Pit’s enthusiasm earned a nod from Edelgard, while Midna’s practical explanation of her abilities earned the Twilight Princess an appreciative look. She’d heard of the new ‘Twilight Guard’, a squad of angels that utilized the spoils of fallen corrupted (though clearly, as she could see, not haphazardly) to bolster their power. ”I will be sure not to get in your way, then.” She stated, wondering just how destructive those magics that Midna wielded truly were. The servants that she could summon seemed like they could be useful, though Edelgard wondered if they were up to the same level of combat that the angelic soldiers were. Likely not, but Midna would know how best to use the resources at her disposal.

While they were talking, another young man joined them, out of breath and apologetic. ”I see. Well, Roxas, I was just introducing myself to your other companions. I am Edelgard von Hresvelg, one of Lady Palutena’s Lieutenants. We were just discussing the tactical options available to us.”

Unfortunately for their ability to converse further, a shadow loomed above them, followed by the beating of gargantuan wings. This otherwise-ill portent heralded not an attack, but the arrival of a majestic and ferocious ally of all present: Ortho, the Griffin. Riding atop the elegant beast was Celia, Lady Palutena’s spymaster. Edelgard understood well the necessity of a good spymaster, but the nature of the job was fairly dark, which unsettled her some. Still, she greeted Celia and Ortho like she would any other ally of hers.

”Celia, Ortho. It is good to see you two. While I am honored, I will admit to some trepidation at treating Ortho as just another beast of burden. However, if Lady Palutena wills it…and Ortho consents, I would be happy to ride such a valiant Griffin to battle.” She gently stroked Ortho’s mane, and the Griffin huffed and adjusted himself to allow Edelgard to scratch an itch, making the Empress chuckle. ”Yes, I understand.”

She was interrupted by Palutena’s message, prompting a resolute nod and step up to Ortho’s saddle. ”Then, I suppose it is time to go.” As she settled in, Edelgard noticed the Seekers begin taking off rapidly, and hummed. At least they weren’t lollygagging. As she prepared to have Ortho take off, an embarrassed voice reached Edelgard’s ears, and she turned to see Roxas looking up at her awkwardly. Chuckling, she offered her hand.

”Of course. Those of us without wings certainly have our own difficulties in this army. I would be remiss to not offer my assistance. Climb aboard.” Once Roxas was safely onboard Ortho, the pair took off. The Black Eagle Strike Force surrounded them, flying in formation as they approached the Ivory Citadel. Monstrous enemies appeared in massive quantities to attack the invading angels. The Cadet and Compassion combos gave Edelgard’s own retinue the hardest time, their quick hit-and-run tactics allowing them to get by the Strike Force’s Feathershield vanguard and attack the more vulnerable rear units. Still, the Featherswords did valuable work, parrying attacks and destroying the attackers, while the Featherstaffs kept them alive through the opening salvo. Ortho even knocked a Catchet off-course, allowing a group of Featherbows to buffet it to death with a swarm of arrows. As they fought, massive bolts of corruption began spearing through the battle lines, skewering angels and corrupted alike.

”Black Eagle Strike Force!” Edelgard yelled, her voice carrying even in the heat of the battle. ”Carry forward to the Ivory Citadel! Our goal lies ahead!” Bolstered by her command, the strike force charged into the only openings they could see: the windows and balconies of the citadel. Free from the devastation wrought by the corrupted ballistae, Edelgard and her angels took a moment to breathe. Dismounting, she addressed the Strike Force ”Alright, everybody. We have but a moment before we rejoin the battle. Make it count.” Turning to Roxas, she nodded once. ”Good luck out there. You are free to remain with the Strike Force, or seek out and join your friends as you please.”

Moving from their rallying point, the Black Eagles charged towards one of the two spires, where the corruption was the heaviest. As they moved, numerous corrupted stood in their way, forming a wall to halt the angels’ advance. Edelgard finally took to the field of battle, eyes glowing with ferocity and fury. ”Black Eagles!” She cried, hefting Aymr. CHARGE! Her voice thundered, and her platoon responded, bellowing their own rallying cries as the battle lines clashed, corrupted falling like wheat before a scythe. The angels were not without their own casualties, but the Featherstaffs did their best to keep their forces hearty.

As Edelgard cleaved her way through the enemy lines, the cries of her allies at the rear caught her attention, as a group of Sycophants appeared as if from nowhere and cut down some of their healers. ”Dammit. Swords, Shields, split to cover the rear. I will deal with their leaders.” Edelgard’s voice dripped with venom, and her crests glowed with an ethereal light as each blow she struck reinvigorated her. She was in her element here, leading a battle party and destroying the forces of evil.

Blasts of magic and the clashes of blades around her nearly deafened Edelgard to the thundering footsteps of the enemy’s commander, Beloved, but she could certainly not have missed the massive shadow that the beast cast. ”And there it is!” She called to her troops, bashing aside a vengeful spirit that attempted to strike her, and destroying it with a single swing of Aymr. ”One of their damned commanders! I will lead you to victory, to glory, to peace! Cover my rear and when the area is secured, join me in battle!” She ordered, a series of assenting cheers rising in response, while the Black Eagles redoubled their efforts to cut down the corrupted forces while Edelgard calmly walked forward to challenge Beloved alone.

The marble golem paused for a moment, as if to question a single human challenging him, a massive hulking goliath with an ax larger than her body. Then, it hefted its weapon and slammed it down onto Edelgard, pausing once more in disbelief as the woman’s hefted shield deflected its blow, though not without a significant amount of force being transferred through the weapon and hurting Edelgard. ”I’ve faced worse than you.” She retorted dismissively, Aymr slamming into Beloved’s leg, a single blow chipping its marble body. ”You are far from invincible.” Keeping as close as she could, Edelgard summoned a fireball and launched it at Beloved’s face to force it to either dodge or block, giving her time to strike yet again with her ax.

Each blow chipped just a small bit from Beloved’s leg, but she was making progress nonetheless. As the battle behind them calmed, Edelgard felt healing magic wash over her as a few Featherstaffs and Feathershields joined her, the Featherswords throwing their all into keeping back the enemy reinforcements. Hefting Aymr once more, she threw her all into fighting the marble colossus before her.

Being what was essentially the new flying angel of the area, Blazermate would often fly around Mafia Town at all hours while looking for unique or fun things to do. Most of her allies tended to work at the various restaurants, which wasn't something that interested her, so she had to find her own fun. And this time, that fun would be in observing a new ship that came into port that many people seemed to be excited about for one reason or another.

Finding a high up perch, she watched as many, many people seemed to line up for whatever this was. She was a bit too far away to get a great view since she could only zoom in so far, but she noticed that people were trading orbs, one of them being the money the Mafia often used. Although after awhile with nothing happening but trading of pearls and pons, Blazermate was getting bored. That was until she did a final scan of the line and saw Geralt there in the line. Well... she guessed there was something going on here? So she continued to watch although laying down lazily on the high up girder she was watching this all from.

"Huh... Wonder what hes doing here?" Blazermate said as he watched and waited as Geralt made his way up the line. If she had a bag of chips and could eat them, she'd be munching them right now with the casual pose she was giving. Although when Geralt left without much fanfare, she got bored again. Maybe she'd see Nadia or Captain or something come on over and do something more flashy. Granted come to think of it, Nadia wouldn't be here unless these things had cat faces on them huh? Well, Blazermate had time to kill, so why not watch this go down a bit more. If nothing happened, she'd just tail Geralt.

---

Looking at the circus below with Goldweis and Primrose, Roland couldn't help but show a bit of concern. "Well... as long as they keep to basic stuff and don't get all weird about it, it... should be fine?" Roland said. He was curious as to what a bug circus could bring, since it was actual anthropomorphic bugs and not like... a syndicate or something. "I don't know aobut you two, but I'm morbidly curious as to what is going down there. If the city sees this as a huge holiday, its gotta be good right?" And at that point Roland had almost turned on a dime on how he felt about the circus after he had given it a bit more thought. After all, the 9 o clock circus only appeared in desolate, rundown areas to prey on the desperate and depressed but this was in the middle of a giant city so who knows, it could be fun?

The ladies took Goldlewis' invitation and sat at his table. Kayna dragged her attention away from the tents below and smiled at the two men. She was, of course, completely oblivious to the look the old veteran gave her, but Primrose caught it. With the three of them together, this would be a good time to talk about their mission. However they weren't pressed for time at the moment, so the dancer said nothing - from the few times she'd dined with Kayna before, she figured the monster rider would drift off on her own as soon as she was finished.

They made idle chit chat while staff came around, took their orders and delivered the girls their own meals. Primrose was still picking through her plate of food even after Kayna had finished multiple herself. Then, as expected, the woman stood up and put a large handful of zenny on the table.

"That was good!" Kayna said, putting her hands on her hips and grinning. "Hope you don't mind if I take off though. I wanna check out the performance before heading back to the plateau."

"By all means," Primrose replied, seeing the young woman off with a small smile.

Kayna nodded at her, and to Goldlewis and Roland. "Nice meeting you. See ya!"

Just as Primrose predicted, Kayna headed down the stairs and left the Seekers to themselves. They were still missing one more recent arrival, but if the men wanted to get down to business they could do so now. For Primrose's part, she didn't jump right into that. She took her time to finish her meal first, though not before casting another glance at the circus tents and commenting on Roland's observation. "I'm not sure the city guard considers it a holiday. And the shape of those tents look a little grim, don't they."

To be honest though, she was a bit curious too. She'd likely take a peek in a little bit. When she was done eating and listening to what the others had to say, Primrose leaned back away from the table slightly and crossed one of her legs over the other. As she spoke, her voice turned softer, still audible to her allies nearby but sounding like a flowery whisper to anyone further away.

"Most of the things I've learned concern the Consuls in the larger area. B and J, south of us. R, a little north." Although from what she'd heard lately, it seemed like J wouldn't be an issue for the moment. She went on to briefly describe what she'd heard of B and R: that while the latter held a large territory she could mostly be found in the mountains below Esaka, and the former was a small and foul-tempered man that roamed the border between the Forbidden Kingdom and the City that Never Was.

"Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything about that place besides how dangerous its 'transmission' is. No survivors, in that anyone that initially survived always went back into the city for some reason." She spared them the details about how the transmission killed people. From what she'd heard it was graphic, just sad - hypnotized until their bodies simply stopped working, and the skin of their faces began to melt away. It was likely they'd heard similar anyway. She sighed and moved on.

"The other city, Esaka, I've heard more about. It seems to be led by a... 'Shitenno.' A group of four kings that rule by virtue of being the strongest. If anything, they may have some insight toward a Guardian in the area. Although... I doubt it will be as easy as asking." She figured that warrior martial artists like the four kings seemed to be would want to challenge themselves against a powerful creature. It was worth looking into. As before she filled the men in a little on the details she'd heard about the group, anything she'd managed to learn about the kings named Bison, Heihachi, Geese, and Shao Khan.

That was about all she had that she thought was good intel. Rumors and silly tales abounded in a city like this, so it had taken some time to sift through everything she'd been told and determine what was fact and what was only fanciful. Finished with her report she leaned forward again, crossing her arms and resting them on the table.

”Hey, I haven't been a baby for like, a few years” Jr retorted to the question about what their deal was, while Rika cocked her head in thought, and then responded ”I’ve only really been me for, um, two weeks? So I guess you could say that, but it would probably be rude?” the whole concept of babies not really having been relevant to either her pre or post personhood existences.

Either way, as a consequence of just ordering what was already available, the troop got their dishes before Juri did, and so were already tucking in by the time Naida returned with her fresh catch. Rika naturally started sampling everything, and was joined in this by Dazzle, the sea lion pokemon having quite the appetite for fish unsurprisingly, while Jr dug into the heartily meaty megamouth shark sushi, the squid like Peeka took mostly to the Fried Onion Cuttlefish of all things and the in some ways rather eldritch Mimi spent her time dragged bits of the Deep Fish Tempura under her disguise to be devoured by the void within.

It all made for quite the lovely meal, which made the following reminder that they had actually had a mission to do over the week a rather bitter desert.

Because the kids had entirely forgotten about it.

”Uhhhhh” Jr went, unable to think of an excuse to get out of this, leaving the floor to his sister who didn’t even consider such a thing to be required.

”We’ve been busy waiting for papa, then being sad on the ship about him not coming back, then training out on the water and robbing the mafia fishing boats as hero stuff. So we forgot that learning stuff was the plan. Good thing you remembered!” without any kind of filter about giving out that kind of personal information to someone who was functionally a complete stranger even if they were on the team.

”Siiiiiis, don’t tell her about that!” Jr whined with embarrassment, specifically about them mopping on the ship.

”What about us stealing from the Mafia? She’s just gonna stab them in the back first like papa says all bad guys should though, so it's fine” Rika replied, before turning to Juri and asking ”right?”

”Urrrgh” Jr groaned, before deciding that if they had nothing he could still criticize ”I mean maaaaby the bird's one, but the other ones all basically stuck to one place. In Peach’s castle, in a mountain, on a beach, and inside a power generator or something. So if its moving then I dunno if that fits”

”I mean it would be a smarter way of doing it than having them sitting in one spot waiting for us to find them? Maybe?” he then wondered, before admitting ”ugh, ok fine, maybe Galeem mixed it up and had some move around and be hard to catch and some stick still in one really hard to reach spots” because that would be the smart move.

That meant all he had was falling back on defending what they’d been up to by insisting ”Besides, training and tinkering stuff’s productive. Gotta make up for papa not being here to carry the team by fighting even stronger and smarter than we have been, and with better gear too” defensively, before perking up and offering: ”hey. If you let me see that ‘cool new gun’ you’ve got I bet I could make it even cooler, make the shots all zappy or burny”

”You should, he’s good at that stuff. Just set me up with these massive stabby flying things recently, and those have been super neat now that I’ve kinda got the hang of them” Rika added in support, pointing to the compact stack of 6 two meter long rocket propelled swords she’d set down alongside her gauntlets and rigging, creating a pile of destructive ordinance that the ghostly Peeka was using as a chair.

As the angels mustered outside of the Ivory Citadel, within a man sat upon a throne of whispers with a tome of corruption open in his lap, its fangs digging into the flesh of his thighs, tendrils digging into the open wounds, and also guiding him to turn the pages.

His the cloth adornment on his armor was stained with black, his hair unkept and untended, his skin pale, black veins covered his eyes and ears like a blindfold, and yet despite all this, the corruption did not suffuse his body like it did the reanimated angels. Simply clung to him. Guided him. Deceived him.

A gurgling rumble rocked the tower as the angels took flight, spurring its eldritch defenders to action, but to Edward it roared like a siren, shill and loud. His eyes rose from the tome and beheld not horrors and undead, but mortal soldiers of dozens of species, dressed in red uniforms marked with a symbol that was a cross between a gear and an ankh.

Magic as a mechanism, the symbol of the commonwealth, Edward’s lost home. A home lost to the forces and magics of gods, gods that the corruption whispered were coming for it again.

The book snapped shut, tendrils unwinding, teeth retracting leaving black clots where they had pierced him. He stood, placed the tome upon the throne, and then picked up from beside it his magelock rifle, ready to defend his country.

Had that gun been all he’d been good for, then he would have been the same as the corrupted angels that surrounded him, the casualties of his plunge into this tower several weeks before when the corruption had been weaker. When he had foolishly thought he could understand it, beat it at its own game, and turn the automata of the citadel back to the path of the light under his command.

When the throne and time had called him, he had been allowed to keep his mind for three reasons. The first sat atop the two towers of the Citadel, bowstrings being pulled back and readying to fire. The second was made clear as he pressed a hand down to one of the three tomes hanging from his waist. The tome of Pyromancy flared at his touch, and then drank from the array of mana batteries also attached to the belt, causing a wave of heat to wash out across the citadel, causing the weapons of its corrupt defenders to glow searing hot.

The third was far more simple: it needed a commander

He ascended the stairs , scanned the incoming forces, the corruption drawing the faces of godir over their leaders, and decided where he was needed most.

”Fliers, mages, rangers, draw them in. Rogues and line holders, prepare the pre-planed hammer and anvil strategies at the entrances” he commanded, using general terms for the mix and match forces under his disposal, who he saw as humans, goblins, giants, catfolk and more, rather than the dead and the unholy.

He then turned and began to ascend towards the battlements, ordering ”Magelocks and constructs with me,” gaining the jerky attention of a squad of corrupted feather bows that had their armaments modernised, as well as hulking stone consruct warriors and small hovering construct sentinels.

He arrived just as battle was joined, gesturing with his hand to direct his magelocks to take cover behind the constructs, as well as doing so himself. Magic and searing hot arrows filled the air, which did admittedly result in some of the archers being set on fire as the feather-shields reflected the statuses back at them. A worthy sacrifice, however, as the individual burning debuffs were rather weak, effectively letting them strip those defenses in anticipation of more potent debuffs or fully stacking 5 more stacks of burning on them afterwards.

The man knew his enemy, even if he was blinded to the fact that the reason why this was is because he’d fought beside them. Instead he simply assumed he had studied them, which made the new additions to the enemy’s forces what took his focus, one of which stood out in particular.

Another angel, some dragon knight, a human with keys of all things as weapons and the now mounted Edelgard fell into known parameters, so the giant bee represented the biggest question mark when it came to the new addition, and thus the biggest potential spanner in the works of his plan.

There was a simple solution to this however, and that was to command his troops to ”Eliminate that unknown variable”

As he called out the command, a blood red aura surrounded Sectona, as each and every bit of fire power on his tower turned her way, guided by the marked debuff she’d just gained. Spells and ballista bolts were lossed, but most dangerous of all the firepower were the magelocks, who after a moment of stabling themselves via speccircles, unleashed a thunderous musket volley of searing hot lead at the queen.

---

Sectonia meanwhile was advancing herself to take out some ballista. Using the powers granted by the Radiance to rain lasers and swords of light down upon the corruption in front of her, with her tesla coil, and heartstopper aura causing damage to any of the corruption that got close. And to add insult to injury, on top of that she had her Chaos Shield up, so any corruption that managed to get through her advancing line of lasers, swords, the occasional light ring or three, and her minions would just find their attacks bouncing off the mighty shield. She had gained a large amount of power within the past few weeks, and it was on display here. And this was evident to Edward who decided to mark Sectonia, causing all of his minions alongside those operating the ballista she was moving to destroy to attack her.

At first the increased volume of attacks got her notice, but she kept on her advance… at least until the ballista targeted her as well as those hiding behind the contraptions. Well, guess it was time to actually stop having ‘fun’ crushing these things with a slow march and instead do what she came to do. After all, her shield was strong, but taking too much concentrated fire couldn’t be good.

Using her blink, she teleported much closer to the magelocks with a rapid series of after images following her, the light around her becoming blinding as she summoned swords on the platform they were stationed on before shooting many beams of light all around herself in a 3 wave blast towards the contraptions and the magelocks.

Lasers hammered into the stone construct, cracking some and breaking others even as they did their job of providing cover, and each one that fell immediately got a sentinel hovering over it to begin resurrecting it. That was according to plan. What was not was the swords stabbing up and out of the floor of the tower itself, bypassing every defensive barrier.

The ballista, entirely unable to move, had its bowstring cut by a rising sword, rendering it entirely useless. Edward himself sidestepped a rising blade, pulling the corrupted magelock next to him out of the way as well. The rest of his troops were not so lucky to have their general on hand, and several were skewered on the spot.

Edward internally cursed and dismayed at the sheer number of deaths that had just occurred in the blink of an eye, but externally kept his cool. If the general showed fear or doubt, that would sweep through the ranks, and then everyone under his command would be dead.

”Magelocks, back into the tower!” He commanded, not willing to waste their ‘lives’ simply as fodder to soak up this attack, their weapons entirely impractical for this foe.

He however was still armed with something useful, slinging his magelock rifle over his shoulder and drawing a pistol of the same make. He fired off shots as he kept moving, directing the retreat and using his free hand to help his wounded, physically hauling them to their feet and urging them on with words of encouragement that fell on dead ears.

Despite having put the ranged core in disarray, Sectonia’s blinking charge echoed Urial’s blazing dive, and what Edward had prepared for her now was unleashed upon the queen as well.

Half a dozen corrupted angels champions, wielding greatswords and covered in crystalline growths and heavy armor, launched themselves at the queen bee, while several ayfids emerged from hiding spots within the black spikes brabling the tower top, rising up above the queen to bombard her with rapid fire energy blasts.

Sectonia, being smug as she was having walked through and annihilated her ballista, and now this tower, fell right into this trap. While a strong shield, it still lacked the true power the chaos heart held and with the previous punishment the shield took, once it took the initial ambush set by Edward, the commander could see the very rainbow shield he had seen earlier finally shatter. Seeing this herself, she summoned Antlers to act like a buffer, Summoning 2 golden ones nad a red one to surround her.

These being ground pounders however opened them up to assault from the constructs, the stone hulks lumbering in to deliver crushing blows with their mighty mauls.

All of these forces being around the bee queen in close quarters would find that she had a lot of area of effect attacks that were tricky to deal with in close range. First her newly acquired powers were on display as every corrupted angel around her felt their vitality slowly drain as they were around her as her heartstopper aura stripped it away from them. Actively the queen let out bursts of energy that not only healed her when done, but damaged everything near her as homing skulls chased them.

Granted being much more skilled than the riff raff outside, when she tried her rings of light or void globules as attacks, the angels could dodge them with a bit of difficulty; At first they found her attacks easy to dodge, but after getting hit by a light ring making a sudden 90 degree turn after it was dodged to correct itself, they learned that her attacks had a bit of a trick to dodging them. Still, thanks to her auras, they were on a timer. Although being surrounded by an ambush, they’d find that they’d have to keep her engaged in melee or she’d start to fill the area with projectiles again. And with her antlers guarding her back, they’d find she wasn’t a slouch with her swordplay either, although her spells were far more dangerous. That and her size made it easy for more than one angel to engage her at a time, even with her antlers making it difficult to flank her. Still, those angelic sword strikes left a lingering fire effect on her, which while it was annoying and painful, it wasn’t as effective as it could be thanks to some of her items.

”cycle charge it to stay out of that aura for as long as possible!” Edward commanded the wilting fliers as he pulled the last of his ranged core back. The constructs meanwhile he left to tough out the damage aura, because if the guardians fell the sentinels could simply nip in to pick them back up again.

Rather than fully retreat however, he crouched down on the stairs so that the top of them obscured him from view and pulled out his magelock rifle, gesturing to the rear of the rifle angels to do the same.

Once they were in position he called out a command of ”Fliers back!”, causing the corrupt angels attacking the queen to withdraw just as their commander and a half dozen rifles stood up. Rings glowed around them as they aimed, and the red aura surrounded Sectonia again as they let out another thunderous barrage at the now shieldless queen.

Sectonia was getting tired of this retreating game this ‘commander’ was doing. But retreating meant that while he was repositioning, he wasn’t attacking while the queen was keeping herself up and about. And with his new command to deal with her heartstopper aura, it gave her quite a bit of breathing room. Hm…. considering he couldn’t stand up to her, perhaps he was quite weak. The tactical brains of the corruption as it were, as without his orders, these things were quite… foolish as they slammed themselves amongst the angelic defenses of skyworld.

Speaking of getting to this commander, she’d have to clear out these forces and his own personal defenses. And first was taking out the recent corrupted angel that decided to engage her. She’d use this one as an example, and hopefully blast through that defensive line of the commander at the same time.

Focusing energy in one of her hands as her wings glowed, Sectonia used the charged up light power she had gotten from the light based damage she had been dealing earlier to blast the angel and everything behind it, aiming towards Edward’s defensive line with the great draconic laser of light. Although she’d be taking some retaliatory shots from Edward’s defensive line with their lack of fear from getting a giant laser blasted at them. She’d then use another ability on the angel she blasted as the main target of this beam with her Reaper’s scythe, causing a grim reaper’s scythe to finish off the weakened corrupted angel before it could get away.

Still though, getting riddled with annoying shots and burns wasn’t her idea of ‘fun’, and she found this annoying and painful, although she wouldn’t let Edward see that. Weren’t those angels on her side supposed to come once she took out that ballista or were they doing something else?

Right on cue a cry of “For Father!” came from behind her, followed by a volley of arrows launched by feather bows, slowing shots putting an end to the corrupted angel’s harrying of the queen, while photon arrows softened up the constructs for her minions.

After their opening volley, the archers peeled off to the side, clearing the way for feather swords and shields to dive down into the fray alongside Sectonia. Lastly among their rank and file, the feather-staffs doused the flames lapping at the queen’s vitality, and shored it up as well, undoing much of the corruption's hard work.

Their leader, an Angel Champion, cleaved clean through one of her corrupted kindred as he led the charge, before saluting the queen with his blade, exalting her for taking down the ballista so swiftly.

Their arrival was Edward’s cue to leave, the commander ordering ”Living, fall back! Constructs, hold the line!”, turning to hurry down the stairs alongside his remaining mage-locks, while the last corrupted champions dove for lower windows, leaving only the (least beaten thanks to the sentinels resurrection ability) construct units to hold the line.

“Strange, I didn’t expect to hear a voice from the corrupted. I could swear I’ve heard that one before as well” the champion commented as he casually blocked a blow from one of the constructs, before calling out for his troops to “let the fallen run, we will bring them peace soon enough. Secure this landing zone first” even as he dismembered his stone foe’s offending arm with a massive glowing blade.

Such a line of action was exactly the one Edward had predicted and hoped for, the commander priming the top of the tower to blow… just as soon as his wounded were clear of the blast radius.

Edward was making an escape, and considering what the angel said and what Sectonia has seen over the past few days, the fact that he was intelligent in an ocean of instinct was definitely something that shouldn’t get away. Well, with another heal from her death pulse, she got ready and used her blink strike to cut off Edward’s escape.

Although instead of striking him with a sword, she scooped up the retreating man before he could even draw his sword, her hand so big that Edward looked like a toy in comparison. And to make sure he couldn’t give better orders to stop his ‘kidnapping’, she used a single finger to silence him as she summoned a red antler behind herself to keep his troops busy and make a semi escape to give some distance to continue her plan.

The fastest way to get information from someone like this, at least in a way that was expedient and not messy, well, there were a few methods. But one method of hers would be much more expedient than the other. Summoning her striker Nastasia, the business woman took one look at the situation and didn’t even need to be commanded to get what was going on. With a simple “k’ay, time for you to get with the program.”, she used her powers on the restrained Edward. The man struggled at first, but fell under her command soon enough, despite the corruption still clinging to his face.

Sectonia could loosen her grip on the man at this point, whom gave her a salute saying “Praise Sectonia.” With that, she gave him a nod and made her way back to the Angels to make her get away, saying. ”Now, tell me what you know about this ‘corruption’, and your name.”

”Edward Portsmith your majesty, and most prudent would be that, under its sway, I rigid both of these towers to explode once the battlements where lost” the man who could now see clearly and yet was at the very same time under yet another thrall-hood, informed her crisply and calmly despite the fact that they were quite little in a room full of magical gunpowder who’s fuse was lit.

He pointed that out a moment later, naturally, specifically identifying a mound of otherwise inconspicuous ammo crates to be the home of the explosive charge known as an unstable mana core, the impending detonation of which could not be stopped.

”Well then…” Sectonia said, surprised and both pleased and concerned at this outcome. With her duty done Nastasia had desapawned, and now there wasn’t much to do but escape this tower before it exploded. And unlike before, she couldn’t just blink away with her ‘new commander’ in tow, she’d have to get out the old way of flying. Getting Edward in a much more firm, although not hurtful grip, Sectonia used her other hand to cast Haste upon herself and zoomed up and out of the tower, bypassing and taking hits from whatever corrupted entities stood between her and the top.

Upon leaving the tower, she told the angels to fall back, as the corruption had set this tower as a trap for them all in the end. But she wasn’t going to get caught in an explosion if she could help it without her Chaos Shield.

While confused, the angels on her side didn’t disobey her instruction and escaped a few moments later, although the timer on Edward’s final gambit was short and while it saved the angels from outright dying from the explosion, some of them were still too close to it and got badly injured from the tower debris. Having hasted herself, Sectonia was much further away from the blast radius, leaving her and Edward unharmed.

”I suppose asking questions further from the front lines would be better. A commander would do best behind allies after all.” Sectonia said, learning to adapt to what Nastasia’s mind control offered her. Unlike true mind control, Edward had his loyalties shifted to Sectonia, but was otherwise fully himself and autonomous. Time would tell how much this would fight against the corruption, but if there wasn’t much she could get thanks to this corruption, a friend heart might fix things, those seemed to fix anything.

”I’d prefer to fight closely behind allies, if that serves your majesty. A commander should ask nothing of his troops that he himself will not do” Edward replied, having already shown a proclivity to lead from, if not the front, then at least right behind it. Given that he then proceeded to explain that ”I also have intimate knowledge of the defenses I myself prepared, and the locations of the corrupt cores that are the hearts of the enemy, which would be best provided first hand to your majesty's forces” this strategy certainly had had its flaws in this specific instance.

Still, because the queen had not removed it from where it clung to his senses, time would only tell how much it would be able to sabotage his attempts to serve his new master. Something that Sectonia had been thinking about as well. For having such a strong ability, she hadn’t used Nastasia all that often. Usually due to the restriction of needing to hold someone down for quite a long period at once and having little opportunity to do so.

Well, perhaps a ‘trust but verify’ method could be used here. Or… an experiment perhaps. A more thorough test of this power. Compare what Edward told them to their own intelligence, then see what intelligence he tells after a friend heart cleanses the corruption. Perhaps it would be the same, or different. But that would help Sectonia understand this lesser understood power of hers.

Entering the grounds of the carnival, Zenkichi let out a whistle. ”Wow, this place is actually pretty big. Reminds me of stuff you’d see in a movie about America or something.” He ambled around, taking in the sights, the…giant bug sights. Okay, the whole carnival was ‘manned’ by anthropomorphic bugs, which was freaky as hell to be frank. The music being played by one of the really big guys was very much what he’d have expected from a carnival, even if the…instrument itself…was not, in any way, shape, or form. He gave Brumm an appreciative nod and moved on, passing by Divine’s fortune telling booth.

Shaking his head at the prospect, he moved on by, stopping by a stall to see what kind of food they offered.

Nope, that was food for bugs, on to the next one. Thankfully, this stall had some actual food fit for human consumption, and after a few minutes’ wait, Zenkichi found himself munching on a hot dog slathered with a number of condiments that he wasn’t entirely sure even came from Earth, but nonetheless tasted pretty damn good!

And so it was that Zenkichi enjoyed his time at the carnival until the main attraction was opened to the public, and he joined the throngs of people shuffling inside, paying the token entry fee to see the carnival. The place was still giving Zenkichi the heebie-jeebies, but he had a feeling that was intentional, so it didn’t actually bother him all that much. The little ghosty dudes holding up torches was a nice touch, he thought, even if they added quite a bit to that freaky atmosphere.

As the flaming dance show began, Zenkichi found his head bopping along to the music, a smile on his face as he let go and just enjoyed himself for once.

After getting out of the port area, Therion slowed slightly and took some extra time walking. He meandered in a way only the innocent did, or at least it appeared that way. He still had one hand in his pocket as he went, taking an alternate route to a wharf on another side of the island. They all knew that Ms. Fortune had gotten employment at a floating restaurant there, so it wasn't uncommon for some... or a lot of the Seekers to congregate there from time to time. He certainly wouldn't be surprised if he walked in and found a few already there. A few minutes later Therion walked down the dock leading to Bancho Sushi, and low and behold he saw a whole group of familiar faces seated around the single large counter.

Juri fit in perfectly with the Seekers, seeing as she was unmissable in a crowd from the way she looked and dressed to the way she acted and carried herself. That she was here when the night was still young made Therion think she really was there to bother his fellow thief. He didn't really get the rivalry between them, and he didn't want to. When he originally volunteered to come to Mafia Town, he'd said he would try and keep those two (and Captain Falcon) out of trouble, but pretty early on he realized that was always going to be impossible. When more of their merry band showed up he gave up completely, just keeping to himself while keeping and eye on everyone when he could.

Speaking of the latecomers, all but one of them were already present at the restaurant as well. Therion didn't have any problems with Geralt, though he knew the man only slightly more than he knew Juri really. At least the old hunter was one of the more reasonable Seekers, especially compared to the kids nearby - Rika and Bowser Jr. They were practically trouble magnets. Just a couple days ago he'd found them after their own robbery, and lucky for them he'd turned up to make sure everything had gone smoothly in the aftermath.

Finally there was Ms. Fortune herself, who he knew best out of everyone he was here with. Truthfully that wasn't saying much, but still. She looked to be partly her regular cheery self and partly forcing it, which made since if she was behind the counter serving troublesome customers. Short staffed tonight? Therion wondered as he pushed his way closer to the group past some customers leaving. It couldn't have been very long after opening, but it was already getting busy.

He gave the group his usual greeting, which was a nod of his head in lieu of saying hello. Having arrived a little after Geralt he'd missed the first part of the conversation, but he did overhear talk of a giant bird from Geralt, and poachers from Juri. So it was already sharing time then? Therion hadn't learned as much as he would have liked to. Since the little island was kind of isolated from the mainland, it suffered from droughts of news until something truly noteworthy made it back from the mouths of sailors. Still, he had some things to tell the group once he'd heard what they had to say. He was less interested in the poachers than the counterfeit pon operation.

"No surprise there," he said. It would have been more of a shock if a gang controlled island didn't have some counterfeiting going on. These fakes were a lot more realistic than the stickers Therion had found before in the metro. The thief held his hand out, motioning for Geralt to let him inspect the fake. Mostly he just wanted to make sure the ones he'd stolen earlier were the real deal. He wouldn't put it past this mafia to have a collection of fakes. After getting a closer look at the counterfeit, he was sure that his haul was made up of legitimate pons.

"Most of the stuff I've been hearing is about the Consuls in this area. Two of them, 𝙸 and V," he began, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "One's a woman, not sure about the other. V apparently hangs around the cities in that big forest, and 𝙸 the cities on the coast." He gave a brief description of them as well, that 𝙸 was a large and muscular lady and V was a cruel sadist. He'd also heard some talk of a giant bird, but he wasn't sure about it being anything but... well, a normal giant bird, so he didn't bring it up again. He did pause though, recalling something else. "Speaking of cities, I've been hearing some things about the one called Limsa. The one you all saved before."

When he went on it was plain that he wasn't happy about the news he was delivering, but he did so in a detached way since he lacked the connection that Geralt, Rika, Junior and Ms. Fortune had to Limsa Lominscuttle Town. "Apparently its not faring too well. Some other army has been attacking it almost non-stop this week."

He didn't need to mention that it most likely wasn't a coincidence that a Consul had been hanging around the area.

The brief meet and greet wrapped up as soon as Roxas made it to the gathering point. Pit was pleased his friend had made it, but there was little time to say as much. When Celia touched down (whom Pit waved at) with the angelic beast Ortho, he had a feeling that all the preparations were near complete. Soon after, the Goddess of Light's voice rang out. Pit glanced at his companions. "This is it. See you guys at the victory celebration!"

At Palutena's command of go, the wings on Pit's back began to glow a soft blue. He grinned and summoned his bow to his hand. The gold and lapis lazuli the weapon was made of caught the setting sun and glittered when he twirled it in his hand once. This was a serious mission, and he was going to take it seriously, but he couldn't help to feel some excitement, especially when the goddess' Power of Flight washed over him.

With everyone having been so busy the last few days, it would be understandable if they were surprised when Pit leapt up and took to the air. He had been flightless the entire time he knew them after all. Now that he had reconnected to Palutena, she had bestowed her gift on him once more in order to protect Skyworld. With the Power of Flight in effect Pit soared up high alongside the other angels before he and his own squadron broke away and shot forward. Technically he was not free flying, the Goddess of Light was controlling his path... but until he fulfilled his dream of being able to fly on his own, this was the closest he could get to it. After a little bit of indulging in the feeling of wind through his feathers, Pit steeled himself with resolve.

"Let's go! Full steam ahead!" He called back to the troops under his direct command. Most of the Centurions within the host remained behind to protect the temple as they normally did, so his soldiers consisted of the Feathers that filled out every unit. Even so, he had a couple of Centurion Strongarms who were too stubborn not to fight beside their captain. The extra manpower worked to the squad's advantage, as it consisted of more bows than swords in the first place. Pit preferred to handle as much as he could on his own, especially the most dangerous looking foes, so his ranged and staff units could work in relative safety while he pushed through the worst of the battle and the Feathershields and Strongarms provided back up.

Are we going up with Uriel to take out the other ballista?

No. I'm sending you right inside, Pit. The sooner we get through the tower the better.

Got it. Those fake angels aren't gonna know what hit them!

If he thought about it, sending him in for a land battle right off the bat made sense. With so many things to coordinate, it would no doubt be easier on Lady Palutena not to have to direct his flight path and have one less thing to focus on. The strategy was totally fine with him. Trusting Uriel and Sectonia to deal with the ballistae, he let the Power of Flight carry him directly toward his objective. Literally, as Lady Palutena sent him hurtling on the shortest route even if it meant sending him into enemies - or rather through them, as the bladed bow in his hand ripped through the small false angels effortlessly.

"Arrow formation! Then we're going right in!" he shouted, and his squad of Feathers sped to keep up with him. They fanned out to avoid the ballista fire and drove forward with Pit and the Feathershields at the front, bows firing behind them. The drove through the air like a lance, cleaving through as many corrupted as they could until they hit the citadel. They alighted on a balcony where Pit temporarily swapped from his bow to his Upperdash Arm. He revved it struck the old stone, breaking a much larger opening into the side of the building to allow more of Palutena's Army inside from this level.

"Spread out like normal and destroy every speck of corruption you find! In the name of the Goddess of Light!"

"Yes sir!"

Pit's squadron grouped up and split into adjacent rooms, zealous in their destruction. Pit, too, took to the task with great zeal though he went solo. The spirits he'd fused with ended up helping out a lot during each mission like this: with his new ability to turn his arrows of light into purer, elemental light he could purify the corruption easily. Combined with his homing shots he could strike corruption eyeballs in even the trickiest of hiding spots, and when combined further with the Shadow-Piercing Shot he'd gained he could even hit multiple at once. That being similar to the Slipshot power he'd used in the past, he was already good at utilizing it. And if that didn't work, he could always use a Wild Shot to spread light arrows over many enemies at once.

They swept through the floor, meeting back up at the stairwell. They'd run into groups of enemies, and somehow the ghosts of those enemies, but the well trained unit had out fought them - no causalities so far. Thank goodness.

"All clear on this level," one of the Feathershields reported. Pit nodded. They all knew there was a lot more work to be done, and the sounds of battle from both above and below raged on.

"Let's keep it up! We're gonna head downstairs! Me first, Shields at the back. Same strategy on the next level - fan out, target the cores, support each other. Don't let a single one get away! If things are looking rough, group back up together," he told them. He gave them all a grin, part reassuring and part vicious as his fierceness started to come out. "And if things get even rougher from there, join back up with me. I'll take care of any enemy you bring me!"

Their captain hadn't let them down so far. The squad saluted, barked their affirmatives, and descended with Pit. Since Uriel would be coming down from the tower and other angels platoons were landing up in higher windows, Pit thought the best thing to do was to come down hard on the enemies that were headed to engage the squads holding the gate. Once Pit's squad cleared the floors between them and picked up the remains of other units on the way, the could squeeze the corrupted false angels between the forces of good.

The captain of Palutena's Royal Guard and his soldiers crashed through the citadel's floors, fighting almost as ferociously as their opposition. Multitudes of arrows pierced Affinities and Ayfids, the bowmen protected by their Shields who were supported by their Staves, who were attended by Centurion Strongarms. The make up of each portion of the squad was enough to mostly handle ambushes as well, but when it wasn't they followed Pit's command - and Palutena's most loyal angel tore apart everything that threatened them, as he said he would. He freely swapped between his divine weaponry; the Orbitars to further protect his squad and repel corrupted magic blasts, the Palm to unleash a fusillade of energy shots in closer quarters, and the Arm to swiftly deal with larger threats with explosive force. Out of all of them, he still preferred his bow the most. The weapon personally gifted to him by Lady Palutena was perfect at at close and far range, its arrows enough to deal with most any threat and its blades cutting down all evil that stood in their way. Pit was used to being a one-man army, but when combined with the abilities of his squadron, both their physical prowess and their debuffing, the unit made it to the ground floor in what felt like record time.

The situation there was worse than they'd been in the middle floors, but hopefully Pit's squad could turn the tide in their favor. "Back them up!" he instructed his units, and they rushed to the defense of their fellow angels with sword, bow, and fists at the ready. While they stabilized the area and cleansed the last of the corrupted cores, Pit pushed deeper in. Eventually his men would follow him, so he needed to make it as safe for them as possible - and every other angel serving. He followed the sounds of battle to the huge false angel Belief, arriving from another angle only slightly behind Midna. Honestly, he thought the Twilight Princess could take the thing on and win by herself, but the more time she spent fighting it was more time she couldn't be helping out the rest of the army. The same went for him. So he flew into the fray in order to put the monster down as fast as possible.

"Hope you don't mind sharing!" He called to Midna, drawing his bow and opening firing on Belief. He then stood his ground, charging his shots until the blue light arrows turned to purple. They shot through one Affinity and turned to hit more, dealing damage to each it passed through as the arrows curved around the makeshift arena until it finished by striking Belief for good measure.

---

Had she stepped upon an anthill? Insects were milling about every which way the Witch looked, fixed upon the countless tasks their traveling show demanded of them. Bug musicians and bug bouncers, bug jugglers and bug charlatans, a whole hive dressed up in pretty little masks and their trademark crimson garb. Such a novel sight it was that dozens of gawking onlookers—people who’d normally recoil in disgust from a single innocent spider—found themselves drawn like moths to the scarlet flames, to the promise of magic and mystery.

They’d have their fill soon enough, if the Witch got her way. She hadn’t come here for songs, nor for entertainment, and certainly not to have her fate guessed at by some stinking overgrown larva. The scent of power, rich and dark, took her on a winding path through the stalls and carts, skirting around the patter of footsteps and the glow of red-hued torches. All the way past the big top and its ropes she crept, to the deep shadows beyond and the shrouded cart the bugs had hidden away there.

Closer, closer, as near as she dared. Near enough to catch just a glimpse of the hive’s secret treasure, the source of all their forbidden power. As its wicked light played across her features, the Witch’s eyes lit up with naked avarice, a sapphire blue to match the nightmare lantern’s dull red. She truly hadn’t the foggiest idea what that thing was or where it had come from—but she knew well enough that she wanted it, and would soon have it, no matter how many bodies she had to burn to get there.

She was within a heartbeat of stepping forward, of raising her wand, when the abrupt buzz of insects gave her pause. With a flash of irritation, she tore her gaze away from her prize to follow the bugbat swarm, the lone creature flitting past her, and then finally the slim and handsome fellow who had crept up in her shadow. She stared him down, sapphire against scarlet, with a smile as joyful as the dead.

“How do you do?” This one was rather polite, for a bug. Did he practice his manners, while he scuttled about and stalked people through the dark? The Witch found it oddly charming, enough that it nearly offset her urge to incinerate him there and then.

Fortunately she wasn’t entirely bereft of self-restraint, and knew a losing battle when she saw one. Turn this bug to ash, and others would notice, bringing the whole nest down on her head. Could she slaughter that many, that fast, without the city guard noticing?

She blinked at the bug-man, a picture of coquettish innocence. “Of course! I don’t know how I possibly wandered so far astray. Ah, there’s the tent, better be on my way now.” She sauntered past him, back towards the big top like just another good little stooge. A glance over her shoulder confirmed her cloaked companion still followed silently behind, loyal as a corpse could ever be.

“…I’m really looking forward to the show.”

---

The big top was packed nearly to the brim, a hundred or more souls all told. All chattering, murmuring, shifting and shuffling, faces half-hidden in the gloom.

Amidst this sea of souls, not even the sharpest eyes could pick out the slight and dark-haired girl who happily hummed along to the Grimm Troupe’s tune. She’d moved some distance from her zombie, and acted much like anyone else present for the show, blue eyes wide-open and fixed upon the dancers and their torches. Perhaps her smile was a little too wide, but surely that was mere amazement, appreciation for the exquisite and uncanny performance.

She couldn’t help herself. A fire-dance, of all things! Even if it hadn’t been her true purpose in coming here, the wildness and excitement in the tent had seeped into her very soul. Who could blame her, who could blame anyone, for wanting to join in the show?

A single swish of her wand, and another light entered the festival. With so many little fires blazing all at once, few would notice that one more had suddenly appeared, even as it shot like an arrow straight for the top of the tent. Surely it was just part of the performance, another flashy trick conjured up by the marvelous artists of the anthill circus! By the time anyone stopped and did a double-take, it would likely already be too late.

The fireball burst in the air, a flower of roiling heat. In the gloom of the big top the flash was blinding, a curtain ripped aside to reveal the naked sun. A chorus of screams rang out, first in sheer surprise, then in dawning horror as two hundred blinking eyes found themselves staring at the fire—a real fire, this time.

Oops! Clumsy me...

By some tragic accident, the roof had been set ablaze. Not a bright pinprick, but a misshapen circle of hungrily devouring flames, spreading wider and wider by the heartbeat. Could they be stopped? Would they yet be quenched? It hardly mattered: one look would be enough to plunge the unsuspecting audience into chaos and panic. Arms shoved, feet stamped, bodies squirmed against each other, screams at shouts warring for dominance in air now thick with smoke. All were bugs now, the civilized people of Meridi-at-Han skittering like ants under a spyglass. Mindless and pathetic things, deserving of their sorry fate.

All but one. One who’d already been moving the moment she’d let her gift fly, who’d known to avert her eyes and had paid no heed to the blast. As everything went to hell, the Witch slipped through to the edge of the audience and flicked again her wand, summoning this time a nigh-invisible kinetic attack to spear clean through the outside of the tent.

“Quickly, this way!”

On cue, a cloaked figure barreled into the fabric wall, tearing wide the hole made by its master. The minor spell had set this point as the zombie’s target, and now it led the charge to safety. Out! Out! Into the open air! A stream of people all spilling through at once, with the arsonist concealed safely amidst their number.

Poor bugs. They’d all have their spindly little hands full, cleaning up this enormous mess. None of them would have time to watch the wagons, nor mind their weevil steeds. There might not even be anyone left to keep an eye on their precious lantern.

Ah well, not to worry. It would soon be in very good hands.

With trays, platters, and beers to deliver to plenty of eager customers, Nadia couldn’t stick around to see how her rival liked her food, but she did keep an eye on Juri as she went about her duties, and the rare look of actual joy on the martial artist’s face (before she instinctively suppressed it) told Nadia everything she needed to know. This was the most genuinely happy that she’d ever seen Juri, and though it did rankle the cat burglar somewhat to be doing something nice for her old nemesis, she couldn’t force herself to think that Juri didn’t deserve to be happy sometimes. Maybe if the heterochromatic hooligan wasn’t so miserable all the time, she wouldn’t have to take it out on everyone around her, and the two of them wouldn’t need to be enemies. “Heh, that’s right,” Nadia muttered smugly, a smirk on her face. Not even the most derisive, scornful person she knew could muster up the gumption to deny Bancho’s mastery. “Put me down all you like if it makes you feel better, but you better not disrespect the boss!”

With four Seekers present in the restaurant already, though, Nadia could read the room. Plus, her stomach had been growling for a while, and after coming within inches of so many tantalizing delicacies the poor catgirl was practically drooling. It was time for a well-deserved break. She headed toward Bancho’s prep station, waving for attention. “Hey boss, can I take five? You know what they say: you can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish!” Chuckling to herself, she looked over at Dave. “You got this for a bit, right Dave?”

Her fellow diver was a little red in the face from so much jogging around, but after a deep breath he gave a nod. “Yup, I can handle it. Rush’s starting to die down anyway.”

Bancho grunted his assent. A sushi chef of his caliber could tell what blood belonged to a fish, and what didn’t. Despite Nadia’s spiteful initial plan, he could acknowledge that she went above and beyond when it came to fulfilling his vision. He turned to her, a fresh plate of Hot Pepper Tuna in hand. “Enjoy.”

“For me?” Nadia’s eyes sparkled as she accepted the plate. “Holy mackerel! That right there’s why you’re the basst, boss.”

Dinner in one hand and a tall glass of foamy amber beer in the other, the catgirl seated herself on the opposite side of Rika and Junior from Juri, creating a koopy sandwich (though luckily the two weren’t in bread). Having ordered one of everything on tonight’s menu, the two youths had a mountain of seafood to eat their way through, so if they weren’t careful their stomachs would end up hurting almost as bad as their wallets. Of course, Nadia wolfed down her own food with reckless abandon too; even if the meal left her reeling from the accumulated kick of the habanero peppers, she couldn’t stop herself gobbling up the ultra-fresh fish. It was a miracle she noticed Geralt when he showed up out of the blue. Luckily the Witcher was hard to miss or mistake. When he approached Nadia gave him a wave, her tail flicking happily, and then kept eating.

With the others focused on food first and foremost, it fell to Juri to kickstart the actual conversation, starting with an expository preamble about where she’d been getting her intelligence. While Nadia got the impression that her rival might be hyping herself up a little, she paid attention to what Juri had to say, and it sounded like she’d identified a strong candidate for the Guardian of the Twilight Forest. In the end it was just a guess, but it sounded plausible enough, and it wasn’t like Nadia could offer any better alternatives.

While the feral quenched the flames dancing across her tongue with beer, Geralt reminded her of Blackwater Bay, even if he fumbled the name slightly. Nadia remembered seeing a giant bird, but like the rest of the shipgirls involved in that battle her focus had been on the water. Geralt had been the one to get up close and personal with it, and if he concluded that the two birds must be different, she trusted him. Blackwater Bay was a long, long way from the Twilight Forest, after all, and she couldn’t imagine that Blue Team had unwittingly dealt with another region’s Guardian on the way to confront the Deep Blue Seaside’s own.

Nadia turned her mind toward what she herself had learned during her time here. Truth be told, as much as it galled her, she hadn’t done as well as her rival. The bits and pieces she’d found didn’t add up to any definite conclusions, and she’d been so focused on her duties for Bancho Sushi that she hadn’t mentally prepared herself for this. Thankfully Geralt bought her some time to put it all together with his report about a local counterfeiting operation, which honestly didn’t concern her all that much. The Mafia was always getting up to something or another, and unlike the Medicis they were easy enough to deal with.

During Geralt’s explanation one more friendly face showed up, belonging to Nadia’s friend Therion. The two thieves had always gotten along well, despite their very different personalities. Together they formed a classic comedy duo, though they did their best work together on the battlefield. Out of the two of them Therion was the better burglar, but unlike with his friend Primrose Nadia had never felt jealous of him, and after winning Connected Climbing Chaos together the two were officially thick as thieves. She waved and gave Therion a warm smile.

Once the others finished, Nadia began. “Well, when it comes to Guardians, I got nothin’. But I did hear about Limsa. The other day I actually sailed over myself to see how they’re doing. And yeah, sounds like it’s been a real shipshow. Met up with my friend Heinrich, you know, from the navy? She told me everything, and it’s not the Abyssals again, either. Apparently there’s this big boat that shows up and literally shoots people into the city that go around attacking everyone they see, civilians and shipgirls alike. And get this, Heinrich heard that this huge, hulking lady consul showed up the day it all started. That must be I! A witness said she…killed Admiral Merlwyb.” With that, Nadia’s excited tone quickly tapered off. She hadn’t really gotten to know the lady during her time in Limsa, but she seemed like a capable and well-liked leader. “Guess they’ve been having a hell of a time coordinating city defense without her.” She sighed. “Anyway, these regions all have two consuls, right? So that’s one, actively going after Limsa Lominscuttle Town. The other…I dunno. I hope it’s not our fault…”

Nadia scrunched her brows together, then lifted a cluster of sea grapes to her lips. When she crushed the soft, succulent pods between her teeth, an umami taste filled her mouth. “I also checked out a place called the Tower of Barbs. Seemed like we could get pretty good rewards there if we fought hard. Visited that Argentum barge thing again, and saw Wumpa Island. Nothing much to say about ‘em.” Getting bored, she turned her attention toward Bancho. The Hot Pepper Tuna had been incredible, but for a hyperactive gal like Nadia one sushi dish was never enough. “Hey boss, can I get a Fried Onion Cuttlefish? Sounds like somethin’ that would ten-tickle my fancy.”

“Sure, but this one’s coming out of your salary,” he told her.

Down at the dockside storehouse where the Yokohama Trading Company employees were wrapping up work for the day, one of the side doors burst open suddenly as a man got thrown through and left sprawled out on the creaky boards. It was the man who’d been handling order fulfillment inside the building up at the counter, forking over the deliveries and their associated rebates As he lay there, groaning, a handful of other employees filed out with stony faces and deliberate steps, quickly forming a makeshift perimeter to discreetly passers-by away. That included Captain Falcon, who happened to be tricking nearby. “Hey, delivery boy! Scram!” one of the men barked, arms crossed. “We’re working here, so go fool around somewhere else!”

After another moment, an imposing man in a white suit over a gold-embroidered shirt stepped out. He had side-parted black hair, a soul patch, and a leering grimace. Though somewhat heavy-set, he possessed obvious strength and carried himself with confident authority. If Falcon managed to catch a glimpse of him as he made himself scarce, he would recognize this man based on the description given to him by Zhao: Mabuchi, a man with whom the owner of You Tian evidently had some history. Falcon wouldn’t get much more than that, though, since this group seemed very eager to make sure those in the vicinity all minded their own business. Even the buyers here to do business quietly turned away and shuffled off, leaving Mabuchi and his cohort to themselves.

“You idiot,” the man was snarling. “Just blow the lid on the whole operation, will you? This place isn’t some market stall, and we don’t take orders here, let alone mouth off about our system to strangers! Since you’re so eager to get chummy, maybe we oughta give a little back to the sharks to thank ‘em for all their fins.” He turned to one of the other workers, glowering. “And you, my clumsy little friend. Dropped a couple pons, huh? So nice of that same stranger to help you out…only, you didn’t think to double-check what he handed you, and now the cash is gone so we can’t know for sure. The hell do I pay you for!? If word gets out, our business is done for.”

Mabuchi seemed to be on the verge of blowing his lid, but after taking a deep breath through his teeth, the boss seemed to calm himself down. “Ah, well. Luckily, I’ve got bigger fish to fry. After tonight, things are gonna change around here. That so-called Mafia of cartoon villains will be history, along with anyone else in our way.”

At that moment, the lookout posted by the ocean came running over. “Boss! It’s coming!”

A nasty smile spread over Mabuchi’s face. “Speak of the devil. Get ready, boys.” His employees scrambled to make preparations of some sort. When the gangster stepped back into the storehouse, one of his underlings presented him with his signature weapon, a fearsome guan dao. Mabuchi took it in his hands and ran his thumb along the polearm’s gleaming blade. “Things are about to get interesting.”



While Sectonia confronted Edward and his forces at one of the Ivory Citadel’s towers, Uriel descended on the other like a hawk on a rabbit, swooping down with such speed that none of its horrific defenders had the slightest chance of stopping her. In a streak of holy light she slammed into the ballista, aiming to sever the knotted black cord used to propel the giant skewers through the air, but her Dawnbreaker sword fell just short as a the corruption drove a heavily-armored Angel Champion to interpose himself in her path, sacrificing himself to momentarily save the ballista and buy the others time. Around her, constructs, Affinities, and infected archers -some so far gone that they were little more than black mounds with bows- readied themselves for a counterattack. Realizing what had happened as her momentum came to a sudden halt, her blade wedged in her former comrade’s body, Uriel shook her head with a morose click of her tongue.

“Sorry, brother.”

Uriel kicked off him with a flip that freed her blade with one mighty yank, spattering burning corruption on the stone below as the champion toppled backward into the ballista, his stab wound smoldering with the light of dawn. She dropped into the squad of Affinities, landing on one whose head she crushed beneath her heel. Her blade cleaved through another’s leg in a fiery arc, dropping it to one knee, and she wheeled around to slash the polearm of a third in two. With its defense broken, it was powerless to resist as Uriel launched it with an upward slash, then hopped up to carve it in half with an overhead swing. “Foul creatures.” A fourth Affinity attempted to stab her in the back, but Uriel bent backward as if doing the limbo, her wings spread wide. Upside-down, she sent the polearm flying with an upward knee, then plunged her blade through the false angel’s chest and executed a backflip kick to send it stumbling. It bumbled into the fifth and final Affinity, knocking both against the battlement behind them, only for Uriel to bull forward and drive the sword through both of them at once.

As the four corrupted archers nocked their arrows, Uriel whirled around, both dying Affinities still on her blade to act as living shields. Once the arrows finished one off, she kicked the second off her sword with such force that it flew right into one of the archers, sending both sprawling, and the next second the fourth enemy’s weapon fell into her waiting grasp for her to hurl at another archer like a javelin, piercing its body with such force that it tumbled over the tower’s edge. That gave her just enough time to dodge away from the massive slam of a corrupted construct’s stone bludgeon, flattening the crippled Affinity in the process. “Hmph!” Uriel aimed a fiery slash at its wrist to shear through the pitch-black tentacles that operated the construct’s hand, then began to accelerate. She darted around the juggernaut, landing lightning-fast blows that built up searing sunlight. It whipped around with a mighty swing but just missed Uriel as she vaulted overhead, landing on its shoulders just as two more sludgy arrows hit the construct’s chest. “Begone.” A final cleave against the golem’s head triggered Dawnbreaker’s effect, and Uriel leaped clear as the construct exploded in a burst of glittering flame.

That left two archers, another construct, the ballista itself, and the champion as he staggered to his feet, greatsword in hand. Uriel sprinted forward, then slid on her knees beneath the champion’s unstoppable horizontal cleave. That put her directly in the path of an archer’s arrow, but with a swipe of her hand she destroyed the projectile in a burst of gold. She sprang to her feet and retaliated with some magic of her own, a spread-shot of golden stakes that pinned the archer to the battlement behind it and then blew both to smithereens in a blast of holy light. By that time the other construct finished covering its bludgeon with corruption, creating a huge bat spiked with yellow crystals, and it attacked alongside the champion. Uriel sidestepped the overhead slash from the latter, then leaped above a swing from the former. The corruption in the golem festered in its torso like a pot, with its head as lid, so she dropped with a plunging attack to sink her blade deep into the construct’s neck so the Dawnbreaker’s flames could eat away at its insides. She didn’t have enough time to finish it off like this, but she didn’t need to; the minions of the corrupted had already demonstrated total ignorance of the concept of friendly fire, so she could predict what would happen next

She waited for the angel champion to attack, then perfectly timed her dodge away. Aiming for her, her foe slammed his sword into the golem at full force, smashing a hole in its torso that allowed the corruption to flop out. Uriel moved quickly, attacking as many times as possible to build up to a fiery explosion and finish the second golem off. With just two enemies left, she took a second to look around, only to find nothing in the spot where she saw the archer last, and realize that it must have moved when she wasn’t looking. The next instant an arrow slammed into her hip, eliciting a pained grunt as she glared in the direction of the many-eyed archer, but by then the champion was attacking again. Uriel took flight, ripping off the compromised section of her armor as she did, then divebombed the archer to prevent that happening again. Only then did she realize her second mistake: that her maneuver put her directly in front of the ballista’s business end, and to her surprise the corruption-covered siege engine seemed to be operating on its own.

Luckily it wasn’t operating in cohesion with the champion.

The huge angel charged to unleash a massive downward thrust, and Uriel adjusted a few feet to the right. She hopped up in the nick of time and landed on the greatsword just after its tip pierced the ground, then ran up the flat of the blade to deliver a dropkick that knocked the top-heavy angel back once more. This time it fell against the ballista’s barbed bolt, which pierced through its chest. The corruption began to bond with itself, leaving both entities immobilized. Heart racing, Uriel exhaled deeply as she stood up straight. “Vile pestilence,” she spat. “Let us be rid of you.”

She darted forward, slicing with her Dawnbreaker again and again. The champion tried to fight, and the ballista tried to fire, but neither could touch her. As the daylight scars accumulated, the corruption itself seemed to cry out, until with a final flip Uriel hurled a handful of light stakes into the champion’s chest. They burst with a brilliant flash, and the Dawnbreaker effect caused a chain reaction, triggering another, even bigger explosion that destroyed both champion and ballista completely. “What a waste,” Uriel complained, looking to the skies. “Lady Palutena?” She glanced over at the other tower, noticing the short work Sectonia had made of it. “The ballistae are down, and the skies are clear.”

By the time Edward’s explosive trap destroyed the towers, the Hellguard’s captain was already gone.

Within the Ivory Citadel, though, the fighting had reached its peak. The angels and their leaders mowed through the corrupted grunts easily enough, and managed to persevere against both sycophants and ayfids despite the greater challenge, but when it came to the strongest Laguna in the area only the cream of the crop would suffice. Though Edelgard possessed great strength and durability, the Beloved she faced off against wielded its own axe with still more terrifying might, unleashing enormous swings that took advantage of the princess’s one weakness: her short stature and lackluster reach. At just 5’2”, she stood at just a fraction of the Beloved’s height, after all, and when it used a grab attack the doll-faced monster could pick her up like a child’s plaything. Worse still, it possessed the power to summon meteor showers against Edelgard and her angelic squad, hammering entire areas with magic at once to thin their racks. Still, if anyone could fell a mountain like this, it was the Flame Emperor. If she could get through the armor on its back, the large red pustule beneath its marble shell could be its downfall.

Midna and Pit found similarly staunch opposition in the form of Belief. Unlike its counterpart elsewhere in the Ivory Citadel, this Laguna monstrosity did not fight like a human at all. It wielded its snakelike whip arm with bestial ferocity, and when the cherubic faces on its front opened up, it revealed a toothy mouth with a spiked tongue that served as another, even more dangerous lash, and it could spit sticky green slime. It would happily use its arm to hurl chunks of rubble, blobs of corruption, or its own allies, while if it managed to constrict an enemy it could drain health via contact alone. Its opponents made for a potent combination, however, and if they could keep pace with its surprising speed victory was not out of the question.

As Palutena’s army worked through the Ivory Citadel, leaving its once-hallowed halls stained but silent, the second sky island in the corrupted chain began to stir. Once known as Citronpool Harbor, it had been a thriving skyport before the corruption, but now only voiceless horrors shambled through its blighted streets–and labored in its twisted shipyards.



After welcoming Kayna and Primrose to his table, Goldlewis kept things light and casual, splitting his attention between the lightshow down below and his guests. Even with important things to talk about in her absence, Goldlewis had no intention of being rude or rushing the monster rider through her meal, so he did his best to be his typical genial self. Luckily Kayna was very outgoing and easy to talk to, telling the others all about her exploits with exotic creatures throughout the region, as well as interesting sights both within and beyond Meridi-at-han. For the most part, in fact, she only stopped talking when eating, so it didn’t take much effort from Goldlewis to keep the dead air filled. With her help, it turned out to be quite the pleasant little interlude. Her enthusiastic descriptions of various monsters and keen speculations about their behaviors outlasted several plates full of food, but just as Kayna was starting to seem like a bottomless pit, she finally hit her limit and rose from her seat without any further ado.

Goldlewis returned her smile as the young woman bid the others farewell and took off. Seeing a youngster who wore her heart on her sleeve so earnestly filled him with a sort of vicarious joy. With her departure, however, the three Seekers could finally delve into the topic that brought them to the plateau city to begin with: their investigation of the surrounding regions and the high-priority targets therein. The veteran leaned back in his chair as he combed his wind-teased pompadour back into shape, discreetly scanning the tavern as he did. With the sun’s descent behind the horizon, night was setting in, so there weren’t that many more customers hanging around, and none who remained seemed to have any particular interest in Goldlewis or the others. It looked like the three of them were in the clear.

This impromptu meeting didn’t need much preamble–everyone knew why they were here. Primrose went first, offering what she’d managed to glean from the people of -and travelers to- this city. Her findings included several consuls, more details about nearby cities, and even the leadership of Esaka. As she reported one juicy tidbit after another, Goldlewis couldn’t help but be impressed. This dancer certainly had a way with people. Her discoveries almost completely eclipsed his own, since she managed to identify not just Esaka but the legendary quartet who held power there. Given his past experiences, Goldlewis couldn’t help but assume that any big city had consuls pulling the strings, if not outright ruling themselves. Were the Seekers looking at another Midgar situation, where the Guardian lay hidden in -or beneath- the region’s largest city? Then again, maybe that honor belonged to Shinjuku to the south, so he couldn’t be certain.

“I heard mostly the same stuff, but I also caught wind of the Frozen Highlands’ Guardian out west, or so it seems. They say there’s an ornery feller who he wanders the snowy wastes spoilin’ for fights, and he ain’t ever lost ‘cause he’s downright invincible. Don’t matter if it’s blades, bullets, or magic, the sonuvabitch just shrugs it off and keeps on sluggin’. I know all the Guardians y’all fought have been big ol’ monsters so far, but what better Guardian than one who’s invincible?” He stroked his whiskers, eyes narrowing. “Course, that presents somethin’ of a problem for us in an’ of itself, I reckon.”

It sounded like Primrose hadn’t fared much better than himself when it came to the City That Never Was, but the tale she told about the Transmission made it seem even scarier. That place would be a tough nut to crack, so hopefully the eggheads aboard the Avenger figured something out.

Before Roland could get into what he learned, a strange phenomenon began to actively disrupt the conversation. For some time now there had been intermittent rumbles, causing ripples in customers’ cups and slight clatter among the plates and silverware, but the shakes had been so minor that Goldlewis dismissed them as nothing worth worrying about. Now, though, the tremors had grown more frequent and much more intense, enough to be felt every other second. Confused and a little worried, the veteran rose to his feet, looking around for a source of the disturbance. This spot overlooking the market district afforded him a great view of the city center, but try as he might he couldn’t see any plausible explanation. “Some kinda earthquake?” he muttered.

After a moment, lights and sounds brought his eyes to the big top of the Grimm Troupe. Their tent had been ghoulish throughout the ongoing show, the frenzied flames and swooping shadows cavorting like demons from hell, stirred to madness by a wild symphony of unknown instruments played with frightful strength. It almost seemed like the swelling performance mirrored the intensification of the shockwaves, and suddenly Goldlewis recalled the ominous whispers about the Grimm Troupe portending disaster.

Apparently a number of civilians, alarmed by the tremors, had made that connection too, and the city guards seemingly agreed. Goldlewis could see that a number of them had gathered near the tent, prepared to charge into the chaos and bring the troupe’s act to a stop. But before they could intercede, disaster struck–only, it seemed to have struck the Troupe itself, for their big top was on fire. The dance of scarlet flames stopped cold, and the music vanished with startling suddenness, quickly replaced by the pandemonium of people yelling, shoving, and running for their lives. Something had gone horribly wrong.

“Hmph,” Goldlewis grunted, reaching down. With one giant mitt he seized the chain attached to the massive coffin by the table, which he hefted over his shoulder. When he knocked on its lid, it cracked open just wide enough to admit a blue glow and an elongated arm that reached down and laid enough zenny on the table to cover the veteran’s meal. “It’s always something, ain’t it,” he groused. “Let's lend ‘em a hand.”

As he gathered himself to vault over the railing, however, Goldlewis noticed something. Even after the performance of the Grimm Troupe stopped, the ground continued to shake, the tremors growing louder and stronger still. That realization gave him pause as he looked around again. If the bugs weren't to blame for the disturbance, who was…?

After a moment, the noisy report of an instrument rang out over the chaos, but it didn’t belong to the Troupe. Instead it was the horn of the city guard, resounding from the direction of the southern gate. When Goldlewis turned to look, he was shocked to see a giant shape rising above the buildings, dimly silhouetted against the purple clouds by the last rays of the setting sun. “What in tarnation!?” It was a head, and it belonged to an ape of immense size, a three-story giant with sharp teeth, grown fur, and a disproportionately large head. With one mighty heave George climbed into Meridi-at-han, hitting the ground with a tremendous slam that shook foundations, rattled windows, and tore screams from the crowds of citizens as panic filled the streets. As if that wasn’t enough, two more giant monsters were scaling the plateau city even now: the green-scaled crocodilian Lizzie and a fang-toothed blue wolf, Ralph. All three began to go on a rampage, pounding the buildings around them and swatting or even eating civilians. Luckily, most of the horrified circus-goers were already out of the burning tent by now, and as they fled the guards rushed over to try and keep the monsters busy.

As the crowd scattered, Grimm himself emerged from the burning tent at a leisurely pace. With the real culprits behind the quake revealed, the Troupe had been all but forgotten, and the immolation of their tent was a foregone conclusion. Brumm and the others were already scrambling to move the wagons beyond the reach of the hungry tongues of flame. Unfortunately for the witch, protecting the Procession of Shadows and the Nightmare Lantern within was the Troupe’s number-one priority, more important than their tent, their show, their guests, or even their own lives. In addition to the weevil-like Grimmstead that pulled it, three more bugs stood between the scheming sorceress and her prize, all shrouded in volumes of black cloth. Two wielded curved swords and one a mace, but all bore torches of scarlet flame.

Behind Grimm, meanwhile, followed a crowd of his Grimmkin, torches in hand, and his scarlet gaze fixed on the rampaging monsters. After a moment black claw extended from beneath his cloak, and the ringmaster snapped his fingers.

”Let us give our new guests a warm welcome.”

At his razor-sharp whisper the Grimmkin took flight, loosed upon the waking world like vengeful spirits. They spread out over the monsters’ heads, well our of reach, and hurled scarlet fireballs. Grimm himself bowed toward the giant ape, then threw open his cloak. A handful of firebats flew through the dusk to explode against George’s hairy back, setting him alight. But when the ape wheeled around with an angry bellow, he found no trace of whoever burned him. George beat his chest, and his roar shook the city.

Of course, by the time Grimm took the field, the Seekers were already in motion. Goldlewis unleashed a small tremor of his own as he landed on the terrace beneath the tavern, his coffin slung over his back. The big top was beyond saving, but the heroes could still fight for the people. “Alrighty then, folks,” he called to the others. In addition to Grimm Troupe and the Sun Guard, he found a number of armed adventurers trickling in from throughout the city to aid in Meridi-at-han’s defense. Seeing Ralph nearby, he took off running. “Let’s take ‘em out!”

---

Juri chuckled lowly at Rika and Junior, seeing them as floundering for excuses. At Rika’s question about whether or not she was going to betray the mafia, she sighed. If she cared about them admitting to doing anti-Mafia activities, she didn’t show it.

”’Bad guys’ huh? Yeah, you really are just a couple of kids. I don’t follow anyone’s rules, and I do what I wanna do. Any doctrine tellin’ you how people are ‘supposed’ to act is just a buncha bullcrap trying to get you to do what someone else wants.” She said, shaking her glass around before taking a sip.

At Junior and Rika’s suggestion about her gun, she glanced over her shoulder at the thing. ”What are you, some kinda whiz kid?” Guns weren’t really her area of expertise. In her experienced they tended to pale in comparison to her martial arts. Juri had been viewing the tommy gun as a toy and a noisemaker, to be used for fun. Pull the trigger and make some havoc happen. When she got serious, she would use her hands and feet. But if the little turtle could make it shoot fire bullets or something, why not? If he broke it, he would owe her. If he succeeded, she could set three hundred things on fire per minute. It was a win-win.

”You wanna make it set stuff on fire? Sure, knock yourself out.” She said. She wasn’t going to offer to pay for their services unless they asked. She made no move to hand it over at the moment, though, assuming he had some type of toy workshop they'd have to visit first.

Juri turned to Geralt. ”Not just any ol’ giant bird. A huge one. A supermassive bird. If you think ‘maybe’ then it wasn’t big enough. From what I heard we’ll know it when we see it.” She narrowed her eyes at the fake pons.

”A counterfeit ring?” She asked. ”Gimme that.” She reached out to snatch the pon and look it over between her fingers. She wasn’t aware of anything like this. ”Someone else must be muscling in. I woulda heard about this if it was the Chef Mafia.” She went to take a bite into the fake pon, trying to get an idea of what it was made of.

Now came Therion, speaking about Consuls, and some town called Limsa. Which Miss Fortune followed up on.

”So, messing with their little forever war operation draws the Consuls out of hiding, huh? Might be worth dropping by to see if we can’t whack a few lieutenants while they’re busy. We don’t want them messin’ with us while we hunt for Guardians, right?” Juri said.

”To them, bloodshed is a product they export. We break the supply chain like we would to rattle any other criminal operation.” Juri grinned. ”Won’t do much good to the innocent chumps of Limsa or whatever, the Consuls will sic some other attack dogs on it as soon as we leave. But playing peacemaker does give us the opportunity to snap the right necks and make our lives easier down the road.” She said callously, pushing her plate away.

”So, what? Maybe some of us could scout for the Guardians, some others go kill some Consuls? I’m partial to assassinating at least one in the area before hunting the Guardian. In my experience, going after the boss is easier when you’ve cut off their right hand, first.” Juri rolled her right wrist from side to side to demonstrate. The idea of some uncontested Consul tracking them down while they themselves were trying to track down a giant bird was an annoying one. She’d much rather kill her enemies on her own terms, which meant going on the offensive.

Exhaling another puff from his cigar, the man decided that was enough. No sense in smoking himself into a haze if trouble could arrive at a moment's notice. Flipping the tube around to watch the red-hot ignition light slowly fade away, the man fanned the device before placing it back into his suit pouch. As the sunset horizon slowly began to reveal a vantablack ocean of glittering stars hiding among the fading hues, he looked back toward the port and resumed his expressionless people-watching. That was, until he heard the rattling, whirring and clanging of a standard bicycle being pushed to its absolute limit. He didn't have to look far; angling his gaze down at the port below and observing a suspiciously muscle-bound man clad in a Crazy Eats pizza uniform as they zipped across destinations. Even with security having died down at the port, he was sure that the local Mafia wouldn't take too kindly to the rubber skids on the pavement and various stretches of scuffed metal from the bike grinding along stairway rails. Regardless, it wasn't his problem to deal with. If anything, the eatery responsible for employing the guy would have to explain away their local space cadet. As ridiculous as it was, however, it was also entertaining to watch.

A few more zips, dips, twists and turns, then the man on the bike careened near a dockyard storefront. Just as the man completed his turn on approach, the store doors burst open in a cacophony of noise- led by the flung body of a man who sprawled across the boards seconds later as he struggled to re-orient himself to his feet. The horned man said nothing as he watched from the overlook; only making out the harsh deterring barks of the filing-out employees toward the deliveryman who had unintentionally skirted too close to their perimeter. Finally, stepping out of the entryway was a man in a pearled suit. Though slightly on the heavier side, the head honcho himself made no mistake in ensuring the underling on the ground knew exactly who was in charge- and it was evident to even other storefronts and commuters who, upon observing the rapidly evolving scene, altered their course to circumvent or avoid the area entirely. The boss was red in the face, and almost surely spitting in the air from his displeasure. Yet further analysis had stopped, as the mercenary had left his position on the overlook and began moving down the stairs toward the dock. This had taken his attention entirely.

Around halfway down the stairs leading into the port, the suit-clad man vaulted over the side railing as he landed to the ground below with a muted thud. The port gave way to the docks with sixty yards of separation, and a whole lot of active and scattered street lights illuminating the way as they began to cycle on. The docks and the storehouse were normally public access from mariners to commercial and corporate boats, but with the situation he may as well be heading into a restricted area. All the more reason to avoid using any weapons if the situation got ugly. The man slinked and snaked his way from pallet stack to forklift in a bounding pattern- momentarily pausing to peak, analyze, then move as he gradually encroached toward the situation at the docks. His movements so far had been calculated, precise- almost becoming some uncanny synchronization between instinct, intuition, and muscle-memory. Positioning himself against a blue heavy cargo container, the man sidestepped over to the far left of the giant metal rectangle- careful not to overexpose himself from the lip. Now he could hear the angry spitting of the man, still scolding the utterly terrified employee who didn't say a word in his defense- not like he could at this rate. Snippets of the boss's rant now reached his ears- it seems like that kid ran his mouth to the wrong people, but the 'operation' to eliminate the Mafia- along with everyone 'else', made him scowl. He could care less about the Mafia, but with civilians caught in the crossfire? That potentiality was something he would not allow.

With an estimated twelve feet between them, his mind had run through scenarios. Get them to leave the kid alone? Confrontation was probable if he just showed up and said so. His usual method of non-lethal elimination meant that he would have to wait until the group dispersed to pick them off one by one, and when they did, the kid probably wouldn't make it before then. Killing them was out of the question- a waste of ammo and his time. He just had to-

"Boss! It's coming!"

The man arched his brow as the group of men had dispersed to prepare for the arrival of something. Peeking over the lip of the container, the man watched as one of the store employees held a bladed polearm out to give to the commandeering figure. Dipping back into the shadow of the container wall, his crimson arm reached over and withdrew his tactical .45 from its holster. He'd lost sight of the bike-riding pizzaman, but as far as he knew the guy had probably gotten the message.

”You bet I am!” Jr responded to the ‘wizz kid’ question, having been entirely willing to work on the gun right here on the table despite how silly that notion was. When he didn’t get what he wanted he just slumped back in a huff again. He did have to admit, to himself and to no one else, that Juri’s whole ‘take no nonsense from nobody’ attitude was actually kinda cool even if she was also kinda a jerk.

Rika meanwhile was more, well maybe not concerned, but tuned in to the state of the deep blue. It was where she had been born, so to speak, after all.

”So they just went and replaced the fleet? Just like that?” she asked, before glancing at her brother and asking ”That’s one of those ‘irony’ things, right? Because that’s how the fleet treated everything like me as disposable, but in the end the whole fleet was all that to I, big bosses included” and then upon getting a nod stated rather flatly that ”I don’t get how Irony is meant to be that funny though. I think it just makes me feel worse”

Jr gave his sister a hesitant pat on the arm (he couldn't reach her shoulder) but Rika wasn’t done being a downer

”Also I guess things are just worse now over there strategically? The fleet never really got close to the city, just threatened it a bunch I think? Plus getting used to fighting on land as a ship girl is a real pain” she added after that vocalized bit of self reflection, looking briefly confused about feeling empathy for the entire navy when she’d barely considered them before. Rather than reflect on that as well however, she sidestepped the feelings and instead wondered ”I wonder where I got the cannon ship from anyway, if it's that dangerous?” throwing a bone to Jr in the process that got him talking.

”Maybe it just spawned after we beat the fleet? Must be something that stops new stuff from being popped in while old stuff is there. Asgore said whole places would get repopulated overnight, and seeing as places that don’t get, uh, all unpopulated don’t just flood with stuff then it must be reactive to when there's, I dunno, space?” Jr theorized before complaining that ”Also I guess guardians are the only things they can’t replace, coz even if we knock down one of these Consuls, apparently they can just make someone else into a new one. So I dunno how much of a point there is in going after them”

He did however note that ”Kinda weird that none of them jumped on the possibility of getting one of their own ‘lieutenants’ powered up though, and so in the end that crazy C guy made Peach into one as a… a joke or something?”

”So maybe we can go back to the city, sink the ship, and then sink I when she shows up afterwards? If it’ll take them a bit to replace her, we can use that space to go take down the big bird” Rika suggested before adding ”Plus I don’t think I like Consul I very much? I mean, the fleet would have been the way they were anyway, probably, but it's all also kind of her fault”

”Huh. I guess so” jr tentatively agreed. It was sort of a Galeem situation if he thought about it though. The state of Rika’s life was both it and I’s fault, but that in a way included her existing at all, which left him strangely grateful to them in a way he did not like.

Rika, it seemed, did not have this dilemma, declaring simply ”So I think I really want her dead” before going back to munching on what was left of their meal.

As Zenkichi watched the circus, letting himself be taken in by the festivities, he gasped along with the other patrons when a ball of fire exploded against the top of the tent, before beginning to consume the tent. People screamed, launching out of their seats and scrambling towards the exits, crashing into each other and shoving each other about. Zenkichi stood with a sigh, grunting as somebody shoved past him.

”Jeeze…” He muttered, squaring his shoulders and entering the crowd, using his height to see what was going on ahead of everybody. The Grimm Troupe had all but abandoned the crowd, making Zenkichi roll his eyes. Bunch of jerks… he thought as the crowd managed to escape the tent, spreading out to a new horror: a trio of massive monsters attacking the city. A giant ape, a giant werewolf, and a giant crocodile on two legs. They were acting like stereotypical monsters, destroying buildings, killing people, and generally causing mayhem.

Well, he supposed it wasn’t super surprising that the city surrounded by a bunch of big monsters got attacked by a bunch of big monsters. It still sucked, though. The crocodile-looking one was closest to the tent, so Zenkichi took off after it, Phantom Thief attire appearing on him. He drew his newly-purchased weapon, the one that looked and felt more like it was just a giant club of iron, and leapt at Lizzie. Her massive size meant that he was more like a particularly annoying squirrel in relation, but the sheer bulk of his weapon, and the force he put behind it, meant it still did some damage. In return, he got a kick to the body, which launched him back, ragdolling as he tumbled head-over-heels into a wall, crashing through it and stopping on the other side of the ruined home he was now in.

”Oooowwwwww…” He groaned, forcing himself back up. Note to self: buff before attacking giant monsters. Probably defense in this case. It didn’t do him any good to die in two hits, after all. ”Alright, here goes. Restoration protocol, activate!” He cried as he stepped out of the home, Sandalphon’s Covenant transforming from Preservation Protocol to the aforementioned Restoration. ”Now, Valjean! Rakukaja!” The familiar feeling of a major defense buff eased some of Zenkichi’s worries, and the healing light that washed over him took quite a bit of the edge off.

Zenkichi ran in after her, pointing upwards at Valjean appeared once again. ”No holding back! One-Shot Kill!” He yelled, and Valjean obeyed, lashing out with its chains as a massive spectral bullet crashed into Lizzie, knocking her back a step. The healing that revitalized him from the Covenant felt nice, but the monster’s attention being pulled directly onto him most certainly did not. ”Uh oh…” He sighed, hefting his greatsword to try and mitigate some of the incoming damage.

Thankfully, between the obscene heft of the greatsword, and Rakukaja’s defense buff, he only found himself being pushed back by the punch, instead of launched away. A group of Sun Guard warriors ran past, using bows and a variety of anachronistically high-tech weapons to attack the monster. Huh, those were pretty cool, actually.

Returning his attention to Lizzie, Zenkichi decided to try one of his new moves. He dodged around her leg while she was distracted for a moment, and lifted the greatsword, power and flames coalescing around it as he charged. He let the flames build until they were almost impossible to see past, at which point he slammed his sword into the ground, cracking the stone and unleashing a chain of explosions around him, burning away a few of the scales on her heel.

Lizzie roared in response, reaching down to grab Zenkichi and attempt to crush him, most of the air forced from his body. He managed to gather just enough breath to utter a damage curse, however:

”Megi…dolaon!” As Lizzie squeezed tighter, practically screaming in his face to shut him up, Zenkichi smirked as a bolt of light crashed into Lizzie’s head, Megidolaon catching her off guard and causing her to drop him.

”Oooowwwwwww….that…that really freakin’ hurt…” He groaned as he staggered to his feet. Restoration Protocol had triggered too early to mitigate the damage from the fall, though it had still just about topped him up beforehand. His knees just didn’t enjoy that. A pair of Sun Guards rushed up to him, one helping him up, while the other fired what looked like an armless repeating crossbow up at the monster.

“Let’s go, sir! You’ve done enough!” The man yelled as he pulled Zenkichi up. “Duvad, we’re pulling back!” The man with the Rattler, apparently Duvad, turned back to nod, but both Zenkichi and the Sun Guard gaped in shock as the man was launched into a wall from a kick, crashing to the ground, groaning weakly. "DUVAD!!!!" He shouted, hauling Zenkichi to his feet before pulling him into a dead sprint, racing after the dying man. “No, Duvad! Stay with me!” He begged, grabbing his friend and desperately doing whatever he could to help.

Zenkichi, however, knew what to do. ”Rakukaja!” Staring directly at Duvad, the buff, followed by Sandalphon’s Restoration Protocol, washed over the man, and he gasped as his wounds were brought from imminently fatal to merely grievous, both guards looking at Zenkichi in shock. ”Get him out of here. I have a monster to fight.” He simply ordered, the Sun Guard nodding before carefully lifting Duvad and dragging him out of there.

“Sun go with you, hero. Kill that thing.” Followed Zenkichi as he ran back in, revolvers blazing at Lizzie.

After snagging a pair of chopsticks in order to pilfer portions of his comrade's plates, Therion spun the utensils in his hand while he listened to everyone finish their reports and speculate on what move to make next. He'd been picking off pieces of norimaki and various kinda of sashimi from Junior and Rika's huge amount of food, having gotten a lot better with the chopsticks since the first time he'd attempted to use them.

All in all, while some had more to show for their week in town it sounded like none of them had anything more concrete than what he'd already heard. Not all that surprising, because if it was easy to come by the information they were looking for then it might not have fallen to them to fix the world in the first place. And as for what they were going to do with the little information they had, well...

"When we were underground, that F guy kept coming after us. Getting at least one Consul out of the way first would be a big help," he said, agreeing with Juri. It's what they'd done in the Under. However, though he somewhat understood what Rika was feeling he couldn't exactly agree with taking on 𝙸. "But think about this. If 𝙸's area already lost its Guardian, she's probably just concerned with refilling her 'clock.' If it's a Consul we're after, we should be looking at V instead. Or whoever else runs around in the forest."

If V was active enough that rumors about them had reached all the way to Mafia Town, it shouldn't be that difficult to find and confront them. As long as the relationship between V and their fellow Consul in the Twilight Forest area was about the same as the one between P and F, they might be able to take out the one Consul without the other interfering. Leaving 𝙸 alone was most likely in their best interest, even if it was a little callous to completely disregard Limsa. It definitely was their fault that the current attacks were happening since they'd upset the previous balance, but they had to consider what was more important: spreading themselves thin to protect every place they'd been to, or coordinating their group to take down Guardians in new areas? Therion would vote for the latter.

And though he was in favor of culling the Consuls when needed, he wasn't in favor of splitting up to do it. At least not with the small group they had here in Mafia Town. Still new to their whole operation, Juri was underestimating their power. The team that had gone to the Under lucked out with the Consuls there; because with their abilities of time and space manipulation, if either of them had focused on actually killing the Seekers instead of playing games then they would have taken more losses than just the allies who'd succumbed to the Infection. Therion shot Juri a look, his one visible eyebrow furrowed. "If we get the rest of the team over here, sure."

He stuck around to hear everyone's thoughts, but once the discussion began to wind down he planned to split up from them again. Maybe look a little more into the Argentum and see if they could easily exchange pons for zenny or some other less cumbersome currency.

Well, things were still boring. Geralt left, and there wasn't much going on. Since Blazermate couldn't hear what was going on below, and really couldn't read lips, she saw what she assumed was either a higher up or 'boss' of the non mafia group involved with this trading thing coming out with his weapon. To be fair, that wasn't all that unusual since people everywhere had weapons. Getting bored, she decided to fly off and follow Geralt to see what he was doing.

On the way there though, Blazermate saw a flower shop run by... an anime pretty boy? Well, that might not be boring! She decided to give it a quick glance. She landed and went inside and while she saw the marketing outside this was just a flower shop! Well, there was a bit of merchandise of the anime pretty boy, but not really anything she was interested in, nor was the anime boy here himself! Granted, if she had a more permanent place she might grab a poster or something but as it was there wasn't much she could really grab.

Although perhaps she should leave the store with something. It was a flower shop, so why not some flowers? She had some pons from healing Mafia out from time to time, so buying a small bit of flowers to show her friends wasn't too difficult. With a small bunch of flowers in hand, she flew back to follow Geralt back to the Bancho Sushi where the others were as well.

"Oh hey, hows it going everyone?" Blazermate said as she saw Geralt move over to a table with many of the other seekers. "Anyone seen all the weird stuff going on at the docks? Some guy in a flashy outfit seems to be doing some weird deal down there."

---

Looking at the circus below, it seemed to have quite the display as the show began. Although it seemed the fire probably wasn't part of the show. And then came the quakes... At first Roland thought they were part of the show... but then the real source of those tremors came and boy was it a doozy.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Roland said in a disparaging voice as he saw the three giant monsters invading the town, smashing buildings and causing chaos. "I heard rumors about these things, but they're attacking the city? This is going to be a challenge..." Roland said as he put his mask on to get to work. Taking out a giant monster... it wasn't his first time but for the life of him he couldn't remember the other time. He knew he did take one out... he just couldn't remember it.

At least these creatures weren't causing chaos unabated. They summoned all the adventurers of the city to start to deal with them, and form the looks of it, some of them had some experience. Roland himself decided to go for the first one that appeared, the ape George. Out of the three, he seemed like the leader anyway and being the first one to appear was the one with what looked like the most adventurers fighting him, granted there were so many on each of the kaiju it was hard to tell.

Before he joined the fight though, he looked around at the others and how they were going about things. It seemed defeating the alligator Lizzie was in hand as some seekers went for him, although the third Kaiju didn't have anyone he noticed going after it at the moment.

Roland looked around the ape again and saw an interesting sight. Oscar of the Wedge office was in this fight! Well... he wasn't part of the wedge office now. Instead he just seemed to be a skilled lancer. Roland had only briefly dealt with the man, but whatever Roland remembered of him was quickly put aside due to what happened directly after. Still, it was a bit interesting to see someone he knew... if vaguely.

Roland made his way to the Kaiju. Getting Oscar's attention ended up being a bit easier than he expected, with the crocodile noticing those around its toes and stomped, knocking them all back. Roland used this opportunity to flag down Oscar, who was getting ready for another go.

"Oy, Oscar!" Roland said, getting the fixers attention. The... fasionable fixer gave Roland a glance but didn't say much. "What do you want?". "I've got a plan to get that thing down on its knees to make it a lot easier to take down. But I'm going to need a boost." Oscar looked at Roland, but didn't recognize him. He did however sense that Roland was more experienced than him, although not being in the City meant Oscar didn't have fixer ranks on his mind. Still though, this fool could be sending himself to his death or have a good plan, but he at least looked more there than the other adventurers here. "Sure kid." he said.

Thanks to the distraction of the others and a boost from Oscar, Roland climbed up the creature and being up midway, started to use his own strikes on the hips of the creature. He'd prefer to get to the head, but it was a bit too big right now, and with a few.... choice hits, Roland was sure he could get the thing to collapse which would help a lot more than a single person smacking it in the face. Rolling the floor of Philosiphy for this fight, Roland went in swinging using his large hammer to smack the giant ape right in the weakspot of every guy in an attempt to get it to kneel over so those below could get some much better hits. Normally Roland would feel bad about doing something like this, if the thing he wasn't attacking was a giant cartoon looking monster.

As they traded blows, both Edelgard and Beloved felt the damage their foe was dealing. For Beloved, each strike was little more than a chip in its marble form, but Edelgard had allies healing her, greatly slowing Beloved’s progress in defeating her. Roaring with corrupted fury, it leaned down and grabbed the Flame Emperor bodily, lifting her up and squeezing her. Edelgard let out a cry of pain even as her Featherstaffs poured on the healing, but the few that could take their attention away from the featherswords holding off Corrupted reinforcements could not take away all of the damage.

Beloved slammed Edelgard into the ground, hefting its ax and swinging it to summon a magical meteor swarm, which the Feathershields had almost no time to react to. A number of Featherswords and Featherstaffs died in the attack, though one quick Shield managed to reflect part of the attack with its Reflect Magic. Beloved was not deterred, however, and it lashed out with a kick to Edelgard, which she had much less time to react to.

Barely hefting her shield in time, Edelgard was nonetheless knocked off balance and exposed to a follow-up attack, which crashed her into the floor with meteoric force. Beloved roared in triumph, stepping over and past Edelgard to attack the Featherstaffs and Feathershields that had been helping her. They scattered, giving ground to warn the rearguard of the impending threat, though each knew that Edelgard would not be felled by such a blow.

True to form, she rose once more, fury blazing in her eyes as she watched Beloved swat a Feathershield away like a gnat, the angel crashing into the Citadel’s wall and slumping as it dissolved into ash. She stalked forward, pointing at the marble colossus and launching a fireball at it. The magic struck true, fire licking at Beloved’s back and earning a bellowing shriek of surprise as it turned to face Edelgard. The assembled angels took that moment to swarm Beloved, Swords taking to the air to crash into its back and head, Bows firing arrows like machine guns at its back and joints, while the Shields held back the Corrupted lines and Staffs kept the group alive, mending wounds and firing blasts of energy between bouts of healing.

The swarm of foes caused Beloved to lash out with magic once more, but this time the Shields were ready, and the Black Eagle Strike Force showed the Corrupted exactly what it meant to be lead by an Emperor. With a single cry from a Sword, the shieldbearers and melee frontliners seamlessly swapped places, the Feathershields hefting their shields and using everything they had to block as much damage as they could, while the Bows got out of dodge, flying up and away from the impacts of the meteor swarm. The Staffs stayed to heal the survivors, and Edelgard took the opportunity to strike.

Beloved’s massive frame meant that it could close distance much quicker than Edelgard, but it also meant that Edelgard had plenty of target to hit. As soon as Beloved was distracted, she lowered her shield and struck, Aymr crashing into Beloved’s heel, again and again. Her Featherbows launched fusillades of arrows into its face, while Edelgard chopped a gouge into its leg from behind. Soon, the Corrupted champion fell to its knee, giving Edelgard her chance. She dropped her shield entirely, kicking it aside so as not to let it be damaged, and she leapt onto Beloved’s back. She dug her boots into its body, finding whatever purchase she could as she used Aymr like an ice ax, pulling herself onto the Corrupted champion with a grunt. Freeing her ax, she lifted it as high as she could, and struck with all her might, slamming the blade of her False Hero’s Relic into the same spot she’d hit with a fireball earlier.

The piercing crack of marble breaking was like music to Edelgard’s ears, and she smiled as Beloved thrashed beneath her, its elbow lashing out wildly to try and knock her off. Instead of colliding with her, it met a barrier and halted. Edelgard smirked as her second Crest saved her, and before Beloved could recover, she struck again, Aymr cracking through and punching a hole in the monster’s back. Within lied an angry, glowing red pustule of corruption, and Edelgard raised her ax to strike once more, but Beloved rallied as its inevitable demise drew closer, thrashing its body wildly and bucking Edelgard from its back.

The Corrupted champion rose once more, roaring in demonic fury, and leapt backwards before launching yet another barrage of magical meteoroids at the Black Eagles. Yet again, the Shields took defensive positions, but this time the Corrupted were more ready. They slipped past the Swords, abandoning the melee they’d been locked into, and spread out, targeting the defending Shields, the dodging Bows, and the healing Staffs. The battle went from a well-organized fight to a chaotic flailing of weapons, and Edelgard found herself wading back into the fight, taking down Corrupted left and right to free up her angels. ”Do not falter, Black Eagles! This will take everything we have! For Lady Palutena!”

A surprised little hum of acknowledgement from Primrose followed Goldlewis' report about the Guardian in the region west of them. A person serving as a 'Guardian' was certainly a departure from the norm so far, and if he was moving around it might be harder to find him. Then again maybe not, if what Goldlewis' had heard about the man seeking battles was true. And though his invincibility would pose a problem at first, Primrose was of the mind that all power like that came with exceptions. They just needed to figure out how to get around it, whether it was a ritual to perform or divine power they needed to obtain.

Further speculation would have to wait, as trouble found them like it usually did.

"That was quick," Primrose mused, glancing at the burning tents. Was this part of the show? Surely not. And the sudden appearance of huge monsters definitely wasn't either, as someone who seemed to be the ringmaster moved to engage them. And was that Zenkichi down there? With all of the Seekers in the Forbidden Kingdom gathered, hopefully the could help handle this before the damage was too great.

Primrose herself joined in after following Goldlewis and Roland as they leapt from the terrace they'd been dining on. She alighted behind the front lines while the others charged ahead. If there were ever a time that the power of Sealticge could be put on full display, it was here - with a multitude of allies. So before anything else, Primrose danced.

She performed Sealticge's Seduction first for an audience of one, that being herself. She stepped and spun, running one hand up her opposite arm and across her chest as she gracefully dipped her head. It was too late to spread Zenkichi's Rakukaja to everyone, but she followed his lead with a defense buff of her own. She swiftly and smoothly transitioned into the Mole Dance, the low and short movements improving not just her own defense, but the defense of every single person she perceived as being on her side against these monsters. The Seekers felt the familiar sense of Primrose's dance buff take effect on them - and so did the Sun Guard, the members of the Grimm Troupe, and the city's adventurers that had stepped up to help and the circus' audience that had yet to flee (including a certain witch).

More so than the extra defense, the defenders could also feel some of their stamina return to them. That's new, Primrose thought to herself, feeling the sensation as well. She'd generally tried not to get into real trouble during her stay, so even though she'd be dancing in the city this was the first time she'd been dancing in battle. She took full advantage of the little re-invigoration, concentrating the flame of a pyromancy in her hand. The fire burned hot, grew condensed, and then reignited in a plume of dark black flames.

Part of those fighting to defend the city was the young woman that had just shared part of a meal with the Seekers. A little disappointed at what she perceived to be a trick gone wrong with the tent caught fire, Kayna has stuck around to see if she could help - so when the monsters invaded she was in a prime position to join the front line. With a shrill whistle she summoned her own monster, its speed and powerful legs letting it swiftly climb into the city proper from where it had been waiting. Though no where near the size of the violent giants, her blue scaled raptor was easily twice the size of a human. It weaved through the fleeing citizens and came to a halt beside her, and she wasted no time climbing onto the saddle strapped to its back.

"Ride on! Let's go, Avmar!" she said, and her raptor let out a reptilian bark. Kayna and Avmar sped into battle, the latter leaping at Ralph and slashing deep with its huge talons. With a growl Ralph went to slap them away, but the Velocidrome was too fast for it - especially with his rider guiding him.

Kayna and her monstie were back on the ground, evading the massive wolf's claws and running to attack the next giant when a huge black fireball struck Ralph in the chest. The Black Fire Orb exploded on impact, spreading its dark flames over Ralph's fur. It howled in pain and shook itself as though it were wet rather than on fire, managing to reduce the burning area to singe and smolder. Its crazed eyes searched for its latest assailant, but Primrose was farther than Ralph could reach without eating through the attackers between them. Naturally it began to try that, snapping its fangs together menacingly and swiping at those closest to it. Meanwhile, Primrose was already preparing another fireball.

By the time both he and Edelgard had dismounted from Orthos, Roxas had more or less already made his decision on where to go. And while she told him he was free to go join up with the other Seekers if he wanted, Roxas was choosing to remain with the Black Eagles for the time being. Traversing the fields of battle to find his friends would have taken more time that Roxas thought would be put to better use helping out where he could right here with the Black Eagle Strike Force.

His own fighting style and abilities were actually quite a far cry from the Flame Emperor’s, Roxas being much more inclined toward speed, agility, and stringing together multiple attacks at a time. But such a thing could be put to use here, especially now that he had acquired a few abilities from the spirit he had fused with aboard the Avenger. Roxas adopted a strategy similar to what he employed against Consul Z when he fought his forces aboard the Virgin Victory a week ago. He kept himself on the move, striking at Corrupted angels with either his StepSword or his Keyblades but never fully committing to staying engaged with them. After all, the Featherbows and Featherswords from Edelgard’s unit could pretty handily finish them off after Roxas softened them up first and vice versa.

But Roxas also took advantage of some of his newfound Squire techniques as well. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, Roxas would use Steel on a nearby Feathersword, Feathershield, or Featherbow to boost their bravery and help ensure their attacks didn’t falter. And on other occasions, Roxas would even use Tailwind on a nearby Featherstaff to increase their speed so they could make their way to allies in need of healing more quickly. He could only apply these buffs to one ally at a time, but every little bit helps and sometimes even a single action can make all the difference. Something else Roxas kept in mind was his MP. A larger scale battle like this was no place for him to squander his MP and have to survive for the length of time it would take for it to recharge. That was why he kept his attacks mostly to just the StepSword or basic Keyblade strikes - to conserve MP and not use it unless something drastic came up.

And when the hulking commander of the Corrupted forces entered the fray and literally towered over everyone, that seemed like the time to go ahead and employ some MP. Edelgard was bravely facing the giant behemoth head on and this appeared to do wonders for the morale of her Strike Force. For the moment, Roxas decided not to get in their way and instead try to keep the Corrupted at bay as much as a lone Keyblade Wielder could. To this end, he was more willing to employ spells like the occasional Blizzaga or Thundaga to keep from getting totally overwhelmed. It wasn’t a perfect strategy, and he still took some hits here and there, which required a nearby Featherstaff to send some healing his way to fix - but overall he was doing as well as he could under the circumstances. But a loud sound of cracking marble did eventually draw his attention back to the fight with Beloved.

There was Edelgard, clinging to the monster’s back and literally breaking it open with her mighty ax. Roxas saw all this in time to see her get bucked from the monster’s back and sent back to the ground. Okay, now it was time to step in and lend a hand. The Keybearer finished off the Corrupted he was engaged with and made a break for Beloved’s direction. He put up a small wall of virtual cubes behind him to discourage any Corrupted who were trying to chase him so that he could lock his attention on the enemy commander.

”My turn!” He shouted as he darted past Edelgard in full sprint. Beloved hefted his own ax to try and bring it crashing down on the boy foolishly charging at him, but the fast and nimble Roxas proved a far harder target to hit. The Keyblade in Roxas’ left hand vanished, and a split second later so did the Nobody himself, thus avoiding the ax chop altogther. Roxas then reappeared in midair directly behind Beloved, having used his StepSword to instantly move himself in a position to strike at the commander’s exposed back with the now-ignited energy blade extended from his left gauntlet. And he instantly followed that with a flurry of midair keyblade strikes that ended off with him unleashing a powerful Cross Slash.

Not that any of this was going to go unanswered, of course. Beloved flailed itself to try and punish Roxas’ attack, but was of course hampered by his own size and bulk in that regard. So the Nobody was able to use Flow Motion to maneuver himself out of harm’s way and hit the ground hard with a somersault that let him end up more or less next to where Edelgard now stood.

”Heal!” He cried with an upraised Keyblade. This called a green and leafy ring of healing to wash over himself and the nearby Edelgard, plus any of the other Black Eagles who happened to be within the spell’s radius. By that point he was down to his last little bit of MP so he figured he might as well use it for a Curaga to take at least some of the burden of healing off the shoulders of the Featherstaffs.

Paydirt! Falcon’s patience was rewarded when a certain man in a white suit came out to apparently berate a couple of the workers there. By then, Cap had gotten yelled at by one of the supposed employees and he had backed off a bit - not wanting to pick a fight at that time. He was parked behind a storage container where he would pretty much be out of sight. He couldn’t hear the entire conversation going on over there, however. Mostly what he heard was the boss’ beratement since he was doing so in a raised voice, suggesting that these guys had made a serious blunder that made him angry. Beyond that, though, Falcon couldn’t make out anything else being talked about.

Getting an idea, Falcon pulled out his cellphone and went into its camera app. He managed to snap a picture or two of the guy in white, albeit they were from the side and behind as he was already turning to go back into the facility he had exited from. But hopefully that would match up enough with the photo Zhao had shown him earlier to serve as proof the guy was indeed in town. Falcon had also managed to pick up a bit or two about buyers leaving the Trading Company richer in pons than when they arrived. Unfortunately, Falcon’s attention at the time was split between watching for the man in white and performing his deliveries, so he missed quite a few of the details beyond that.

Maybe that was something Zhao would want to look into later on, but for the time being the actual job Falcon came to harbor to do was now done. So the only thing left to do now was report in and get paid. Speaking of getting paid, Falcon noticed his Crazy Eats app alerting him to a payout of 25 pons for that previous session of deliveries. Not exactly his best performance, but also not bad considering the limitations he’d put upon himself for investigative purposes either. He’d have to make a note to collect that payout from Charlie later. For now, Falcon changed back into his iconic racing suit and was on his way back to You Tian.



”Looks like what you heard was true.” Falcon said to Zhao. They were sitting at an empty table in You Tian, Zhao looking at the pictures of the guy in white Cap managed to take with his cellphone. Business hours for the restaurant had already wound down and ended for the evening. Normally it stayed open later than this, but Zhao closed shop early so he and Cap could have the place to themselves to talk privately.

“Yeah, it sure looks like it.” Zhao said with a sigh, his tone sounding like a mix of sadness and disappointment. “Dammit, Mabuchi, what the hell are you doing?” He muttered as he handed Falcon’s phone back to him.

”So you do know this guy?” Cap said, quickly picking up on the signals Zhao was giving.

“Yeah.” Zhao finally admitted. “He goes by Akira Mabuchi now, but I knew him by his real name - Lao Ma.” He explained and then added, “He used to be my right hand man during my old mafia days.”

”Come to think of it, a lot of the men working for him also looked Chinese, like you.” Falcon noted.

“Can’t say I’m surprised.” Zhao said. “I used to be the boss of a Chinese mafia called the Yokohama Liumang, inherited the job from my dad. Mabuchi was my right hand guy, we grew up together, we were like brothers. But Mabuchi was too ambitious for his own good. He tried to oust me from the organization and take it over himself, but some friends and I put the kibosh on that little scheme. I told him to get out of town and never let me see his face again.”

”But why would he risk coming back and being discovered.”

“Who knows?” Zhao said with a shrug, “He must have one helluva scheme cooked up if he’s willing to risk having to face me again, though. Or maybe he heard about me disbanding the Liumang and figured he could swoop in and build it back better himself? Frankly, I don’t give a fuck what his reasons are. There’s no way in Hell I’m letting this shit slide.” Zhao said and then gave a deep sigh before sliding a purse filled with 100 pons. “Here you go, Falcon-kun. You earned it.”

One thing was made perfectly clear to Falcon at that moment. Whatever history there was between these two, it was clearly nothing but bad blood now. Cap took the money from him and stood up from the table. He took a few steps toward the door. If this had been a few days ago, he would have just left in search of his next job. But instead he stopped and turned back around. ”Let me know when you’re ready to make your move.” Falcon said to Zhao with a smile building on his face.

“It’s not exactly a regular bounty contract.” Zhao said, “Things could even get ugly. I wouldn’t wanna drag anyone down into my personal bullshit, so don’t worry about-”

”Nonsense!” Falcon suddenly said, cutting him off. ”You helped me when I first got into town. It’s only fair if I return the favor. And besides, I don’t like leaving my friends out to dry like that.”

Zhao couldn’t stop himself from laughing, “Well shit, Falcon-kun, if you’re just gonna twist my arm about it like that, then how could I possibly say ‘No’?” This elicited a corny-but-appreciated thumbs up from the Captain before he finally headed out the door and left the restaurant.

“He certainly has a way of reminding me of you… Kasuga-kun.”