Looking back on things, we should have had Brother Ratte’s group. It was a tough position to take, on paper. We had them boxed into a narrow hallway, and in theory, we had four wizards to their three. We also had them by surprise, since they seemed startled to see us waiting for them. If Kiyo had been in position, the fight would have been over before it began. However, I’d bought them precious seconds, and they put it to good use.

“Sniper!” Brother Ratte followed up his warning by casting Slow Barrier, drawing a distorted wave through the air in front of his men. From experience, I knew that would stop any projectile dead in its tracks.

So did Brother Ratte’s men. The ordinary soldiers quickly deduced the edges of the shimmering barrier and used it for cover.

Brother Frettchen pointed his hands up, fingers dancing as he cast an elaborate spell. “Glitter Bomb!” A wobbling orb of energy flew towards us in an arc, reminding me of a blinding, green water balloon.

Brother Maus opened his pockets, spilling a pile of sand and dirt onto the carpet to give his affinity something to work with.

In mere moments, they had established a defensive position, had their mundane soldiers ready to lay down supporting fire as needed, had one of their wizards ready to start lobbing attacks with his native magic, and the third had already launched an attack, all in the course of a few seconds. As a former commander, I felt a twinge of jealousy. They had the advantage of not having to corral orcs, I told myself.

Rose and Yukiko were no slouches, though. Rose thrust out her hand, sending a concentrated gust of wind out to drive the Glitter Bomb off course. It flew into a decorative tree behind us, coating it in sticky flecks of energy.

Yukiko rushed towards them. Despite her promise to spare her magic, she adjusted the gravitational pull of one of the soldier’s helmets, smacking it into his partners hard enough to ring like a bell. The right flank cleared of gunmen, she dashed forward, her sword at the ready. Rose followed on the left

“Magpie I… never mind!” Kiyo turned, aiming right at the Slow Barrier. She had encountered that spell many times in our War Game, which told me she had an area of effect spell loaded up. The Slow Barrier could stop the bullet, but the impact would activate the magic stored in its fabricata.

“To Me,” I whispered. I had copied the handy little utility spell from Maggie before. Such a pity it was a Second-Year lesson. Lucile jumped in Kiyo’s hands, sending the bullet through the door of the creperie. The explosion cracked the windows of the storefront, but the light was too distant to do any harm.

Cursing like a sailor, Kiyo vanished with Lucile.

Brother Frettchen locked his eyes on Yukiko as she neared the Slow Barrier’s right side. The placid giant’s face stayed neutral as he stepped from behind his protective wall. He drew his own sword, silently challenging the Sato heiress. There was no way she would challenge a man twice her weight in melee combat, was there?

“Ya!” Yukiko Sato never lacked for confidence, I had to give her that. She baited Frettchen into an attack, using well-practiced mahoukenjutsu to anticipate and deflect the attacks. She wouldn’t be able to win like that, but I suspected she was feeling out the other wizard before spending her dwindling magic reserves.

The remaining mundane soldier drew his rifle on Rose, using the corner of the Slow Barrier for cover.

Rose was faster on the draw, since she didn’t have to aim. The energy blocked most of her gust, but when she was throwing around hurricane-force winds, it was enough to slam him against the wall with an audible thud.

Brother Maus held up his hand, compressing his payload into a dense, football shaped payload.

Brother Ratte put a hand on Maus’ shoulder. “Don’t waste time with your dirt. She’ll just blow it away.”

“Dang straight!” crowed Rose, stopping on the opposite size of the barrier. “Come on out! It’s time to reap the whirlwind!”

Brother Maus nodded once. “Want to give her the old Valhalla?”

Brother Ratte’s only reply was a grunt.

“Thor’s Hammer!” The runes around Brother Maus’ hands coalesced into a pulsating; golden structure nearly as tall as him. He struggled to hold onto the wildly shifting energy structure. His face was slick with perspiration, illuminated in the chaotic energies of the spell.

My heart stopped. “What? You lunatics, you’ll kill her!”

Rose had the sense to back up, but it was too late. With a snap of his fingers, Brother Ratte dismissed the Slow Barrier, while his compatriot swung the hammer with the form of an Olympic hammer toss.

“Svalinn’s Mercy!” The shield I threw up between Rose and Brother Maus turned out to be completely insufficient, shattering in an instant. I had expected as much; among the humans I had fought in England, that was a spell of last resort, since it had to be used at short range, and was liable to break containment and blow up in the caster’s face. And those monsters used it as their opening move!

Which was why I had shaped the Svalinn’s Mercy like a wedge. If I couldn’t stop the attack, I could redirect it. The spell dug deep furrows in the ground around the blonde girl, but she was mostly untouched.

Mostly. The shockwave still sent her sprawling. Rose rolled with the impact, but she was shaken. Her eyes were wide open, the whites visible, even from twenty feet off.

Brother Ratte took that as his cue to shoot. “Magic Bolt!” It seemed almost like a letdown to see such a basic spell at work after Brother Maus’ display.

Rose snapped out of it just in time. “Magic Bolt!” Her energy ball slammed straight into Ratte’s, the hardened domes buckling as they collided. They exploded as the magical energy found release. Brother Maus had taken the chance to erect a Svalinn’s Mercy, saving them from the brunt of the blast.

Rose didn’t have another wizard backing her up, and she was knocked prone again by the impact. This time, she wasn’t so quick to get back up.

A shriek to my right drew my attention back to Yukiko and Brother Frettchen. Frettchen’s Wizard Corps uniform was stained red with blood from a shallow wound Yukiko’s katana had inflicted on his arm. He had her in a firm grip, her tiny body pressed against his chest by arms nearly as wide around as her torso.

“Let me go!” Yukiko’s affinity glowed bright red, the carpeted floor groaning as Brother Frettchen’s substantial weight doubled and redoubled.

“That’s enough of that,” said Brother Frettchen, his soothing voice more disturbing than if he had been shouting.

Yukiko drove her head against his chin, earning nothing but an annoyed grunt from the Holy Brother. “I won’t let you go! Let’s see how tough you are when you weigh a ton!”

“That would take you with me,” he said cajolingly.

“So what?” she asked. “I’ll drop us all the way to the ground floor if I have to! I’ve seen how you treat prisoners, but I know you’ll save your own sorry butt first! Now I said let… me…”

I couldn’t help but flinch. The sound of breaking bone never gets any easier to hear. The glow around him faded away as tears of pain welled in Yukiko’s eyes.

“That was one rib, little one,” he said. “Don’t make me do that again. The next one could pierce a lung.”

She looked on at me pleadingly. “S-Soren, please…”

I jogged over. Yukiko almost looked hopeful. “She’s had enough, Brother Frettchen.”

“I’m not sure she has,” he replied. “I still feel a bit heavier than I should.”

Sure enough, a faint glow surrounded Brother Frettchen’s body. Each breath pained her, but she kept resisting. “Soren, Wh-why are you talking to them like-”

“Time’s up,” declared Brother Frettchen. The Holy Brother smelled of onions as his affinity went to work. The magic travelled down his arms and into his hand, pooling into his finger before it discharged a bolt of energy into Yukiko’s ribcage. It was like throwing a punch without throwing a punch.

The second rib was too much for the Sato girl, and she passed out. Thank goodness.

The awful moment over, I recovered, jabbing my finger into Brother Frettchen’s face. “Now, see here! My deal with Sister Shrike was that they were to be unharmed! You nearly crushed her to death!”

“I did tell her what would happen,” replied Brother Frettchen. His subtle grin told me the soft-spoken wizard had no regrets about the fight’s outcome. “I had to hit extra hard with my Force Burst, or it wouldn’t go through her armor.”

“And like I said, your deal was with Sister Shrike,” said Brother Ratte, the unconscious Rose slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “My first priority was the lives of my men, and they weren’t showing any restraint.”

“They’re damn students!” I protested.

“They’re breathing,” said Brother Ratte. Yukiko wheezed in Brother Frettchen’s arms, a trail of red leaking from her mouth. “More or less.”

“Hey, Mockingbird, did you see where the other one went?” Brother Maus scanned the rows of shops nervously.

I shrugged, almost hoping she would start running and not stop. “She can be hard to track; her affinity is turning invisible.”

Maus chuckled to himself. “Oh, she’s that one? I’m ready for her.” With a wave of his hand, the football shaped clod of dirt and rock turned into so much dust, spreading it in a fine powder that made me sneeze.

I didn’t suffer alone. A familiar shape stood in the entrance of a small clothing store, coughing to clear the dust from her unseen mouth. She had Lucile trained right on us.

Brother Ratte cupped his hand around mouth. “Cadet Jones! Show yourself!”

“Fine! I’m just wasting magic anyway!” She came back into view, a bit dirty, but no worse for wear.

“Lower your weapon, or your friends will suffer more!”

“No way!” She shouted back. “Let Magpie and the others go, or I swear to God I’ll blow you all to hell! I’ve got a high explosive round loaded and ready to go!”

“Pretend to hold me hostage,” I whispered to Brother Maus.

“Come again?” the short wizard asked.

I gulped. “She… she’s taken with me. She’ll surrender if she thinks I’m in danger.”

He nodded, grabbing me by the wrist and jabbing the business end of a combat knife into my throat. “We’ve got your little Mockingbird, girl! Put the weapon away or we’ll ventilate him!”

“Magpie!” The horror in her voice pierced me to the core.

“You’d best do as he says,” I shouted back. “They say we’ll be okay as long as we cooperate!”

Lucile’s barrel shook. “N-nice try, you faker! You’re in a disguise like Haru. You’re one of them! My Soren would never give up like that!”

That unearned praise hurt nearly as much as Brother Maus’ overly tight grip. “Please, be reasonable. Don’t you want to see the gaming museum again? Or that hotel with the Pac Man bed?” That last comment earned me an odd look from the Holy Brothers.

“It is you.” She lowered the rifle, the betrayal in her eyes visible even at that distance.

“I’m afraid it’s the real me,” I replied.

“Yes, it’s him,” spat Brother Ratte. “Now that we have established the obvious, drop the gun.”

She complied, winking out of sight right after. Her echoing footsteps grew more distant as she darted away.

Brother Maus released my arm. “We need to round her up.”

“What can one little girl do?” Brother Frettchen had set the lightly moaning Yukiko down, and he was busy tying her arms behind her back.

“It’s not what she can do,” I said. “It’s what will happen to her if we bring down the Tower while she’s hiding.”

“Acceptable losses,” declared Brother Ratte, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Brother Mockingbird, retrieve her rifle, and help us get the other prisoners upst- ARGH!”

The only thing I’d won challenging orcs to arm wrestling were bruises and enough grip strength to get the Norwegian wizard’s attention. “You misunderstand me, Brother Ratte. I am going to go collect Kiyo Jones, and when I do, nothing is going to happen to her. Her safety is your safety. Am I clear?”

“Y-yes,” the hardened man said, shaken for the first time since I had met him.

“Good.” I released his wrist and went on my way, my Mimic Vision showing Kiyo’s magical signature rushing for the third level.

As I took the first flight of stairs, I could just make out Brother Frettchen’s voice. “Ooh, I like him.”

“You would,” muttered Ratte.