Mallory was already in the room, peering out the window.

“Oh, hey guys,” he said, turning around when Hector closed the door behind them.

“We know the plan?” Hector asked.

“I strike whoever gets too close,” Mercy said.

“Rooftop,” Tallow said.

“I’ll be bottom floor,” Mallory said. “Setting up traps and giant spells and whatnot.”

Hector looked at Jon.

“Can you take top floor?” Hector asked. “I’ll be on the bottom. We’ll switch depending on what needs to be done,”

Jon nodded. That would be simple enough. He just wished he knew what they were doing.

“What do you want us to do?” Helia asked.

“Nothing,” Hector said. “This is the part of the mission that you sit back and let us take care of you. You guys are the packages, and it’s better you stay safe, or it’s all for nothing. If they grab you, they can just run off and it’ll be an even worse situation.”

“Got it,” Helia said. “Stay safe, hunker down.”

“Oh, and by the way.” Tallow tossed a brown item to Helia, who caught it.

She opened it, revealing it to be a belt of daggers.

“Take one,” Tallow said. “There’s enough for everybody. I’d hand it out… but…”

“It’s a rainbow!” Helia said in surprise.

Jon saw it. Each of the daggers were a different color of the rainbow put in order. At least he assumed because he didn’t remember the order of the colors.

“Where’d you get this?” Stewart asked in awe.

“Friends and family discount,” Tallow responded. “Haggled it down to a reasonable price. They’re all used for cutting fabric, and I didn’t have much time to train you... but I figured something’s better than nothing. And even then, I suppose it fits the theme.”

Helia and Stewart had pulled out their own daggers, a light blue one and an orange one, respectively.

Helia then held the belt open and walked to Hector.

“...I don’t need one,” Hector said. “I can fight well enough.”

“Oh, take it, you dolt!” Helia exclaimed. “One for everybody. I bet you know how to use one anyway.”

Hector groaned, but he took a violet dagger and put it on the inside of his coat.

Mercy nodded with glee and grabbed the yellow one. It was the brightest thing Jon had seen Mercy have that wasn’t her yellow hair. He then immediately understood why she had chosen it.

Mallory gingerly took out the green one and put it in his side bag.

Jon reached had a choice between indigo and red. He chose the indigo cause it was blue, but also not like blue.

He remembered his sister trying to convince him that blue and indigo were different. Ben had agreed with her, but Jason and his father had decided otherwise.

When it was brought to Jon’s mother, she decided that it was up to Jon what color it was.

Jon decided that it didn’t matter. Not until now, anyways, since he was holding this dagger in his hands.

It felt cool to the touch. almost much like the blunderbuss when he first picked it up.

Tallow was the last one, purposely trying not to make eye contact with Helia as she held it out.

“Awe, screw it, it’s mine anyway. Just… put it on!” She turned and Helia wrapped the belt around Tallow’s waist and tied it.

Before Tallow could move, Helia moved up and hugged her.

“Thank you…” she said.

“Aw, please…” Tallow still tried not to make eye contact with her, staring up into the ceiling, but she didn’t push Helia away.

“Alright, everyone,” Hector said. “Remember not to use too much mana. We have another fight waiting for us out there.”

“Roger, boss,” Mallory said, as everyone began to part.

Mercy squeezed Jon’s shoulder, then gave Hector a soft stare before following Tallow up the steps.

Mallory gave Jon a grimace and raised his hands.

A small blue circle appeared around his feet.

Keep it simple…

Jon didn't know if not using too much mana applied to him. Still, he heeded the advice, as he never knew what to expect.

Efficiency. Jon remembered Mallory saying that his mana might still be a bit out of tune after learning to walk again. Other than the fire incident, Jon didn’t see anything else being assured, but he still knew that there was a lot to think about.

Jon started to go upstairs when Hector called his name.

“Jon,” Hector said, “try to keep your head down. Don’t give them a target and try to keep moving. Come down if you need to.”

Jon nodded. “Okay.”

With that, Jon jogged upstairs to where he was needed.

When he was on the second floor, he saw Stewart trying to help Tallow put her golden claw onto her injured arm, which was out of its sling. It hung limp as Stewart tried to insert her fingers in, but they kept slipping out. Jon realized he hadn’t seen the golden claw since the hospital bed.

Jon didn’t even remember Stewart coming upstairs.

“Just… shove it!” Tallow said.

“I can’t fit it over!” Stewart said. “Especially since your arm doesn’t…”

“Ugh!” Tallow then noticed Jon watching.

“Help him, Jon!” she demanded.

Jon went over and used one hand to help Stewart bring the entire claw onto her arm. He then twisted it so that it locked.

“Thanks,” Tallow said. “No thanks to brainiac here. Can you put it back?”

Jon saw that Tallow’s arm was still limp in his grasp. He put the arm back in the sling. It was odd to see the golden claw in such a vulnerable position.

“Why put it on the injured arm?” Stewart asked. “Why don’t you just-”

“Go hide downstairs!” Tallow yelled.

“Right-o!” Stewart ran back down the stairs and out of sight.

Tallow grimaced. “Right. Good luck, Jon.”

“...Good luck,” he said.

She dashed towards the window, grabbing the top of the sill and swinging herself outside and to the top of the building.

Jon went the opposite way, going into a room and looking out of the window.

He peered out into the trees. The large clearing around the house made it easy to see if anyone was approaching.

When he noticed movement, he remembered Hector’s words and crouched down, turning his back to the bottom of the window as he hid under it.

Jon thought it was strange that he was nervous. He had run among the crowd of limitless caiman at the farm, and he had fought people before, but knowing that those people were gonna try to break into the house he was in gave him anxieties he never knew he had.

He peeked out of the window again, moving up just enough so that he could see out below.

He waited until he saw several jackets running out of the trees.

Further behind, Ultimare approached slowly, not moving much past the border of the trees.

Jackets… Jon wanted to shoot, but he remembered how easily they had dodged it before. And also, shooting now would give his position away faster than ever.

He decided to wait ‘til they got closer to the house. Too close, and he wouldn’t be able to see them and aim anymore.

That’s what Hector and Mercy are for…

As if on cue, a stream of fire shot out from the bottom floor scattering the jackets.

Now!

Jon stood up, aiming his gun downwards and firing.

He chose one of the jackets, who made an evasive maneuver from Hector’s flame with a small tumble to the side. Jon had timed it so that the blast connected with the man after he lost all momentum of his roll.

The jacket was knocked back several feet, and he didn’t move after he hit the floor.

One.

Jon pivoted the gun to the left and fired again. Already in the chaos, he saw more of the jackets rushing in from another angle in the window. He estimated that there were just under 15 of them coming from just this side of the house alone.

While he pivoted from target to target, he saw a beam of energy shoot down from the roof of the house above him. It landed near three targets before dashing back towards the house.

Mercy. Jon understood why she had come to the top of the house after being assigned the bottom floor. It was so that she could assess the situation decisively making the few attacks she needed to in order to defend their position.

He was a little worried about Mercy running around the outside of the house, but he also knew that if there was someone who would thrive off of making speedy attacks and retreating, Mercy was no doubt the best choice to do so.

More streams of fire jettisoned from the bottom, rarely ever catching their targets, but scattering them so that they had to think about their approach.

Jon kept shooting until he noticed that some of the jackets had gotten smart, climbing up to the awning of the building and heading towards his window.

He grimaced and started shooting when one of them appeared from above the window and kicked him.

In his shock, he raised his gun just in time to deflect the attack, but he wasn’t able to brace himself, getting knocked back and falling onto the floor.

Jon still hadn’t lost his bearings completely. He willed himself into a backward slide, shooting back at the jacket in the window.

The jacket was prepared, spinning around to the adjacent window to climb in, but they weren’t expecting Jon to be ready as well, shooting each window consecutively and having the jacket throw themself into an incoming blast and sending themselves off the building.

Jon then jumped up to his feet, gun still in hand as he blasted away at the windows.

He knew he was supposed to conserve mana, but he didn’t want to let anyone get in. Fighting in an alley was one way, but Jon knew that if the area they fought in were too small, he might have gotten overwhelmed by the speediness of the jackets.

He was wondering what to do next when just through the window he could just barely make out a gust of wind mana shooting down sweeping off the wide awning below.

He rushed forward and looked up, not being able to see Tallow, but being reminded of her presence above him.

Thanks, he thought, knowing that she wouldn’t actually hear what was in his head.

Jon now understood his role. His friends would protect the immediate perimeter of the house, and he would pick off people trying to make their way in from further away.

Yeah.

He readied his gun, putting himself at the window again before promptly dropping to the floor as a wave of fire seared through the opening of the window.

Jon looked up from the floor as the fire sustained itself for a time, even reaching to the roof of the room he was in. Jon didn’t know why, but the flames, although dangerous, didn’t feel as hot to him anymore. When it stopped, the roof was scorched.

Ultimare…

Jon stood up again, gun already pointed down to retaliate as quick as he could.

When he was standing straight, he could just make out Ultimare standing just outside of the house, his hands outstretched towards the high window.

Jon was already pulling the trigger as he got Ultimare in his sights, shooting an energy blast from his gun before immediately dropping to the floor again.

Fire seared the area where he stood once more. Whatever intensity the fire magic was, it was too much for Jon’s gun to be able to dispel completely.

“Jon!”

He was considering his own incompetence when the flames stopped spewing into the room again, and Hector suddenly appeared over Jon’s head, punching downward and shooting his own fire from this fist towards the ground level.

A new stream of fire also shot up, barely encasing Hector. Jon could see the difference of the flames up close. Hector’s fire had a darker orange tone to his and all of its velocity was heading away from his body. Jon never thought he would see a scene where two different sets of fires would be fighting with each other.

It gave him an uncanny feeling, but he’d rather uncanny than warm.

“Go!” Hector yelled when both streams of fire had dispersed from their short clash.

Jon turned on his back heel, standing up in the second window before trying to shoot down.

He didn’t even get a shot off before more fire burst through the window.

“Go!” Hector yelled again, punching out another stream of flame.

Change positions.

Jon reminded himself of the plan Hector had laid out before. He ducked his head and left Hector to his fire wall as he hastily stepped out of the room and straight down the staircase.

Already, on the bottom floor, he could see Mallory cracking his fingers in his hands. A stream of black followed by lighting streamed through the bottom floor, jumping through the front window and crossing over until it leaped out the back window.

Mallory looked over his shoulder when he heard Jon stepping down from the staircase.

“Oh, cool!” Mallory said, grinning. Jon was amazed he could keep such positive energy in such a stressful situation.

“I’m gonna show you the second thing I was good at,” Mallory explained. “Remember when I was explaining earlier about only being able to really focus on two types of spells because of my mana levels.

Jon nervously took a glance out of the front window, but he remembered that Mallory had always gotten away with making magical research in the midst of battle, so Jon decided that he could do the same.

“Well, the second thing I can do is magical manipulation,” Mallory said. “Bit of an overloaded name, ‘cause it’s all magic, but basically…”

He extended his arms upwards and outwards, and a blue circle summoned itself to his feet.

“I’m ready for the spell!” Mallory said with glee.

The black blur that was Mercy leaped across the room through the window without stopping again.

“You’re ready for the spell?” Jon heard as she speed past him, already gone before he could realize her face.

After a moment, the shadow jumped through the window a third time.

“She says, ‘what spell?’” Mercy said softly before she disappeared outside again.

“That girl…” Mallory shook his head with a tight grin.

“What’s magical manipulation?” Jon asked, impatient to start defending the house again.

“There goes that magical patience!” Mallory exclaimed. He continued to talk about his mana use.

“It means I can control different types of mana,” Mallory said. “Or rather, different types of spells, or both… It means… I can expend minor amounts of my mana to access other spells and contort them as I see fit…”

His voice became tighter as he brought his hands down, then began slowly drawing vertical circles in front of his face.

“I can amplify or deconstruct other spells as well…” Mallory continued, “and the more I know about the structure of the spell, the more…”

He strained, “the more I can break it down and access it… There are limits… but if there’s a certain redhead Vindhazi girl who starts a wind spell with me in sync and within my limits…”

Mallory started to make bigger swings.

“You gun…” he continued, “it’s too fast... And it’s mostly pure mana. Nothing to control, but others… I can help…”

He strained. “Yeah. Usually, the bigger the better… you should go check on Mercy…”

Jon nodded, also curious to see what was happening outside. He went to the front window.

He pulled back in surprise when he saw the giant tornado surrounding the house and picking up purple jackets in its wake. He even saw jackets without the wearers being carried around without them.

Despite being a tornado, it seemed to be incredibly wide, the bottom of the tornado surrounding the perimeter of the house.

He could also see that only the physical area of the wind spell had the bulk of the strength. Anyone who had made it underneath the awning was still holding on to dear life, slowly making it to the walls of the house.

There were three of them towards the right, so Jon was gonna shoot when Mercy jumped down and swung her energy-charged black tool.

The mana blade extended, catching all three jackets. The blade then curved forward as it carried the jackets and slammed all three of them into the outer wall of the house.

They feel limp as the wind spell became to carry them away.

Mercy then ran to the tornado and stabbed it with her blade.

Energy seeped from the blade into the tornado, expanding into the rest of the spell and slowly changing its color to that of the sword.

“Check up on Hector!” Mercy cried over her shoulder, struggling to hold on to the blade with both hands.

Jon nodded. He ran past Mallory and jogged back up the stairs.

In the room, he could see that Ultimare had made it into the room, and he was holding Hector down by the neck.

Jon grunted internally and fired at him.

Ultimare lifted his other hand, blocking the attack.

Jon didn’t care at this point. He just repeatedly pulled the trigger.

Ultimare kept blocking the consecutive attacks, but Jon pulled the trigger faster and faster.

Eventually, Hector was able to aim his fist towards the ceiling.

Fire shot from it as always, passing by Ultimare and smearing itself on the ceiling.

Jon thought that he had missed, but instead, he noticed on the roof that red symbols had been formed where the fire had hit.

The symbols began to glow red hot, and a red circle appeared underneath Hector’s body.

Jon kept shooting at Ulimare to distract him from what was happening.

Finally, Ultimare took a look down at Hector, catching glimpse of his vindictive face and the red circle under him.

He swiftly turned his attention upwards to the red symbols above him.

Several streams of fire shot down from the symbols, all coming straight from the purple robbed man.

He put his hand over his head, making a general spell shield to protect himself from the mana attack.

He then finally let go of Hector and used both hands to amplify his spell.

Hector rolled away and picked up his sword, which had been discarded.

Both the red circle and the spell disappeared.

Ultimare put his hands together, shooting at both Jon and Hector with a single spell.

Jon didn’t even get to see the entire spell manifest as Hector cut sideways, dispersing the entire spell in one hit.

Jon used the opening, shooting Ultimare and hitting him straight on with a blast.

Ultimare took it straight on, being shoved to the window, but still keeping his ground.

Jon and Hector had prepared to keep attacking when Mercy appeared in the window behind Ultimare.

In one move, she wrapped her elbow around his neck, and a giant energy blade pierced his stomach, extending into the room.

She then fell backward with him, pulling his body out of the window before pushing it off behind her with both feet.

His body disappeared in the large spell.

Hector stepped forwards and punched fire into the spell, holding its stream as the entire tornado became a bright orange.

Jon decided to move to the other window and add some more to it by shooting repeatedly into its side.

That was when the spell started to lift off of the ground. It turned over to its side and slowly traveled away into the house before it turned on its head and slammed into the gourd.

The tornado then disappeared, leaving a pile of both humans and purple jackets.

However, what was missing was the purple robbed magician, nowhere to be seen.

Jon sighed. It was gonna be a long day.