“Tch. They’re within the enemy’s line of sight. It’ll be impossible to get rid of them within a few seconds while staying unseen.” Gaius crossed his legs, his body floating in mid-air with an odd pose now. The little boy’s mastery of flight had been elevated to yet another level, which predictably enabled him to fly in odd positions now.

Like sitting or standing on a sword, for instance. Gaius couldn’t remember why that particular image was burned into his mind, but since the little boy didn’t have and didn’t want to use a sword, he just crossed his legs and let the Stellar Core’s Flight do its thing instead.

“Wait for them to take a corner, I guess.” Nexus, who was currently sitting on Gaius’ right shoulder, yawned. “Or you could try appearing in front of the enemy troops with such a pose. You look rather majestic like this.”

“I do?”

“Of course.” Nexus replied. “Either that, or you’ll scare them to next week.”

“Make up your mind, Nexus.”

“Hmm.” It turned to look at Gaius. “Well, you need some gold light shining from your back. Maybe a shiny golden throne too. Some nice-looking armour would help your image further…oh, and grow your fingernails out.”

“What am I, a demon lord?” An image popped into Gaius’ head, and he was forced to dispel it by shaking his head. “Alright, fun time’s over. I’ve a couple of ideas, but I want to hear yours first.”

“Well, killing the three of them would probably reveal you, but unless you were planning on assassinating their leaders in the battle that’s going to happen in a few hours, I don’t think there’s a problem with being seen.”

“And even if its…” Gaius spoke, cutting off the wooden sculpture’s second sentence. “There really isn’t much of an issue. In the thick of battle, and especially given that the leaders are most likely to be the Knights, they’ll have to be in the centre of the action anyway.”

“Exactly.”

Gaius narrowed his eyes as the small dot he was looking at staggered. “What if I distract everyone, and then go abduct that Knight? That person doesn’t look like a willing party, maybe we can get some information from her.”

“Give me a moment while I think about this.” The wooden sculpture sat back down on Gaius’ shoulders.

The little boy glanced at the incredibly lifelike wooden sculpture, in both form and mannerism, and waited patiently. A few seconds later, it nodded at the little boy. “If you can pull that off, I don’t think they’ll learn about your existence just yet. After all, people do randomly vanish in Heritage.”

“Randomly vanish? By stepping into shadow?”

“That’s one of the causes, yes.”

“What about the —” Gaius looked at the sculpture, whose lips were pursed, and sighed. “Fine, you can’t tell me that. What kind of existence is making you shut up like this?”

“If only I could tell you. I too want to speak whatever I like.” The sculpture pouted, in a manner that reminded Gaius of Nakama. “It’s a really horrible feeling when you can’t reveal some things.”

He glanced at the wooden sculpture and patted its head. Gaius already had an idea in mind to achieve his objective, but he didn’t mind sparing a second or so to cheer up the clearly depressed Nexus.

Gaius’ hands and fingers flickered, turning into a confusing blur as he constructed six wildfire sigils, which began to trail behind him. The way Gaius wanted to use them was simple — he was going to fling them into the skies and draw attention to them, and while they were distracted, he’d kidnap a particularly ill Knight.

“You could try launching these sigils with a Straight Shot or another ranged weapon if you need more distance, Master Gaius.” Nexus spoke up, its voice somewhat dull.

The little boy frowned. The guide he’d brought from the Exchange did mention that, although it hadn’t given him clear instructions on what to do. “How do I do that?”

“Just place the sigil in front of the artefact’s barrel.”

Gaius took out his Moonshot and removed the false cover at the bottom of its barrel to reveal a button. The pistol-like artefact transformed as he pressed the button, turning longer and sleeker. The wooden sculpture watched the process, and then said, “Now, just will the sigil over, or create a new one.”

The sigils floating behind Gaius silently arrayed themselves in front of the Moonshot’s elongated barrel.

“And I just need to fire? Can I fire all of them at once?”

“Yes, to both of them, Master Gaius.”

The little boy glanced at the wooden sculpture, somewhat worried about its sudden downturn into a subdued formality. “Nexus, go and talk to Nakama for a moment.”

“Why?”

The answer came naturally to the little boy. “I’m worried about her. She’s probably scared and frightened now, so I want you to look after her in my stead.”

“Master…”

“Make sure that you keep her company at all times, got it?”

“You…aren’t abandoning me, right?” The sculpture stared at the little boy’s face.

“No, I’m not. If I was, I wouldn’t ask you to watch over my sister.”

“That’s…true.”

The little boy patted the sculpture. “Go. But make sure to keep an ear out for me, in case I need you.”

Life vanished from the sculpture, and Gaius stuffed it into his clothes. The artificial intelligence wasn’t just an unfeeling construct; it was in many ways alive, like him. Just as how Nakama had helped him to retain his sense of self, Gaius now hoped that the artificial intelligence would be able to discover and shape its own identity.

Gaius, still in mid-air, raised the Moonshot to shoulder-level, and the six sigils followed suit. It felt like firing a shotgun and a sniper rifle rolled together, no matter how the little boy looked at it. He looked through what suspiciously resembled a scope, but other than a little dot in the middle, there was nothing special about it.

He felt a bit disappointed that the scope didn’t have anything mystical about it. There wasn’t anything like night-vision or x-ray, which was par for the course for any rifle that looked as exquisite as his Moonshot.

“Whatever,” Gaius murmured. The smoothness of the Moonshot’s trigger was reassuring to the touch, comfortable under his finger, and it shuddered lightly as he pulled it.

Six stars streaked through the air.