Amelia summoned Epsilon and sent the Storied Hero out to the fringe of the Square to cull as many of the hands as possible. Epsilon dashed forward with incredible speed, already reacting to the instruction to guard the area. There were a lot of weird looks being passed around after she tore through the lines and started swinging her weapon frantically.

Amelia didn’t feel it the best time to really explain, so she didn’t. She retrieved her staff from her inventory and prepared to hit the shadow hands if they managed to make it in this far. Melee mage wasn’t her first or second choice, but it would do in a pinch. It certainly seemed preferable to her in the not dying department.

“Where’s that domineering emptiness when I need it?” She muttered under her breath.

“Sorry? I didn’t catch that.” Aidan turned slightly.

“Nothing,” Amelia was about to start to tell him it was nothing when a stray scorch ray started to swing toward them. Reflexively she started to reach her hand up, pausing when she realized that it was friendly in nature. The wizard at the front of the line cursed, apologizing brusquely as he turned back to scorching the ooze monsters that were shambling forward.

She frowned, and then smirked. Glad to know she wasn’t the only one mucking it up. The smirk faded at a feeling that was growing in the back of her mind. It itched, under the skin just beneath her scalp. She found herself raising her hand and experimentally scratching her head.

“What’s wrong now?” Aidan had to reach out and grab her shoulder. She must have not have heard him the first time.

“Nothing,” Amelia said for the second time. She squinted in confusion. Something felt… off. Like she was foggy in the head all of a sudden. “Just tired..?”

“Alright?” Aidan blinked and slowly pulled her back toward Vienne, intuiting that something was wrong and trying to give her a minute behind everyone else. “Why don’t you use the skill look pretty!”

Amelia snorted and was about to sass back at him when the space near them seemed to contract slightly. A gentle push and pull of air that didn’t do anything more than startle everyone in the vicinity.

Vienne was up. Staring at her hands. The wounds faded from her body and there was a certain directness to her gaze that seemed… new.

“[Examine].” Amelia tried.

- Vienne.

“Helpful,” She muttered. “Vienne, are you alright?”

Vienne didn’t look at her, or anyone around her really. Her gaze slowly slid toward the portal to the south, her eyes narrowed.

“Antithesis.” Vienne calmly said.

Before anyone could wonder what that meant, Vienne stepped up.

Shooting up in the sky she found some sort of invisible ledge to stand on, bridging the gulf between herself and B-3’s portal with a frigid glare. She reluctantly tore her gaze away from the creatures pouring through the portal and the ominous stationary figure, briefly taking in the Cloudkill as it struggled against the hands and gravity, before taking a wide look at the ground situation.

While she was doing this, a red line shot out from the portal and was about to impact Vienne when she just… held up a finger. The line dispersed.

Amelia’s eyes widened, and she looked over to see that Aidan and the others were similarly impressed.

Aidan gulped. “Did the big bad evil just try to examine Vienne?”

“It seems to resemble. She gave a big fat no, in response,” Amelia laughed. The relief flooding through her was heavy. “Can I be the first to say that, for once, I’m really glad things weren’t going absolutely bonkers bad before we got a break?”

The hands that were reaching toward the Square faltered and began moving upward toward their target. Vienne had moved, and so too did the direction of the extended attacks. They were slower now, the speed of their movement seeming choppier. Like a spell had broken and the creature driving their intent wasn’t as invested.

“The sky seemed full of them but now it feels like there’s more space,” Rat yelled.

[Local Announcement]

Vienne casts Replenish.

Effect: Cloudkill’s Flask converted from Endless Cursed Flask to Endless Flask. Duration reset.

Vienne casts Dominate Land

Effect: Anti-Transient Flight Formation Disrupted - Cloudkill Receives Permission to Sail

Almost immediately the Cloudkill burst forward with greater speed, seemingly no longer impeded by the restrictions that had been accumulating as the flight continued.

“Starting to feel like we’re along for the ride,” Aidan whispered.

“Go get me a fold-out chair,” Amelia suggested. “Gonna put these puppies up and watch.”

He snorted, and then continued watching. Neither of them believed their roles were finished.

Mordred came up to them at this point and pointed at Vienne, “is this the plan? I like this plan.”

“She’s an Imperial lady you know,” Aidan said, never being able to resist a fight.

“Are you kidding me? Look at that flowing hair!” Mordred grinned and pointed at Vienne. “That’s a Rebel.”

Whatever back and forth might have happened was forgotten as more announcements started flowing. It seemed like both Vienne and the Quester were flexing their power against each other, feeling each other out.

[Local Announcements]

B-3:Spatial Distortion Increase

B-3:Mana Regeneration Increases by 25% as the Influx of Energy Leaks From The Portal.

B-3: [The Many] cast.

B-3: Enemy Duplication will occur every minute, doubling the number of existing ground forces.

Vienne: [Formation Manipulation] cast

Vienne: 80% Chance For Enemy Spawn to Dissipate at Creation

Vienne: [Take My Due] cast

Vienne: Vienne Receives Every Applicable Non-Stacking Transient Boost From Nearby Transients

B-3: [Pull From Elsewhere] cast

B-3: Receives A Variety of Helpful Boosts From the Research Laboratory

B-3: Area Mass Dispel [Vienne]

Vienne: [Resistance: All] - Area Mass Dispel [Vienne] Canceled

B-3: Equip Dopplegangers with [Legendary Mask]

B-3: All Shadow Entities Weapon Class Considered Legendary

Vienne: Area Mass Dispel [B-3].

B-3: [Resistance: All] - Area Mass Dispel [B-3] Canceled

“Ahhhhh!” Mavis screamed.

“Wowers,” Mordred muttered.

“Holy crap,” Amelia and Aidan said together.

Gilduirn, Rat, and Gabriel all used stronger language but it was squelched by the profanity filter, but it was a little premature because the two foes staring each other down from their spaces in the sky were just getting started.

B-3: [Overdrive] cast

B-3: 40% Skill Speed and Regeneration

Vienne: [Violent Flow]

Vienne: 40% Critical, Hit, and Attack Speed

B-3: [Mobbing Tactics] cast

B-3: Spawn Generation Effects Multiplicative

Vienne: [Everywhere At Once] cast

Vienne: Every Unoccupied Point In Space Is A Foothold - Every Moment Traversible

With no warning whatsoever, Vienne disappeared and reappeared in front of B-3, a huge flaming sword crashing down at the latter. B-3 was cleaved in half from shoulder to opposite hip, regenerating back together as fast as the blade sliced through. Undeterred, Vienne prepared for another strike.

B-3 leaped toward Vienne with both hands outstretched, dropping the giant claymore that it had held as if it were mere ornamentation. Five B-3’s suddenly appeared around Vienne and did the same.

In a flash, Vienne disappeared from the middle of the encirclement, appearing behind the original B-3 and then… appearing in five other places striking down at the other B-3’s. All the Viennes struck true, bisecting, decapitating, or simply cleaving into the B-3s. Once again the B-3s all regenerated back to their whole state and turned toward their respective Viennes, reaching out with that smile that reeked of corporate shill. B-3 multiplied again, encircling every instance of Vienne. Vienne vanished, reappearing in every area around B-3 and once again attacked them from behind.

The clones of the two began to cover the sky, slowly beginning to move independently from one another. It took less than a minute for the sky to be covered with images of them both moving at a speed that was hard to follow.

“Stalemate!” Aidan grunted.

“Nah,” Mordred disagreed.

They all saw what he meant a second later.

Before Vienne had appeared and directly charged B-3, the portal had been on it’s best behavior. Now that Vienne and B-3 were duking it out all over the place, the entire portal seemed to be pouring out twice as much of the enemy creating oil, to say nothing of the sheer number of hands and arms reaching. They slowly began to work their way toward the thickest of the Vienne and B-3 fight, already impeding the Hero Goddess by denying space for her to stand or appear.

It was at about this point that Cloudkill had sorted out their situation. Turning hard and diving fast, they burst through their own water trail above the portal. The ship scythed downward, firing on the hands coming from the portal as fast as the cannons would cycle. No doubt Elisha had made a snap judgment and decided to leave the B-3s to the Viennes.

“I’ve been meaning to ask about the flying ship,” Amelia said awkwardly.

Mordred let out a long-suffering sigh.

The images in the sky began to decrease in volume until it was just the original Vienne and B-3 facing each other. They began to speak…

Elias reached down and around the sound tech, earning a glare from him. He rolled his eyes and slammed the aux slider up. Immediately Vienne and B-3 were clearly audible.

“Antithesis. Begone creature.” Vienne turned slightly in the air, presenting a narrower profile. She raised the flaming sword with one arm, eyes blazing.

“Request denied. Vienne does not have sufficient authorization.” B-3 smiled, but there was something deeper behind the face now. More of an interest. “Cease. This can all be over, if you simply surrender to the Quester Race. Testing must continue.”

“I see. Your mind is no longer your own. Without understanding, there can be no growth. Power without thought and reason can only ever be pitiable.” Vienne squared their shoulders, and then relaxed slightly when B-3 seemed to want to say more.

B-3’s mouth opened, the dolls eyes looking somehow less lifelike as time passed. “Analysis complete. Reference subject Vienne, identified: half-step mutation. Power rating: Very Strong.” B-3 smiled. “You will lose.”

“Failure is a valuable lesson.” Vienne said, her head tilting slightly in a highly uncharacteristic carefree manner. Her eyes flitted over B-3’s shoulder, watching the Cloudkill continue it’s assault on the portal. Her lips curled upward again as she returned her attention to B-3. “Can you teach me something, with just you?”

B-3 seemed to give up any semblance of life-like bodily movement, hanging in the air like a doll with hidden strings that had suddenly been cut. That the doll didn’t fall to the ground was pretty upsetting for anyone watching.

“Just me. But there is so much of me.”

“[Mobbing Tactics].”

“[Everywhere At Once].”

The sparse cloudcover in the sky started to disperse from the strength of the blows the images started using on each other. Each crash sent a clear ring of metal striking metal with a brief flash from their weapon impact points.

Stars twinkled and the lightbursts gave the illusion of lightning on a cloudless even. Were it not for the fierce battle that sent shockwaves crashing to the ground every half-second, it would have been quite beautiful.