere.

From behind his mask, Finn's eyes narrowed at the reveal. "Still you cling to the past, like the rest of them? How dissappointing."

"Better that than run away from it, clanker!"

He extended an arm out at the portal. As much as he'd rather not drag Betty and Mary into this, it was Oros who predictably decided to involve them. A chain fired out at the two, passing by them and looping back around to pull them away from the black hole.

And, to make sure he wasn’t giving her another chance to hurt them again, the Iron Duke formed a crossbow on his other arm and fired a poisonous melody at Oros.

The arrow struck Oros square in the chest. "This is just bad comedy!" She grabbed the arrow and tugged on it. The barbed tip refused to come out without her flesh, and pulled her still beating heart with it. The large blood vessels running back into her chest looked more like cables than something that belonged to a living creature.

"You talk about my past like you know me. Yet you behave like you’ve forgotten everything." With a swing of her sword, she severed the connection between her heart and her body. Some other redundant system must have been keeping her alive, because she was behaving like nothing happened at all. As the girls were pulled closer, Oros snatched the chain and allowed Iron Duke to pull the three of them closer. "Let’s make you remember."

As soon as Oros was pulled to Finn’s position, the four of them were swallowed by a starry vortex. When it vanished, there was no trace of the four.

Meanwhile, Himiko chose to remain uninvolved and did not intervene in Sharr and her cronies' initial attempt to pry Orion's grimoire from her ownership. She had to admit she was impressed that Orion had a strong enough backbone and the guts to refuse Sharr’s demands even after the revelation and stayed true to her convictions. She turned her head to bring her golden gaze upon Cerberus.

"You don't need to check your palm to trust what I say, I have never lied to you, I did indeed make a deal with the Hand, however all that means is that I’m currently unable to lift a finger against them, in order to further my own goals that do not align with that of the Hand some sacrifices had to be made in the short term for the benefit of the long." Himiko tried to explain as concisely as she could with the little time she had.

^{Editor’s note: Nothing Himiko says is ever concise.}

Her relationship with Cerberus had been a tumultuous one, Himiko having left behind any endearing nicknames with the death of the persona of Sovereign. She still felt an unusual connection to Cerberus and the greed within her heart to help Cerberus succeed for her own satisfaction remained strong. "I know you have a bond with Orion, and I’m feeling generous…so I have decided to lend you some of my power so make use of it wisely Cerberus, I have a feeling that it will come naturally to you." Bringing her finger to her Endless Eclipse, letting it perch upon her index finger, she turned towards Cerberus imbuing what mana she had left into its starry void and letting it flutter from her finger to Cerberus’s shoulder. The Pounder and MDP looked a little confused by this, but neither of them opposed their retainer.

Mika gave the bird a glance, but the situation demanded immediate action. She was about to sprint towards Ashley’s position when she heard Faith fire her arrow. It split into many and peppered Cerise’s shield. Though some of the arrows had managed to curve around and strike their targets. They didn’t seem to do any damage, but Mika understood the intent. Faith was cutting through their mana reserves, and they didn’t have a lot left. Mika didn’t have a lot left either. Would she even be able to act on the information she got out of Himiko’s weird bird?

It looked like an uphill battle, and Sharr was just standing there directing everyone. But that was who Mika decided to attack. She drove her claws towards the girl in the purple dress. But she raised her hand and a butterfly flew between her and the incoming attack. Mika simply opted to attack again, and again, and again, but each time her attack was stopped by an infuriatingly small butterfly.

The matchups started to be set between the opposing sides with the opportunity for Himiko and her group to get involved in any of them if they so desired. Himiko turned towards the confused Pounder and MDP with her arms crossed glancing between the two of them "The end goal has not changed, how we will get there has, if we hope to accomplish anything we will have to remove the obstacles before us to clear our own path." Lifting her right hand and pointing her thumb over her shoulder to gesture towards the ongoing conflict. "As for our next course of action, I’m in a diplomatic mood today so I will allow you both input on our next move, we can either remain out of the fray and let the dice fall where it may and then make a move, second option, we wait for an opening to obtain the artifacts during the heat of battle and leave before the battle is resolved, third option, throw ourselves into the fray to assist in getting rid of Sharr and the threat she presents to us and worry about everything else later." Offering up her three options to her two allies for their input.

MDP and Pounder both looked at Himiko. While MDP looked confused and scared, it was impossible to read the Pounder’s expression. "I don’t know." The pounder confessed. "Getting involved now is risky, but if Veronica shows up, we may never get it."

Speak of the devil and she will appear. Veronica came charging into the room, but slowed up as soon as she witnessed all the insanity going on.

"Damn it." Sharr kicked Mika away from herself and rushed towards Veronica. Her hand came up to the side of her head. "If you can’t handle Veronica, then at least take care of your daughter."

Himiko stared at the two with a neutral expression letting out a small sigh "A shame, doesn’t either one of you have any greed in your hearts?" Glancing towards the carnage as Sharr shifted targets from Mika to the newly arrived Vermillion. "I have a feeling we won’t have to worry too much about her, she seems quite occupied with a more important matter." Knowing it was unlikely Vermillion would come after the trio directly unless she was able to handle Sharr first.

With Sharr now engaged with Vermillion it narrowed down Himiko’s options slightly. Her golden gaze shifted towards Orion as she did battle alongside Marrie against Sharr’s underlings. It would be a perfect time to get her hands on the grimoire herself with all of the biggest players distracted. Both Orion and Marrie were worn down and had their hands full already.

"Our target is the Grimoire that Orion holds. If you are able to pry it from her without hurting or killing her then you may do so, Orion will still be useful to us alive and I know how much you want to avoid killing. It's time to make our move, let's not make it obvious. It will allow us to take advantage of our current intentions being unknown." Making her decision known to MDP and the Pounder with a hushed tone. It had the best odds of success with the current situation and their current strength factored into the formula. Checking her revolvers as she gestured with the one in her right hand for them to move out. Making her move to close the distance towards Orion, keeping her revolvers at the ready.

"G-got it!"

Was all MDP was able to get out before a flurry of arrows homed in on the group. Pounder was able to place himself in the way of everyone, but much like with the Miko twins, Faith’s arrows veered around erratically and hit the pounder from all sides. Then Faith fired a second arrow, which acted much the same way, but the arrows looked far more corporal now. They penetrated his shambling armor, and he sank to his knees. He still held his shield up.

"Powndah!"

Faith notched another arrow. "Orion is not for you to tamper with."

"Fuuuuuuck!" Marrie managed to yelp out just before the impact with the wall. Her head was still rattling and her back hurt like hell. She had to take a moment to recover her senses, and when she could see without stars being in the way the sight that greeted her was the dartgunner grabbing Orion's shield.

No time! As quickly as she could, she pried the last darts out. She kept two of them in her hands as she tried to stand, leaning against the wall to keep from falling over again. It didn't seem like her spine was broken, just hurting like hell, so she gave herself a quick once-over and decided that her leg was in the worst shape.

The blow from being swung around had jolted her focus, so she had lost track of time. She tried to count backwards but seeing Oros' black hole attack once more stopped her. She'd have to deal with that later, but for now she struck the two darts she was holding with her Instrument and cast a Melody, hoping to fix her leg and stop whatever was definitely in the darts.

{Bronze Self - Purify - Heal} -120

The wind-riding esper looked at Mika and shouted, "Hey!" A momentary pause to remember the girl's alias filled the air. "Cerberus! Switch with me!" With any luck, Mika'd be able to help Orion more than she could. And if Sharr's cronies heard her, all the better.

"R-right!" With Sharr breaking off, it wasn't hard to swap opponents.

Mika passed Marrie and dove onto the hulking shooter. They immediately released Orion and stood up, as their leg had healed enough to gain some of its functionality back. The feline esper’s claws had little difficulty sinking into the shooter, but it was clear who had the superior grip strength. They were able to pry Mika off of themselves and threw her straight at Ashley.

But she was caught by a blur before impact.

In the far corner of the room, the blur stopped moving long enough to look like something. It was a tall woman in a black and yellow china dress, and she leaned Mika against the wall.

"Are you alright, Mika?"

Mika’s head shot up. "Mom!?"

She only smiled back. "Yes."

After looking at her for a moment, Mika shook her head. "N-no!" She scrambled away from the woman. "You don’t talk like mom, and mom had-" Her voice caught. "I need to help Orion."

"You need to stay put." The Su look-alike stood up. "This will all make more sense later."

"Stop LYING!"

Veronica and Sharr locked eyes from across the room. One surrounded herself with a swarm of butterflies, and the other drew a pool float to use as a sword. Their footsteps hastened. Sharr’s butterflies caught fire and Veronica tightened her grip on her float.

And then everything stopped.

Mika was frozen mid-shout, her mother look-alike trying to calm her down. The Pink Pounder was as still as a corpse and MDP looked like she might be grieving for him. The gunner was reaching for her dart gun and Faith had an arrow aimed at Himiko’s face. But they were all frozen solid, as if time itself had stopped moving. The only people in the room who could move were Ashley, Marrie, and Himiko.

Ashley had just been about to reposition herself to guard against a possible attack from Himiko’s group, when the world suddenly stopped, the chaotic melee now stuck in a total freeze frame. Well, almost total…

"W-What the…?" the Knight of Tomorrow murmured as she cautiously moved to link up with the unfrozen Marrie while also keeping her guard up towards the equally unfrozen Himiko.

It took Marrie a moment to realize that everything went quiet. She'd been trying to juggle recovering her breath and deciding whether it was better to rush Sharr or attack the person fighting Orion. When she did finally process that the world had stopped, she looked around only to see that Ashley and the weird person who wanted Ashley's Grimoire were still able to move as well.

"What's going on? Did Oros do something?" Under her breath, she continued, "Now might be a good time to disarm everyone..."

Himiko stared down the shaft of Faith's arrow in front of her emotionless face hearing Orion and Marrie speak. Glancing around the general area as she quickly assessed the new situation. Spotting who was supposed to be Su Fang with Mika, Pounder's current stricken down state, MDP at his side. The showdown between Vermilion and Sharr was just about to get under way. It was eeriely quiet and still aside from Orion and Marrie having spoken. She didn't have time to dwell too long on what she had seen, nor what was happening now. Remaining calm and collected, she prepared for what would come next.

Turning towards Orion and Marrie her golden eyes saw they had closed ranks. Looking between the two she broke the silence "You have more important and dangerous threats to protect yourself from then me." Her gaze locked on Orion directly addressing her, her guarded stance being more then enough to tip off Himiko about her unease towards her. Her eyes now shifting towards the confused Marrie who was just as easy to read as Orion based on her reaction. "This is neither my doing, nor the actions of my meddlesome interloper of a relative. Stay focused, this fight isn't over yet." Turning to scan the surrounding area once more. Having a gut feeling that whoever had done this was near and wasn't likely to be an ally.

"Do not be alarmed." A tall, black, eccentrically dressed goat demon stepped out from behind the ruins of Finn’s mech. He waved his hands over his head, but lowered his arms to his sides once he had everyone’s attention. "No one is in danger here. This is the result of a spell of my own making. It dilates time and creates an illusionary backdrop that looks like the place you were plucked from. Most find it disorientating to be thrust into a new environment without warning, which is why it works this way." He pointed, and sure enough, the others appeared where they had been when the freeze initially happened. "The bodies you presently inhabit are entirely illusionary. The only thing that’s ‘moving’ right now are your thoughts. Being frozen and unable to move, too, is something that most humans find concerning. Disarming anyone would be impossible in your state." With a wave of his hand, a desk and enough seating for everyone appeared in the center of the chaotic battle. "It’s a very strenuous spell to keep going, and it only serves a single purpose; to allow me to discuss arrangements with people in the heat of the moment." He folded his hands together. "I am Bookman, the last living finger that remains of The Hand. We appear to have a common enemy, and I believe we should push for a truce."

Himiko moved over to the desk and plopped herself down into one of the seats, crossing her arms as she kept her unblinking gaze on the demon.

"You must really be getting desperate if you want to collaborate with your mortal enemies," Ashley replied, now on even higher alert, despite the goat man’s non-confrontational demeanor. As bad as the Mavericks were, the thought of allying with The Hand was something else altogether. "Your organization is a force of pure evil," the Knight of Tomorrow stated, her voice cold and firm. "I’ve seen evidence of that with my own eyes. Multiple times. Despite our current… disagreement, I’ve yet to see Doctor Webber do anything remotely as reprehensible, or even Oros the Mad, for that matter. I may not know exactly what’s going on here," she conceded, even as she kept her steely gaze fixed on Bookman. "But I do know that you can’t be trusted." Lowering her voice, she whispered to Marrie, "Keep your guard up. He may be the last of The Hand’s fingers, but there’s still the palm."

The goat man remained impassive. A ledger appeared on the corner of his desk, which he promptly flipped open. "Yes, there is another who visits this reality from time to time. Her name is Glex, and her official rank is ‘The Fist’ I believe." Bookman organized some papers. "We have no privacy here, not from each other, at least. The bodies you currently inhabit are illusions as I’ve said. The other ‘yous’ that are still in the room are your actual bodies. The four of us are confined here until I end the spell, at which point time will resume as normal, and you will be where you were when I cast it." Once all the items on his desk were where he wanted them, he looked back to Ashley. "And yes, Orion. A month ago there were five of us. Four as recent as two weeks ago. Now I’m the last one. It is indeed a desperate situation that I find myself in." He did not seem to count Glex among his number. "I will not pretend to understand the horrors that you have witnessed on behalf of my associates. But you do not truly believe Miss Webber is as innocent as she seems? When everyone was at their most vulnerable, she stabbed them in the back. The fact that she would willingly dispose of a pawn as powerful as Oros the Mad, a friend, should tell you everything you need to know about her. We are not in a good position, you and I." He folded his arms. "Is there any harm in hearing me out?"

"I was wondering when you would show up…" Himiko addressed Bookman after he had made his plea to Orion. "You do not need to fear this one, he isn’t like the other members of The Hand, he won’t try to kill you, he is more interested in making deals so you would be wise to listen, I have no sympathy for the Hand, but right now it doesn’t matter if he is part of The Hand, finger, fist, palm or whatever designation he wants to go by." Looking out of the corner of her eye over towards Orion and Marrie as she gave a shrug of her shoulders. "The fact is neither one of you are even close to being at one hundred percent, nor is anyone that is fighting against Sharr’s group right now, the chances of winning are minimal if things play out the way they are going, I’m by far the weakest of everyone who is in this battle so my words may not mean anything to either of you, but don’t let your stubbornness get in the way of having another option to win, what harm is there in listening to what Bookman has to say? There is no obligation to agree to anything."

Marrie listened quietly, not sure if anything this 'bookman' said was true. Against her instincts, her decision showed itself to be what she wanted it to be. "If we have some time, then we can afford a few questions, right? You're asking us to ally with you when your other allies did horrible things. We need some sort of trust."

"The spell will not hold forever." Bookman cautioned. "But we have some time for discussion."

Marrie looked at Orion, then at Himiko, and finally back at the goat man. "I can't speak for the other two, but a good start for me would be you explaining how and why you're even a member of the Hand in the first place. Being part of the wrong crowd isn't evil itself, but it's hard to trust someone who hangs out with evil."

"Excellent question. My role in the hand is that of deal maker and negotiations. I do not possess the immense wealth of Dragonfruit or Justin, nor do I have Tony's manpower, or even Dawnraiser's strength." They paused, briefly. "I do have some amount of wealth and status, but that is owed to being a successful influencer. The Hand has my talents and little else. When freelancers wish to work for us, I am the one who drafts the contract. You've likely encountered Black Sabbath, the group of nuns. They work for us because of a contract I drafted. Mind you it was one they had no issue with signing. I think they would re-up again if offered. Ahh, but I'm rambling."

Ashley gave Himiko an annoyed glance, before refocusing on Bookman. "Fine, I’ll listen," the Knight of Tomorrow told him. "But even if you’re just an uninvolved recruiter, you still allowed, and even enabled, horrific things to be done to innocent people, and that’s something I can’t just ignore."

"There may be time in the future to discuss the past, and even right what has happened. But right now we have more pressing matters to address." He waved his hand towards Sharr. "She was always dangerous, but it seems that she has connected with forces outside your reality. We suspected that this was a possibility, but Breacher’s otherworld counterpart is irrefutable proof she’s doing this. The fact that she was able to plan all of this without getting suspected by the all seeing Oros is a testament to how well hidden her connections are. This is all to say what we already know: That Sharr is a dangerous individual." Bookman folded his hands in the center of the table. "I see three possible outcomes for this, and you, Orion, are the lynchpin. Anyone can tell you want to do, but ultimately, you need to be the one to make the choice." He raised a finger. "The first choice you can make is to refuse a truce. I will respect your wishes and things will play out as they would. I do not advise it, but I cannot make you do anything that you don’t want to." He extended a second finger. "The second option is that we work together. We form an uneasy alliance so that we can overcome our opponent. I would destroy the contract I have with Himiko that necessitates her acquiring your grimoire. So long as it stays out of Miss Webber’s hands, there will be a chance at victory for both of us. Any stipulations that turn out to be a conflict of interest will be rectified for the truce to continue. And then there’s option three." A third finger came up. "I don’t think you’d ever take it. It would require you to put no small amount of faith in me, but it would ensure that Sharr cannot get your grimoire. We take you and just… put you in a different dream."

"Different dream?" Ashley echoed. "You mean a different universe, right? If that’s the case, then no," the Knight of Tomorrow replied firmly. "Unlike certain other people, I don’t run away from my problems. That said, if you can travel beyond Doctor Webber’s reach, then why don’t you just leave?" the high-tech heroine inquired pointedly. "What makes this universe so important to you? On a related point, how are your plans for its future any better than whatever she intends?"

"You’re making a lot of assumptions about how things work. Please allow me to explain what a dream is, because it is not a universe. Moreover, while I will freely tell you about myself I do not wish to debate you on my character. Too much has happened, and we do not have time for that." With a snap of his fingers, a doll house appeared on his desk. "The universe is an inn." He unlatched the side of the doll house and swung it open. "An Inn has many rooms, and those rooms hold guests, and the guests sleep every night. While they sleep, they dream, and guests in the same room share the same dream." He began pointing at different rooms in the house. "Maybe in this room, they are dreaming of a beach vacation. And then the next room over, they are dreaming of going to France. But then in this room, they dream they are in Pax Septimus, and are the only ones who can stop what’s going on." The goat man folded his hands on the desk. "I understand it’s all very esoteric, but that is what Sharr was talking about. She believes that the current events are something that she orchestrated, and I am inclined to believe her." He raised a hand to offer Orion more information. "To put you in a different dream isn’t to run away. Not necessarily. We don’t have to leave this dream, maybe we can change it. From our perspective, that would be like changing history or even causality. You could save your friends and loved ones, set them up for life, perhaps even prevent catastrophes before they happen. You could even change the very fabric of our world. Maybe everyone could be an esper, or something even stronger. With the power of a dreamer on your side, the world is but a blank canvas waiting for your ink. Does that interest you?"

Marrie spoke up. "How would changing this world fix the issue? It sounds like 'Sharr' could just follow, or would still be here afterwords. Unless changing would alter the dreamers, presumably her specifically..."

"There are no simple solutions to our problem." Bookman said with a shake of his head. "But by changing the dream, we can give ourselves an advantage. Sharr is aware of her powers now, but in a new dream, she will have no recollection. Doing anything to the dreamers from outside the dream is beyond our ability."

"If what you say is true, and this is all just some shared dream, if none of this is real, then why does anything we do even matter?" Ashley asked in a skeptical tone. "I have a hard time believing you or Doctor Webber would go through so much trouble just to control a dream."

Marrie shook her head. "That's not right. It'd be the same as simulation theory. Just because it's not real from the outside doesn't mean it's not real from the inside. If we're not real, and the world isn't, then it's irrelevant, because it's real to us. There's no difference between real and fake when you look at it from the inside." Her neck craned as she looked at the ceiling. "If we exist, then we have to exist within a world that's as real as us. Doesn't matter if it's fake to everything else or not." Marrie's gaze fell back on Ashley. "Are you willing to throw away everything there is, to us, just because it's a dream to things we can't even interact with? I don't think I could do that, but if you can, that's your decision to make. I just recommend against it."

"Marrie has the right idea." Bookman looked at her before returning his gaze to Ashley. "These dreams are not like conventional ones. It’s just a word we use because it’s an approximate descriptor. All of the monsters in this world are from other dreams. In fact, what you espers call monsters are just individuals who have arrived from different dreams. The woman with the large dart gun, you did an unusual amount of damage to her, correct? That is because she is not from this dream. Espers are merely this dream’s way of protecting itself from interlopers. There are groups that call dreams ‘bodies’ and monsters ‘viruses’ as they choose to look at different aspects of this reality." He flipped the ledger open. "Perhaps for now we should focus on your current predicament and leave the rest for a later time. This is a lot to take in and we have more pressing issues, don’t we?" He tapped the page. A contract had already been drafted on it. "I believe Sharr has the upper hand right now. We cannot win, but we can cause a temporary stalemate." He slid the ledger forward. "If you were to sign this contract, I would tear up the one that forces Oros the Greedy to pursue your grimoire. I would also satisfy the condition on another contract that necessitates her doing something to weaken Gemini. She would not be required to bring harm to Gemini or its agents after this. At least, not by my hands." He tapped further down. "The ‘catch is that if you give your grimoire to anyone, you will lose your magic. I will have inherited it. That may seem like a bad thing, but this will stop Sharr from pursuing your grimoire. If she wants its magic, even if just to destroy it, it will be passed on to me as soon as she takes it from you. Her best option would be to kill me first, then go after you."

"Don’t worry, Gale," Ashley told the bluenette. "I’m still not entirely convinced any of what Bookman’s saying is true, so I have no reason to doubt the value of our existence." Turning to the goat man, she continued, "If the only stipulation to us working together is basically what would happen if I lost my grimoire anyway, then I’ll agree to sign your contract. That said, I still have one question that I’ve noticed you keep avoiding. What makes this world, dream, body, or whatever you want to call it so important?"

"I thought the answer was obvious." The goat tipped his head. "It might seem strange for me to say, but this place has become my home. I came from beyond the stars. I’ve been through a lot over the course of my life, and have come to accept that many things are temporary. The strongest empires rot away if a plucky rebellion doesn’t take care of them first." He pointed at Ashley with his hand. "You are adverse to altering the dream, correct? This place, it’s people, they must mean something to you. I may not have friends or family here in the way I imagine you do, but I do have two million subscribers. I don’t know most of them, but they have made my life here quite comfortable."

Himiko leaned back in her chair letting out a small sigh tilting her head over the back of the chair to look towards Orion. "What makes it important? I know I whacked you in the head with that cane pretty hard, but didn’t think it was that hard, for one without it none of us exist, secondly if Sharr is to come out on top she gains the power to reshape this world like a deity, meaning you don’t get what you want, Marrie doesn’t get what she wants, I don’t get what I want and neither does Bookman, what more importance besides our existence do you need to know beyond that? We won’t have to worry about it if we fail here and now. That will come later…" Interjecting into the conversation that she had been idly listening to when she heard Orion’s question. She had stayed out of it until now, knowing that she didn’t have much to add as she already had a deal with Bookman. With time being limited she knew it was best if Orion, Marrie and Bookman came to terms as quickly as possible. Knowing she was of very little importance to the current situation and discussion as the choice to make wasn’t hers and her current relationship with Orion likely wouldn’t help convince her to decide one way or another.

Her gaze turned towards Bookman. "As for you and your subscriber count, book fair or friendship party, in the remote chance that I survive, with the current terms being null and void we will need to talk once this is over…"

"That can be arranged."

Marrie started to get agitated. "That's not-... Ugh, whatever. Orion, if you're going to take a deal, please make sure part of it is getting a real explanation. I don't think any of us will get one otherwise."

"I’m beginning to see that…" Ashley replied with a tired sigh, before turning to glare at Himiko. "If this is just a shared dream, then I don’t see how simply waking up will erase us from existence," the Knight of Tomorrow told the annoying young woman in an icy tone. "And I don’t see how gaining possession of my grimoire will give Doctor Webber god-like control of this world, either." Turning back to Bookman, she continued, "That story of yours sounded awful nice, but I’m not quite so naive as to believe there isn’t more to it than that. If I’m going to sign this contract, I also want you to tell me exactly what makes this particular ‘dream’ so important, and why Doctor Webber winning today will effect it so negatively."

Bookman tipped his head the other way for a moment, then righted it again. "Ah, I see where the confusion is." He squared his shoulders. "I do not know the exact answer. It was the right place at the right time for a lot of us. I simply wish to live in luxury and expand my connections, and it was easiest to do that with the Hand. I couldn’t tell you why Glex picked this city in particular to found the Hand. It does appear to be the epicenter of mana creation. But that doesn’t explain why Oros the Mad decided to come to this particular city in this particular dream. Or why she thought it would be a good idea to try and awaken a dreamer, or even how she knew Doctor Webber was a dreamer to begin with. As for Sharr’s plans, I must confess that I do not know what they entail. She had been working with Oros the Mad up until now which makes her our enemy, as Glex has made her hatred for Oros the Mad rather plain. I’m only reaching out to you because we are both interested in you keeping your grimoire, or at least keeping it away from Doctor Webber. You do not trust her, she is trying to force you to do something you don’t want to do, I am offering to help you. If you want to know why this dream is so important, then you need to ask Oros the Mad. She’s the one who started all of this."

"All right," Ashley replied, figuring that was probably the best answer she was going to get. "I’ll work with you to keep Doctor Webber from acquiring my grimoire, but that’s it. Though I have to ask, with you and your associate in such a weakened state, what aid are you capable of offering?" the Knight of Tomorrow inquired. "Aside from the grimoire’s power going to you if it ever leaves my possession," she clarified.

"Didn’t your parents ever tell you that if you keep such an ugly mean look on your face it will get stuck like that forever Orion…" Letting out a sigh as she gave a shake of her head. "Everything always comes back to Oros the Mad, her influence is everywhere and in everything, getting her to tell you anything you want to know is like pulling teeth, even if I asked as a fellow sister of Aigorost and the Oros of this world I doubt she would cooperate without an exchange of something she wants in return." Mulling her thoughts briefly as she rocked back and forth in her chair. "That is a wise question, even if I was at full power I would still be rather weak compared to everyone that is currently engaged in the final battle, I don’t think I would be able to beat a single person on my own without any help, I even question why Aigorost bothered to give me the power of Endless Eclipse." Shrugging her shoulders before turning her eyes towards Orion once more. "Even so, there is one important aspect of aid that I can provide despite this fact, first I won’t be trying to put a bullet in the back of your head and will instead cooperate, plus I will allow for the power of my Endless Eclipse to be used for your benefit, you are likely more capable of making use of the information that it gleams from Sharr then I would be able to."

Marrie walked over to the desk and began to read the contract on it.
"I... I don't see a lot of options other than 'changing the dream,' the way this guy said it. Even if we were full on mana, I have the feeling that Oros is going to pop back up and everything is going to get mixed up when she does. If we can... Er, if you, can 'change history' somehow, that might be the best way to... to try to prevent whatever the end goal is."

There were tons of other options if they weren't on a time limit, but if the spell was going to end soon, then they weren't in a great position to be trying to bargain further. The least she could do was try to make sure the contract didn't have any bad loopholes or stipulations. But the language was very plain and shouldn’t ’have allowed for any foul play.

Bookman allowed everyone a moment to speak before afressing Ashley. "As Oros the Greedy has insinuated, I hold many contracts. Some with espers, some with other influential people, some with far stranger entities. If you need it, I can get it." Bookman then turned to Marrie. "Changing the dream will be very much a long term goal, and I do not think it is something we can do right now. Though if it was something you were interested in doing, the sooner I know the better." Bookman stood up so that he could address everyone. "Here’s what’s going to happen. As I mentioned, this is not a physical space you are in right now. I will get a copy of the contract to Oros the Greedy, which Orion can then sign. You don’t need to be neat about it, a signature is just your scribble with whatever you want to use. Meanwhile, I will dispatch someone to break up the fighting. It will take them a moment to arrive, but once they do, it should be enough to defuse the situation. Sharr is not going to allow a contract to stop her, I imagine. She could try to kidnap you or threaten you into destroying it. Either way, you’ll need to keep it safe until you get backup. Does that sound good with everyone?"

"Not really," Ashley replied with a frown. "But it seems like the best option we have available, so we might as well take it."

"Beggers can’t be choosers. I feel the same way." Bookman lifted his hand in the air and pressed his middle finger and thumb together. "Get ready."

SNAP

It happened in an instant.

Orion, Marrie, and Himiko were thrust back into the moment. The dart shooter was reaching for her gun, Faith pulled back the string on her bow, MDP sobbed, Sharr and Fritzi clashed, and Mika gazed around distraught while Su attempted to comfort her.

A rolled up document spawned into existence, right in front of Himiko’s nose. Now she just needed a signee, some ink, and for Faith to not fill her with magical arrows.

Quickly shaking off the disorientation of the world snapping back into motion, Ashley tried to both guard against any incoming attacks, while also keeping aware of the now-contract-baring Himiko’s position. Of course, even if the white-haired young woman was able to get said contract to her, she still needed a way to sign it…

It took a second for Marrie to readjust, but once she did she took a quick glance around. Cerberus was still off to the side, presumably for a while to come yet, so she'd have to act alone for now. It seemed like her leg had gotten healed enough to put her weight on it, so she rushed over to the white-haired girl who Ashley was fighting, her Instrument's chain lengthening to full as she did.

Once she got in range, the wind-rider stabbed her dagger into the dartgunner's side and let go, leaving it stuck in her as she continued sprinting on towards Sharr. "Cerberus, if you have any mana and ranged Melodies, Orion could use the support!"

Mika, much like the other three, looked a little spooked. She swallowed and looked over towards Ashley.

"Mika, come on." Su begged her. "You have to let this happen, if you resist too much-"

But Mika had already used the last of her mana to spawn a melody behind the gunner’s back. She sunk her claws into them, but it didn’t have the same destructive effect as Ashley’s wand. The gunner’s flesh bubbled and melted around the blade, but there was no widespread damage. They were able to reach behind themselves and swing Mika into the ground like a giant club.

"Relax, my guy." The gun was back in their hand, but it hadn’t started firing yet. As if it was an afterthought, they looked to the blade Marrie had stabbed them with. It had been even less effective than Mika’s weapon. She grabbed a hold of the chain and gave it a yank, dragging the esper back to her.

Marrie had, for once, expected the right thing. With a glance over her shoulder she saw the monster(?) grab the chain and she jumped, allowing her to close the distance faster than the puller may have expected. The blue-haired esper attempted to stab the arrow she had been holding into the dartgunner's neck.

Unfortunately, the hulking gunner was massive, and pulling on Marrie’s weapon was always going to send her airborne. There was little if any surprise to be had by jumping into the air. She managed to stab the arrow in the back of the giant’s hand before it swat Marrie away. Her chain flew out of the gunner's hand as she tumbled to a stop some distance away. Additionally, the arrow did little against the gunner’s hand. If she was a monster, then it could be reasoned that drawing the mana out of the projectile for her own needs had made it less useful for harming monsters.

God damnit! She'd have to somehow keep her white-haired opponent occupied while getting closer to the greedy esper.

It was an inconvenient situation to snap back to, it was even worse with the contract popping right up in front of her face blocking her sight momentarily. Quickly grabbing a hold of it in the firm grip of her left hand ensuring it was secure. Losing track of it or letting it fall into enemy hands wasn’t an option, she had to find an opening to ensure Orion signed it. The pause did at least give her a slight benefit of having time to study the situation and see Faith’s attack that would soon be fired at her.

There was a reason guns eventually supplanted bows as humanity's choice of raining death upon their enemies. They could be fired faster and easier and the projectiles traveled further and at a far greater velocity. Facts that Himiko was relying on, even with Faith’s weaponry having the added benefits of being an instrument of an esper there were still some things inherent to the use of a bow and arrow like the time it took to draw back the string. She brought her revolver in her right hand to bear on Faith firing off four rounds in rapid succession. Aiming for each of her hands and arms with a round each. If they succeeded in interrupting her before she let one of her arrows loose, threw off her aim or the shots found their mark and disabled either one of her hands or arms it might give her the small opening to reach Orion.

Himiko’s observations weren’t wrong. She just didn’t weigh two very important points. Faith already had her bow drawn and aimed, and magic was chaotic and unpredictable.

Before Himiko even raised her gun, Faith launched her arrow. It turned into twelve and sought her out. Her shoulder, her arm, her thigh, three entered her stomach. MDP called out, but Himiko couldn’t hear any words. She managed to get off a single shot before an arrow severed her trigger finger, and it hit Faith’s hip. She winced and stumbled, but didn’t fall down.

Fortunately the parchment was wrapped up with the text on the inside, and the paper was too thick to get soaked through with her blood.

MDP used the last of her magic healing Pounder. The man in pink armor stirred, and he charged Faith one more time while she was preparing an arrow.

Ashley’s options were limited, and that was before one even got to her completely depleted mana reserves. She couldn’t risk a shot to cripple either the dart gunner or Faith for fear of also hitting The Pounder or Marrie, respectively. That just left getting the contract from Himiko. Moving toward the white-haired esper as rapidly as she was able, the Knight of Tomorrow reached out, fist first, her thumb and forefinger spread wide, while the rest of her digits continued to keep a vice-like grip on her techno-wand. "Quick! Give me the contract!" she snapped.

Grimacing, she wobbled while trying to keep herself upright, keeping the contract secure in her left hand. Himiko turned her eyes towards the wounds inflicted upon her and then towards the scroll itself as even in the immense pain caused by the internal damage and bleeding an idea came to her about how to solve the problem about a lack of ink.

With the Pounder going for Faith once more, it took the heat off the wounded Himiko temporarily. Using what energy she had left to muster up she turned her head towards Orion with a grimace. "Take it and use my blood to sign it…" Himiko was able to get out through gritted teeth. Her vision blurring as her mind started to fog up, she still had one last thing to accomplish even if she couldn’t fight on herself. Lifting up her left hand she thrust the contract out towards Orion's outstretched hand as the last of her energy began to fade. "It's up to you now…"

As it happened, Ashley had just come to the same epiphany mere moments before Himiko voiced it. Taking the contract, the Knight of Tomorrow swapped it to her free hand, before dipping the prongs of her techno-wand in the wounded esper’s blood and employing them to swiftly inscribe the letters "KOT" on the now unfurled parchment. "There!" she declared.

That was when a gold and black bolt rushed between Himiko and Ashley, and blasted wind in every direction. Everyone, save for Sharr and Fritzi, were blown against the walls by the attack. Mika seemed to be the only one spared, who was struggling to pick herself up.

When the bolt stopped moving, it was evident it was that other reality version of Su. She was holding onto the contract, but it looked like it was burning up in her hands. Or rather, it was being teleported away with an effect that closely resembled being burned up. It glowed red at the edges, but there was no ash left behind.

The attack was enough to get Sharr and Fritzi to stop fighting. "What happened?" Su didn’t answer, but that didn’t stop Sharr from approaching her. At which point she repeated herself. "What happened?"

"It was a contract, signed in blood. I didn’t get to read all the words, but…"

Sharr turned away from Su and approached Ashley. "What happened?"

"I made a deal with the last remaining finger of The Hand," Ashley replied in a flat tone, narrowing her eyes at the approaching esper as she slowly rose to her feet. "If my grimoire ever leaves my possession, its power goes to him. So I strongly advise you stop trying to steal it from me."

"Oh?" Sharr grinned. "But Orion, I thought I wasn’t trustworthy because I made deals with monsters. Does this make you a hypocrite?"

"I don’t think you’re trustworthy because you refuse to trust me to retain possession of my grimoire," Ashley clarified in a frosty tone.

It hadn’t been a very pleasant experience, but being blown back at least kept her out of the fray for the time being. Using the wall behind her to prop herself up, unable to stay standing with her own strength. Clutching at her arrow riddled stomach as she slowly brought her gaze up towards Su, Sharr and Orion. Observing the aftermath of the successful contract signing, Himiko questioned why Orion had told Sharr all of the details of the contract. However she had something else that was a more pressing concern while Sharr was occupied.

With labored breaths she summoned back her Endless Eclipse as it fluttered from Mika and back towards Himiko and landed upon her outstretched shaking finger. She was pretty low on mana, but she still had enough to either heal herself or make use of her Endless Eclipse. It only took her a second to rule out healing herself, even if she did she wouldn’t be any more help then she is now. The information she might be able to get with her Endless Eclipse could prove far more vital than anything else she could contribute. With one golden eye opened she gazed upon Sharr, a flicker went through her eye as it glowed one last time.

Eye Of Aigorost= -100

The little bird’s jaw unhinged and it started to make printer sounds. Slowly, a tiny rolled up piece of paper was pushed out of its mouth, which himiko still had the strength to unravel and read.



Sharr looked at Ashley. "Well for your sake, I hope they didn’t sneak any extra stipulations in there." Her smile widened. "Goodness! What do we do now?" She looked back at Fritzi. "Look at what you’ve done. First Cerberus goes and accepts an artifact from Oros the Mad, Timekeeper defects, and now Orion is signing contracts with the enemy. Even I’ve not been on the straight and narrow. Some operation you run, huh?" Fritzi said nothing as Sharr turned her attention back to Orion. "So here’s the billion dollar question: What’s stopping me from locking the lot of you up until I’ve dealt with that meddlesome goat?"

"I honestly can’t say," Ashley replied. "But I have a feeling it won’t be too much longer until we find out."

Marrie slowly stood up, leaning against the wall she had hit. "Because if you do, all that needs to happen is for Orion to give up her grimoire. Then he's away and has it." Not the greatest plan, but that was all she could think of through the pain.

"Yes, Marrie, I’m aware of that." Sharr nodded. "I understand what gives this gambit its weight. But I’m not entirely convinced that’s something Ashley is willing to carry out. She’s spent so much time fighting monsters, witnessing what they’ve done, and now she’s just going to join them for some selfish desire to retain her grimoire? No…"

All it took was a quick glance to know that there was nothing of value gained with the last use of Himiko’s ability. Letting the small roll of paper drop to the floor wordlessly as she closed her eyes. "Leave me, I have no further use for you, go to someone else that can make use of you." a whisper leaves her lips, pulling her hand back and letting the starry void bird flutter from her hand one last time. Removing her other blood covered hand from her stomach she grasped the handles of both of her revolvers and lifted them up in the palms of her hands. Tuning out the ongoing conversation as she opened her golden eyes staring down at the handles of her weapons in silence. If only she had known the misery, that glory and greed was not something worth killing for. She wished she had never touched the handles of these hair-trigger Colt.44. She had learned to make a living with her six-gun’s, she was an outlaw now, but she was a hero then. A hunted desperado, a wanted woman with a price on her head, she thought she could steal a taste of freedom. She got a hangman's noose instead. She wouldn’t have been here if it hadn’t been for providence and these hair-trigger Colt .44.

She let out a small sigh at how worthless and weak she was. The dream she held was never obtainable, she was a mere peon gifted with a power she did not deserve or was capable of utilizing. If she died here and now no one would remember her, no one would care. She was out of options now, there was one last thing she could do to take matters into her own hands. To decide how the road came to an end, to disappear once and for all into the sands of time even if it ultimately amounted to nothing and Sharr was left unblemished. It was time to take a bow with one last song.

But even before Himiko's request, Marrie had pulled herself together enough to move to her side. She wasn't particularly quick about it, with the pain not fading quickly enough, but she was able to watch the greedy esper's bird begin to move. Once she was in reach, she spoke to the dual-gunner. "Hey, sorry about this, but trust me it's better than the other option!"

Having warned Himiko, Marrie smacked her on the back with her Instrument before placing a hand on her and casting a Melody.

{Bronze Touch: Heal} -48

"You shouldn't waste your effort and energy on me, you'd be better served using it for something else." Himiko responded as her eyes shifted towards Marrie with no emotion. Her interuption having stopped her in her tracks from taking one last shot at Sharr and fading from history.

It wasn't a great Melody, but if she could keep Himiko alive for long enough, she could heal her better later. She didn't think a Stabilize note was worth the unconsciousness, so this was all she could do right now otherwise.

"Nobody is allowed to die today, got it?" As she stood, she dropped a bracelet in front of Oros the Greedy, her Backup equipment. "If you think you might, use that. Just don't expect to keep fighting after."

All Himiko could muster up in response to her claim was a small sigh as she looked at the bracelet she had left behind. What a odd woman, but it wasn't like Himiko could judge Marrie for her lofty aspirations of preventing anyone from dying during the operation. Himiko once had her own lofty aspirations, ones that she would never see come to realization.

Having said what she needed to, Marrie prepared to continue the fight, if needed.

"It would be better to keep your grimoire out of the devil’s hands, but it’s not an insurmountable obstacle to overcome." Sharr raised her hand. "But if you’re just going to stall…"

As Sharr’s hand surged with power, another portal opened up out of thin air. This was not a serpentine portal like the one Oros made, and was wreathed with seashells, starfish, and stone. Looking beyond the threshold of the portal was a technicolor sky looming over a beach. Though everyone’s eyes focused on the individual who stumbled through it to their side. It was an orange skinned shark man. Other than his shark-like face and the small number of sea creatures riding him, he looked like a very buff dude in jean shorts.

"STOOOOOOOOOP!" He hollered, and threw his hands into the air.

Sharr groaned. "Fuck, it’s him."

Veronica sighed. "Fuck, it’s him."

Once he got everyone’s attention (it wasn’t hard) the shark man placed a hand on his hip. "I understand that everyone here’s been through a bit of an ordeal, and I’m gunna stop it!" He pointed his finger so fast, it sounded like a whip cracking. "For the foreseeable future, I’m gonna make sure you’re all nice and relaxed, and not killing each other."

"Please don’t." Veronica begged.

But the shark man didn’t seem to listen, as he snapped his fingers. Suddenly, things began to change. The sky outside changed colors. It looked vibrant and light, as if it were painted. Everyone’s esper form remained, but their outfit was now some form of swimwear, and their weapons had turned into harmless beach gear. Perhaps most importantly, everyone’s wounds had healed. Though everyone would find their magic was being suppressed by something. While they were in their esper forms, and felt like their mana had been topped off, it would be impossible to conjure a single melody.

"For the new folks, I’m Dan Daggernose! Like the shark!" he clarified. "I’m gunna be watching everyone carefully!"

"W-What the…?!" Ashley exclaimed in shocked bewilderment. Blinking a few times, her tired brain attempted to make sense of this latest bizarre development. Of all the possible forms of aid Bookman might have sent, this was undeniably the last one the Knight of Tomorrow would ever have imagined. "U-Um, w-what did you just do?" she inquired of the shark-headed being who called himself Dan.

"... What?" Marrie's brain was fried. The battle so far was bad enough on her psyche, but this was... Not helping, at the very least. Though it seemed this shark guy had similar motives to herself, and much more power to make it happen. The blue haired esper glanced down at Himiko. Her wounds had healed as well, so she crouched down and picked up her Backup bracelet. Then she turned back to the shark. "Uh... nice to meet you? Thank you for the ceasefire." Her head bowed slightly in gratitude.

"So it is you….you didn’t bring your friend did you?" muttering as she straightened herself back out and pushed herself off the wall she had been using to keep herself upright now that her wounds had been healed. Showing the first bit of emotion since she had dropped the facade of Sovereign, a frown spread across her face. It wasn’t someone Himiko had expected to arrive here of all places with memories she would have preferred to forget. But at least his arrival had ended the battle, somehow Himiko had survived yet again despite everything.

Glancing down at her revolvers to find they had both been transformed into squirt guns her frown only grew. Slowly walked up beside Marrie now, her frown faded from her face as her neutral expression returned. Holding up one of her squirt guns to the side of Marries head, she pulled the trigger and shot a stream of water right into Marrie's ear. "As for you, don’t waste your mana like that again." Satisfied with her little ounce of revenge she turned her attention back to Dan. "So, what is the plan? the fighting may have ceased but the matter that is being fought over is still yet to be resolved." Crossing her arms as she questioned him.

"Gah, shit!" Marrie squeaked out an expletive as she felt the water enter her ear. She didn't have a chance to tell Himiko that she'd spend her mana however she wanted before the shark responded.

Daggernose raised his hands. "Whoa! Not everyone at once!" He said, even though it was just three people asking him questions. "Not a problem, Miss! All I did was cast my forced vacation spell over this area! It makes the weather nice, and then it targets magical entities and forces them to relax. This includes altering the form of your weapons and magic."

"In layman’s terms…" Sharr began. "He’s placed a special enchantment over the area designed to target magic and alter it."

Fritzi looked at the red bikini she was wearing and pulled on one of the straps. She allowed it to snap back in place. "It’s just a large-scale version of what he did the first time we met."

Dan swatted Himiko’s shoulder. "Get a load of this kidder here! All of you guys are my friends!" He laughed. "I just turned Pax Septimus into the universe's greatest vacation spot. After a few weeks of rest and relaxation, I’d be surprised if anyone could be bitter about anything!" He sighed. "But if you guys insist on being nasty to one another… I guess I’ll just have to extend my stay!" He started to walk away. "I’ve got all kinds of games planned for us to really help everyone bond again, and I hope you guys will participate in all of the fun I’ve prepared for you!"

Rubbing her shoulder after Daggernoses unusually strong swat, Himiko shook her head. "I do not have friends so that is already not true, as for my stake in this game, with the contract voided I have no reason to do anything else, not that I'd be able to accomplish anything even if it wasn't with how weak I am. It will be up to the others how long we stay here." Keeping her arms crossed over her black bikinied chest, she moved to a beach chair and took a seat in no real rush. She had no intention or interest in fighting at this point. Both of her reasons for being here in the first place were now irrelevant. Both the contract and her own personal goal had gone up in smoke. Her dream wasnt one she would ever achieve, her aspirations no longer mattered or existed. She had no purpose or goals, her own weakness had made sure of that. It left her at a crossroads, unsure of what to do as she struggled with her own destiny and what her place in this world was meant to be. She felt a emptiness within herself, she didn't know what her next step would be.

The implications that came from Dan's explanation triggered alarm bells in Marrie's brain. "Wait... that doesn't mean we're going to be getting a lot more Visitors for the forseeable future, does it? Sure, if they're all affected and unable to fight, that might be okay, but the collateral damage alone could be bad..." Not to mention if they decided to stay, either once the pacifism wore off or if their being there forced that magic to stay around longer...

Sharr let out a long, long sigh without looking at anyone. "I must confess, I didn’t foresee Bookman having that in his back pocket. I wonder if the monsters are altered by this magic or if it’s just us espers? Dan seems to be immune to its effects." After wondering that out loud, Sharr groaned. "Well? If you’re going to say something you might as well say it now. You might not get the chance later."

As it happened, Ashley had a lot she wanted to say, mostly questions about how much of the city was affected by the "vacation spell" and how long they’d be stuck in it. After all, she had been hoping to visit her family for Thanksgiving, something that wouldn’t exactly be possible if she were forced to remain at the illusory beach resort the city had become for several weeks… Still, those questions could wait, especially since there was a far more immediate issue that needed to be resolved.

"Why is it so horrible for me to retain my grimoire?" she inquired of Sharr. "I don’t want to be your enemy, and we could have avoided a lot of conflict if you had simply allowed me to keep it."

Sharr scoffed, then chuckled at Ashley’s question. "Are you serious? Have you listened to anything that I’ve been saying?" She pointed at Dan as he hopped away. "Creatures like that populate the elemental chaos. This one has benevolent intentions, and you can already see the issues allowing things like that in here. The longer you hold onto your grimoire, the worse things are going to get." She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not going to pretend I don’t understand you. It has its claws in you already." Sharr folded her arms behind her back and began to walk away. "I doubt it’s possible for you to willingly give up the thing, even if you wanted to." She turned around when she got to the threshold of the doorway. "But all you’ve done is delayed the inevitable. And in the meantime? Everything that's going to happen? It’s on you."

...

...

...

So Ciri reached the top floor.

Or at least, she thought she did.

As she came to a stop, gaze darting every which way to try and take in what she'd assumed to be a bloody battlefield, she– quickly realized that out of the entire damn city that had gathered up here, no one was fighting.

Or like, wearing actual clothes.

She squinted, half out of disbelief, half because the sun outside was suddenly unbearably bright. Was that the sound of waves?

Was that a SHARK.

She glanced over to Amanda and Joshua with an 'are you seeing this shit' kind of look, only to realize Amanda'd had a change of clothes at some point as well. And, looking down... so had she. Even It wore sunglasses (It didn't need sunglasses).

Ciri snatched Joshua's towel to cover herself, whirled around to face Blue and the Knight of Bikini, and practically screamed: "Would someone explain what the fuck is going on?!"

…

…

…

The image of the Golden Trove was projected inside a crystal ball, mounted on a pillar. Surrounding it was the Iron Duke, his ‘harem,’ and Oros the Mad.

"So you see, etting out of there was necessary to not get trapped in there. That, and I doubt anyone wants to see you in swimming trunks." Oros said with a grin.

"I-I wouldn’t mind!" Mary chirped.

"As if one 'benevolent' sea creature wasn't enough." Finn, now without his mask, sighed at the sight. Sure, it also meant the worst offenders had no advantage anymore but how long until the overlap starts fraying at the edges? He glanced back up at Oros with a hum.

"Perhaps I should thank you, for this one. But I still don't understand why you helped something who tried to kill you?"

"Come on, Penny Junior!" She waved her hand dismissively. "There's no reason to hold grudges over such trivial things. I mean I'd have killed you earlier, so we can just call us even Steven's for now. I think the more important question is what are you going to do?" She placed her hands on her hips. "You did it, you're outside that reality just like you wanted to be. Free to do whatever your twisted, confused little heart desires. Or, whatever you have now."

Betty sighed. "And us?"

Oros chuckled. "We'll figure something out. Old Daggernose can't keep the barrier up forever."

Finn blinked. He was free. Mission accomplished, now he could finally-

The machine furrowed his brows as something crossed his mind. "Wait, where even are we?"

"I call it world zero. It's what's left of my home world. There's no more humans, so no mana for the monsters to eat." Oros grinned. "You pretend to know quite a bit about me, so I figured you already knew."

That's what he was worried about. His eyes widened, sharply looking around.

"And don't tell me, its here too?"

"Nah." Her grin got wider. "Aigorost is everywhere."

The Iron Duke's expression turned grim. He took a sharp breath in through his nose, and slowly looked back at Oros. "Why am I not surprised. Try to escape, only to end up in the belly of the beast itself." He casted an arm out to their surroundings. "Even now you refuse to let me go, do you, Aigorost?! Well, here I am now, your ever-faithful jester!" Finn shouted out to the bane of his existence, deflating with a groan. "... So? What more do I need to 'remember'?"

"What do you need to remember?" Oros chuckled. "Well… You could start by remembering that the next exciting chapter in the Esperverse is going to be Symphony of Madness! Dive head first into the madness as you complete the Symphony Saga! Free Pax Septimus for good or doom everyone over the course of a decade as your espers scramble to hold it all together. Now that the horrors are here, you’ll need to use everything in your arsenal! You’ll need to forge alliances, interact with kooky non-patron champions, and maybe visit China! THATS RIGHT! You might actually need to leave Pax Septimus to make things work out okay!

It’s going to feature a whole slew of upgrades, such as a reworked melody system that you won’t need a cost calculator to use! The ability to serve eldritch horrors that grants RP altering boons, and get completely out from under the free time system!"

"W-why would anyone want to serve a horror!?" Betty took a step back.

"Because they let you do cool things like play multiple patron champions, be stronger than everyone else, or become the founder of your own faction." She pointed at the Iron Duke. "But it’s going to need to bake a little longer in the oven, so expect it to be released around… April."

"Stuck in Nowhere, Middle of until April. Fun. What the hell are we going to do in the meantime???"

"...You know I'm not keeping you here, right?" Oros shrugged. "Anyway, I’ll get to more of that remembering stuff when we get back in the next Are-Pee… Maybe."

See you later, espers…