There’s something oddly freeing about being doomed. I’d been worried about being found out for months, and the Tower Attack had occupied so much of my mental energy. But now? There would be no triumphant return home. Hell, my car keys were stuck in Mariko’s pockets. There wouldn’t be a return home at all. Now that it had all gone belly up, I could finally focus on what was in front of me.

Of course, with a clear enemy in front of them, so could the Holy Brothers. The pelted Mariko’s shield with Magic Bolts, and I knew it wouldn’t stay up much longer.

“Wilson, Takehara, are you with me?”

Hiro looked at me like I was speaking Greek, before slowly nodding. “We’re having a long talk when this is over.”

“I can’t say I’ll be looking forward to that,” I said. “Paul?”

Paul didn’t react right away, watching as Hiro set the trapped Mariko down. “We need to get her out of here.”

“That can be your job,” I said. “You’re still working off Hiro’s blow.”

“Sorry about that,” said Hiro, bowing deeply to somebody who had tried to hack him to bits not five minutes before. How I hated his possibly-not-false graciousness.

“I kinda deserved it,” he said, lifting Mariko up in his arms.

“Get her to safety, then come back. We’ll need you.”

Paul nodded, before looking down at the woman in his arms. “Sorry you got caught up in all this, baby.”

“That isn’t your fault,” she said, before a coughing fit interrupted her. “And I’m not your baby.”

“Force of habit, ma’am,” he replied.

She puffed her cheeks out in a classic Mariko pout. If she still had the energy for that, I took it as a good sign.

Turning my attention to our enemies, I saw that the shield was riddled with cracks. “We need to get Brother Maus first,” I said. “He’s maintaining the glitter, and that junk isn’t doing Mariko any good.”

“Who?” asked Hiro.

“Short one,” I said. “I’m the caster, you’re the duelist.”

Hiro shook his head wistfully. “I guess we got to fight together after all.”

I considered telling him there was nobody I’d rather go down with. It was a passing fancy; he didn’t need to get a big head. “Then it’s good we practiced. On three. One-”

“Bahadour!” Maggie had taken my lesson about emotions powering the spell to heart. She had plenty of rage; her face was nearly as red as the burst of energy that finally shattered Mariko’s spell.

“Three,” shouted Hiro as he raced forward through the cascade of magic dust.

Long range magic is a numbers game, and I was at a disadvantage. Two wizards can pump out twice the magic of one.

Fortunately for me, I had a new tool in my toolkit. I leveled my hands, flinging one of the Headmaster’s silent Fireballs at Maus while they were still mid spell. I found it more draining than the normal version. The words help shape the magic, and I was essentially brute forcing it with raw willpower.

Brother Maus let out a shriek as he ducked under my barrage. The remains of the glitter on my knuckles wafted away as he lost focus. Good; Mariko didn’t need a ruined set of lungs to go with her hand.

“I’ll aim lower next time, Maus!” I crowed.

The scent of Maggie’s magic assaulted my nose, and I realized that picking a fight with somebody with control over glass near glass storefronts was a losing proposition. I scrambled for cover, seeing what was coming.

“You bastard! You traitorous little demonkin, how could you do this to me?” She didn’t wait for a response before turning the creperie’s front window into a shower of razor-sharp needles.

I ducked behind one of the decorative trees. It held under the barrage, though I was convinced I felt something poking against my back. “You blackmailed me into doing your dirty work for months! How much loyalty could you expect?”

“You what?” Mrs. Perera’s shrill voice cut over all of the chaos around us. “You said he was reformed!”

“This isn’t the time,” said Maggie.

I hazarded a glance to Hiro and Ratte. The two were a whirl of blades as they struck, parried, and dodged. Hiro wasn’t using his Immortal Form, which didn’t surprise me. He had the magical reserves of a gnat, and he must have been running dangerously low.

I couldn’t dwell on their fight. I was facing three wizards now, in theory. I wasn’t sure if Mrs. Perera had any strength left, though I didn’t like the uncharacteristically serene look on her face. I wondered if the stooped wizard saw the same doom as I? I hoped not; I didn’t need somebody that powerful to think she was backed against a wall.

Maggie planted her boot against Maus’ back, shoving him forward. “Go flush him out!”

I thought Maus would waste more time arguing, but it was a forlorn hope. There wasn’t much earth to work with in the bot that held the decorative tree, but it hurt plenty when it slammed into my chest. I staggered back, but the soil clung to me, writhing like a snake. His fingers moved like a master seamstress at her loom, forming the soil into a band that pinned my arms to my sides.

I stumbled back. Under Maus’ control, the soft dirt stayed together, pressing down with an unbearable pressure. “What’s the matter, my dear,” I wheezed. “You need this manlet to fight your battles for you?”

That earned me an extra squeeze, and I collapsed to the ground, stars dancing before my eyes.

“This isn’t about you and Maggie,” said Maus. “Frettchen was my friend.”

“Then take it up with Takehara,” I grunted. “Let me go, and we’ll fight man to three quarters of a ma-” The breath was forced from my lungs.

“Maggie was right,” he said. “You do talk too much.”

I couldn’t reply, as darkness crept in at the corners of my vision.

My vision cleared as a sudden downpour came from above. It was an odd sight seeing a rain with no cloud, a trick I had only seen once before. I was soaked to the bone, but Maus’ soil ran away in rivulets into a nearby drain.

“Just in the nick of time, Wilson,” I said, taking his offered hand. “How’s the patient?”

“Not coughing up her lungs anymore,” he said, the rainwater swirling around under his command. “Leave Brother Maus to me.” The hard edge in his voice almost made me pity Maus.

A solid ball of dirt the size of a baseball flew out, hitting Paul dead center in the chest. He rocked back on his feet with a hiss of pain. Targeting Paul’s bruise from Hiro’s kick was dirty pool, but it’s what I’d have done.

“I knew Sister Shrike was nuts for recruiting you two,” said Maus. “Once a demonkin, always a demonkin.”

“Yeah, keep egging me on, Maus,” spat Paul. “I thought you guys were the only ones with a plan. Turns out you’re just a bunch of bullies and sadists.”

“Nah, that’s more Brother Frettchen’s bag,” said Maus. “I’ll make it quick.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me?” I asked.

With a grunt of effort, Paul sucked the moisture out of the air, forming it into a basketball-sized sphere. “I took a few of ‘em out last time, Mocks… Mags.” Despite his words, he moved more stiffly than normal. “Four of them, three of us. Hiro can’t handle the others alone.”

“Give them Hell, Wilson.” I caught a flash of red out of the corner of my eye. I darted away from Paul, guessing that Maggie would target me instead.

I hate being right sometimes. I only had a moment to respond, so I whipped off the scarf, my magic hardening it into the scallop-tipped sword. It turned out Mrs. Perera’s lie had some truth to it: the overly wide blade was perfectly fine at blocking small projectiles. I heard Ratte and Maggie shouting about something, but the ring of glass shards bouncing off the scarf was deafening. The barrage ceased and I rushed forward, ready to bring the fight to Maggie.

Only I saw no sign of her or Mrs. Perera. I scanned the area, ready for an ambush that didn’t come. Paul and Maus were locked in an elementally fueled game of cat and mouse as every decorative plant and fountain was weaponized. I couldn’t tell who had the upper hand.

Hiro and Ratte were still at it. Hiro’s white uniform was stained with blood from fresh injuries. Either Ratte’s matching black garb hid the blood stains better, or Hiro was at the losing end of that fight.

I closed my eyes, and my Mimic Sight revealed Maggie sprinting up the paused escalator, Mrs. Perera perched on her shoulders.

“Oh, now you’ll give her the damn piggyback ride!” I was about to go after her, but I stopped when I heard a crash behind me.

“What are you doing?” shouted Hiro, not looking up from where he and Ratte had crossed blades. “Go after her!”

“You’ll never catch her now,” grunted Ratte. “She’s off to deliver the kill order in person! Now you get nothing, Mockingbird.”

I hesitated. I could sense that Hiro was on the dregs of his magical reserves. If he gave Ratte the room to cast a spell, he’d be done.

“Soren!” Hiro’s body glowed with Immortal Form as he forced Ratte onto the defensive. “I said go after her! If you end up avenging someone, make it me and not Yukiko!”

“You’re on your last legs, you idiot!” I said.

“Then I’ll die standing!”

What a fool, throwing away his life in a pointless last stand without a moment’s thought or hesitation. At least I had to be forced into it.

It’s why he was the better man… by human standards, at least.