It was several hours before Jaden woke again, roused by the voices of his party.

“We should go. Not much time left.” Niko told Lois.

“What about Jaden though? Is it really ok to have one of The Jeffs carrying him? What if we have to fight?” Lois responded, troubled.

In Jaden’s blurry vision, Niko shrugged. “More mana for us. We need to be strong. I need to be stronger.”

Lois moved to stand next to Niko, patting her shoulder. “You do know this isn’t your fault right? Jaden took off on his own. You couldn’t have known he’d be attacked.”

“He’s my person. If he dies… what good am I?” Niko whispered.

“You’re not god. You can’t solve everything.” Lois reassured her.

Niko stiffened. “Then I become as strong as god. Anything I want, I can do.”

“Is that really what you want? Power?” Lois asked quietly.

“If I don’t, I’ll be alone. I’m not good enough for friends. I need to be good enough.”

“What does that even mean?” Lois asked angrily. “Why would you say that about yourself?”

Niko hid her head in her hands. “I always make mistakes. I love too much. It scares people. Papa tells me I need to be better or people not be my friend.”

Jaden finally decided it was time to interject. “I think you’re fine.” He said sleepily. “You don’t need to try so hard.”

Niko squealed, and moved to help him up. The moment he was standing, she tackled him; causing him to fall back to the ground with Niko on top of him.

“I was so worry.” Niko said into his shoulder, crying.

Jaden wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t worry, I’m ok. It’ll take more than that to kill me.”

Niko continued crying for several minutes longer, Jaden softly moving his hand through her hair before she finally drew back; wiping her eyes. Jaden conjured a cloth which he used to dab at her eyes.

“I’m sorry. I am weak.” She whispered.

“Nah, I think you’re strong.” Jaden replied, patting her back. “You’re brave enough to cry. That takes strength if you ask me.”

Niko smiled softly at him, nuzzling her head into his chest. Jaden grabbed her head and kissed Niko gently on the forehead, prompting a gagging sound from Lois. “Alright children, that’s enough of that. We need to get moving if we want to reach the Nexus.”

Niko looked up at Lois, making a growling sound, but stood. Jaden followed suit, head swirling slightly. “I don’t suppose anyone has a spell for restoring blood loss?” Jaden muttered sarcastically. Silently, Niko moved up, touching his arm. Jaden could feel her mana flowing through him as his dizziness evaporated. Strangely, Jaden felt as if adrenaline was pumping through his body at a mile a minute. For exactly two more seconds, he felt invincible; capable of fighting a god, before the mana stream ended abruptly.

“Wait, you actually had a spell for that?” He asked Niko.

Niko nodded. “Barbarian rage spell. I make it work on you.”

Jaden nodded. “Well, much appreciated. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you use that before.”

Niko shrugged. “I use it to kill the big cat. It’s expensive. Bad for long fights.” She said, pointing at the arm panther.

Jaden smiled, and offered his arm. “Fair enough. Lets get going then.”

Niko nodded, threading her arm through his as Lois rolled her eyes. Without another word, they began walking. Kyle and Aki moved behind them like shadows as Jeffs combed the jungle along their path.

“So what do you think the boss will be like?” Jaden asked a few hours later, as they reached five miles from the nexus.

“Boss?” Lois asked, looking up from fiddling with her interface as she walked.

“Erudeo mentioned it earlier. Once we get to around one mile from the nexus, we’ll fight an extra strong enemy. Basically like a boss from a video game”

“Great.” Lois muttered sarcastically.

“Strong monsters make us stronger.” Niko said cheerfully.

“Only if we don’t die.” Lois retorted.

Niko shrugged. “We won’t die. We have Jaden.”

The girls looked at him in unison, prompting Jaden to glance back and forth uncomfortably. “Hey don’t look at me. I couldn’t even fight one panther by myself.”

Lois shook her head. “I still think you’re a dork, but you have a few spells that kind’ve feel like cheating. Also you have an army.” Lois waved her hand at Aki, who stoically didn’t acknowledge the attention.

Jaden sighed. “No pressure.”

Niko moved to nuzzle him, causing a brief hitch in their steps as they adjusted. “I believe in you.”

Jaden smiled gently. “That makes one of us.”

Niko lightly smacked him on the back of the head. “You believe too. Doubts lead to dark side.”

“They have Star Wars in France?” Jaden asked in surprise.

Niko snorted. “Typical American. Think you own everything.”

Jaden held up his hands in surrender, prompting laughter from both of the girls.

………………………..

Four’s squad ranged a mile ahead of the group, which had progressed to the three mile mark. The knowledge that they were approaching the boss territory was far more frightening to him than the spiked cow that bled out beneath his spear. Their group had been lucky, as Yuki had intersected the battle in time to take the brunt of the “spike barrage” as the group had taken to calling the cows last-ditch spike launching attack. Surprisingly, Yuki had become so strong that the attack mostly bounced from his skin; dealing next to no damage. That action had saved the life of Seventy-Five, which Four was somewhat grateful for.

“You shouldn’t move past this point.” Yuki told Four without preamble.

Four checked his map, confirming they were still a mile from the boss territory. “Why not?”

“Green creatures have made a camp ahead. Dozens. They seem to be preparing for the boss fight.”

“Fuck.” Four muttered, knowing Aki might decide to launch a suicidal raid on the camp. “Is the boss really strong enough to need that many of them?”

Yuki shrugged. “They might be training their young here.”

Four shook his head. “If these have been the new recruits, I hope we never meet the real warriors.”

Yuki nodded, saying nothing. Four’s mind whirled, but eventually he sighed. “I guess I have to report this to Aki. Activating his communications spell, Four cringed internally at what he knew was coming. “This is Four to team leader.”

“This is team leader. Report.” Aki replied.

“We have new intel from a friendly. There’s a camp to our north with dozens of Klax. They are apparently preparing to engage the Boss. I recommend we allow them to engage the boss before we assault their base.” Four suggested, hoping against hope that Aki would listen to common sense.

“Negative, Jaden has made it clear that speed is a priority. I’m sending A-Two, and multiple squads to reinforce you. A-Two will have situational command once he arrives. That is all.” The communication spell cut off just in time to hide Four’s groan. The A designation was Aki’s way to separate the Aki’s from the Jeffs while keeping the numerical naming system. Four already considered Aki to be an incompetent commander. He could only imagine what a less experienced version of Aki would be like.

“Alright fine, I’ll just have to find some way to salvage this situation.” Four muttered to himself. “Hey Yuki, how well do you think you could fight the Klax?” Four asked.

Yuki looked skeptical. “Do you mean the green-skinned creatures? I could perhaps fight one at a time successfully. They are sentient, so I don’t receive a bonus when attacking them.”

Four nodded, mind whirling. “Do you fall into our command structure at all?”

Yuki shook his head. “No, I answer only to Jaden.”

“So, theoretically, if one of us was a threat to Jaden, you could kill them?”

“I… suppose so.” Yuki replied uncertainly.

Four fell into deep thought, continuing to make plans for the next hour, until the reinforcement party reached them.

“I am A-Two. I am here to take command of the offensive.” A man in golden robes sneered.

Four nodded deferentially, sighing internally. “I’m Four. Command is all yours.”

A-Two narrowed his eyes at Four, seeming to sense Four’s internal disdain. “Ah, the infamous Four. I look forward to working with you. What is the situation?”

Four waved to Yuki who began giving details of the camp. After several minutes, A-Two waved for Yuki to stop. “I understand the situation. I believe a frontal attack would be the best tactic.”

Four raised his hand. A-Two nodded at him to speak. “Sir, I believe a pincer attack would be best. With your personal power, you’re worth more than a squad of Jeffs in this situation. Between you, and Yuki, you could easily overpower a group of Klax. Meanwhile, me and the rest of the Jeffs can hit the camp from the other side once they’re distracted.”

A-Two shook his head. “As commander, I shouldn’t put myself in such a risky position.”

“But sir, surely there is no risk for someone with your level of strength.” Four smiled slyly at him.

A-Two frowned. “Even so, I see no benefit in this plan.”

Four shrugged. “Just think, you could win the fight with minimal casualties. Aki Prime always takes high casualties when he makes battle plans.”

A-Two rubbed his chin. “I suppose it would be advantageous to show myself to be a superior tactician. Very well, we will follow this plan.”

Four nodded. “As you command. Sir.”

Four took charge of the assembled Jeffs as A-Two moved away with Yuki. Soon, the entire force was assembled near the Klax camp.

“In position.” Four muttered into his communications spell.

“Copy. We are engaging.” A-Two replied.

Four crept forward, watching as A-Two charged out alone, oblivious to the fact that Yuki wasn’t following behind him. A hail of icy needles sprang from A-Two’s fingertips, piercing a nearby Klax’s torso. The Klax bellowed, charging forward; enraged by the alien sensation of pain. Reaching melee distance, the furious Klax swiped a paw at A-Two, who ducked under the blow; returning the attack with a swipe of his golden sword. The sword lodged in the Klax’s ribs, eliciting a frown from A-Two, who was forced to release the hilt in order to dodge a blow.

More Klax emerged from the nearby huts, roaring out their battle cries. A-Two looked extremely worried now, dispatching the Klax he was fighting with a summoned shard of ice driven up through its throat into the brain. Two more Klax took its place a moment later, forcing A-Two to dodge continuously with no opportunity to counterattack. A few seconds later, Yuki arrived next to Four. “Was this sufficient?” Yuki asked.

Four nodded. “This is perfect. Once he’s dead we’ll start sneaking in, and picking them off.”

A nearby Jeff hissed. “This wasn’t the plan.”

Four glanced at him, knowing exactly how to manipulate the Jeff programming. “What’s more important? Following orders, or doing what’s best for Jaden?”

All the nearby Jeffs who had heard him simultaneously, robotically froze, as if their brains had broken for several seconds. “I… don’t know.” Was the eventual response from the Jeff who had spoken.

“Once A-Two is dead, I’ll be in operational command. Does anyone think we can save him at this point?” Four asked.

The assembled Jeffs glanced toward A-Two, who now had several wounds, and a third attacker. The Jeffs shook their head. “Then I may as well be in command now since he’s too busy to issue orders, and not in a position to be rescued. If we make a frontal assault now, we all die with him. Jaden will suffer from our losses. Do you understand? I’m in command, and I’m giving you the order to wait because it will be better for Jaden.”

The assembled Jeffs nodded dumbly as they processed the logic behind his statements.

“Good, then we get the pleasure of watching Aki’s clone get his ass kicked. I know we all agree he’s a pompous dick, so enjoy the show.” Four muttered. Several Jeffs seemed to brighten at that statement, turning to watch the fight.

A-Two lasted another minute; against all odds managing to stab an icicle through a Klax’s head to take a second Klax down with him. Unfortunately for A-Two, this maneuver caused him to overextend his body; allowing another Klax to rake a claw through his leg. From there, unable to properly dodge, A-Two was systematically torn apart by the Klax combatants.

“Alright, who has mana over a hundred?” Four muttered to the five squads of Jeffs. Seven Jeffs raised their hands.

“How many of you are decent at stealth?” Three Jeffs lowered their hands, leaving four Jeffs with their hands still raised. “Alright, we’re going to split you into pairs. Once they leave to fight the boss monster, you go in. Find an isolated Klax, sneak up on him, and stab his gills. If you can’t get a kill-shot, don’t try. Yuki is going to be doing the same thing, but he’s strong enough to not need help. If anyone gets caught, let us know. The rest of us will stay here, and act as reinforcements for anyone that gets caught. Questions?”

The Jeffs shook their heads. Four nodded. “Alright, now we wait.”

Half an hour passed. Aki demanded a status report. Four ignored the command, because it was intended for A-Two. A second demand came through five minutes later. This one was aimed directly at Four. Sighing, Four found himself magically obligated to reply.

“Four, I demand a status report.” Aki’s angry voice demanded again.

“Sir, A-Two is KIA. He charged in alone thinking it would earn him greater glory. We don’t have the combat power to engage in a frontal assault, so I’m proceeding with my original plan of engaging when the enemy force is depleted by the boss.”

Aki screamed into the communications spell. “He did what? Very well, I’m sending another three squads of fresh troops as backup. All of the soldiers in these squads have over a hundred fifty mana so you will engage when they arrive. Since I don’t have any other Akis created yet, you are in command of the operation. That is all.” The communication spell cut off with a loud crunching sound that made Four think Aki had punched a tree.

“Motherfucker.” Four muttered, staring into empty space. “Why does Aki keep acting as if he can win any battle by just cramming more troops into the fight?”

Yuki moved up, and patted his shoulder. “Do you need help?”

Four groaned, and leaned back against a tree. “I need a miracle.”