Now I had a real appreciation of what it meant to fight for my life, even with all the strength I’d gained from the Tower so far. I had no idea how long the cooldown was on his Rooting move, or if maybe he had other ways to do that, or other tricks up his sleeve that were just as bad. I fought cautiously, as though I was trying to stop Jessica from killing me, focusing on getting more distance from Dieter and keeping it while not getting close enough to the war around us for anyone to take potshots. Dieter was hardly hitting me at all now, while I was still pelting him with as much fire as I could muster. On top of that, my Flame Javelin spell had a defense reducing effect, one that had stacked quite a bit on Dieter by now.

For just a moment, Dieter hesitated, as though he was thinking about trying to retreat. I had to end this now. I cast another Lesser Rain of Fire...and this time, I manipulated the raining fireballs with Power of Imagination so that each and every one struck him directly. He was dead before much more than half of them impacted.

Or should I say, he’d lost one of his lives. I had to act quickly, because there was every possibility that he’d simply respawn on the Blitzkreig, change into fresh combat gear, and come at me again.

That was part of how death worked in the Tower. If you died in an Area rather than on a Floor, and you still had Extra Lives, you respawned either where you last entered the area—so either at your starting point in the Tutorial or somewhere in the Pantheon—or at a device called a Respawn Module. Most military ships, Federation or otherwise, were equipped with such devices, and they could also be installed in your home or wherever for a high price.

Rapidly, I confiscated Dieter’s gear and withdrew to the Firebrand. To my slight surprise, the battle was going well. The Federation troops were outnumbered, but they were a great deal more disciplined than the enemy, not to mention that we’d found an old Federation base to land in, so we had a certain amount of defensive terrain advantage.

I found General Karl in a hastily erected mobile command center (read: a tent, but more sci-fi.) “Operative Lheticus reporting!” I snapped off a clumsy imitation of the Federation’s salute. “I killed Dieter, but lost my suit’s health potions, and my mana battery is down to 40%. Do we have enough left to fill the injector tank?”

Karl nodded. “Go. Hurry before the Blitzkrieg returns. There’s no way he’s not coming back for another round.”

Someone burst into the tent then, stopping right next to me and delivering a much less clumsy salute than mine, though still hasty. “Sir! An unidentified Dreadnaught has appeared above the battle!”

Karl’s eyes bulged. “Did you say a Dreadnaught?! Who the hell is it?! Whose side are they on?!”

“We tried to contact them from the bridge of the Firebrand, sir. They rejected our hails. But they are attacking the enemy ships that stayed in orbit to cut off our fleet from escape.”

“What’s the status of the Blitzkrieg?”

“Suppressed, and if I didn’t know any better--”

Suddenly, a distant, yet loud BOOM filled the battlefield. Karl rushed out of the tent to see, and of course I did too.

The Blitzkrieg had been obliterated. That sent the remaining enemy troops into a panic. They broke and ran for their ships. Many of them were lost to the counterattack Karl ordered on them as they were fleeing. Several hundred of them were captured when their ships, in their own panic, took off without them.

The battle I’d fought so hard in had been ended completely in minutes. Maybe it wasn’t someone I knew in that gigantic thing in the sky, but if it was, it could only be one person.

I had gone ahead and returned to the Firebrand to refill the suit’s health potion reserves. As soon as I was finished, another crewman approached me. “Sir, the Dreadnaught hailed us. It’s the Rainbow Mage. He said he wishes to speak to the Operation Commander, that being you, in private aboard his vessel, sir. He said you will be considered his personal guest.”

“I fricking bet I will,” I muttered, then aloud, “can the Firebrand dock with that thing?”

“Not a good idea, sir. It’s in the middle of repairs, it's in no shape to go to orbit.”

“Then I’ll try and find a ship that’s fresh enough, let them know what’s going on, and take it up. You go to the general and let HIM know what’s going on. Okay?”

“Yes sir.”

It took a few minutes to find a frigate in the fleet that hadn't had repairs interrupted. The ship’s captain took some coaxing, but he eventually took us up.

“That’s strange,” said one of the bridge crew—a much smaller crew than the Firebrand, “there’s only four docking bays. Usually Dreadnaughts have a dozen or more.”

“I’m sure it’s just the Rainbow Mage’s specifications,” I said, “don’t worry about it.”

A nearby crewman turned from his station toward me. “Is the rumor true then, sir? Did you...meet them before?”

“Very briefly,” I said, lost in thought wondering what was going to happen next, “very briefly.”

The docking bay we were directed to was totally empty of other vessels. I went directly through the cavernous bay’s only exit, into what resembled a conference room.

Otto kept me waiting for ten entire minutes. When he first saw me, his eyebrows raised for an instant. “Lheticus. It appears we meet again after all.”

“So it would seem...Rainbow Mage.”

“You’ve done rather well for yourself, haven’t you? I assumed it was a member of the special pro-Federation alliance team under attack, but I had no idea you were a member.”

“Yes, well...that’s just how good a job you did at motivating me.”

“I can’t say I meant to motivate you quite this much.”

“You showed me how easily someone in Area 1 can be caught up in a completely hopeless situation, no matter how much they keep to themselves. If I can’t just keep Mewi and myself out of trouble, then I need enough power to make sure he can’t be taken away from me, by anything or anyone. Not even by you.”

This time, Otto’s eyebrows stayed raised as he spoke. “Not even me? You’ve still got a long way to go to be talking like that.”

“Don’t I know it. I came way too close to dying to Dieter. Someone like him probably isn’t even in your eyes, right?”

Otto’s shrug was conciliatory. “From what I understand, his faction is at mid-level among those against the Federation. Strong, but not among the movement’s leaders. Although, his personal battle power wasn’t small among his peers, and it’s a safe bet he’d gained AP from Kinetice as well. So, the fact that you killed him isn’t nothing.

Anyway, let’s get down to business. My original point of calling you here was to discuss remuneration for my little impromptu rescue.”

“That reminds me,” I said, “how did you end up coming to the rescue?”

Otto sighed. “I happened to be in the Zone, hunting Kinetice fleets for AP for my team and I. The Voltar’s sensors suddenly picked up on over a thousand ships converging on the Erkolls system, which I thought was suspicious. I decided to take some time to investigate, so I had the ship follow after them. The rest you know.”

“Hrm. So if I heard you right, you want some kind of reward for finishing that battle for us. But if you can have a friggin’ Dreadnaught built for you, you clearly don’t lack money or connections. And let me tell you, I want no part of ‘doing a little favor’ for you ever again, never mind how useful the last one ultimately was.”

Otto actually smiled. “Nothing like that. Actually, all I really want is for you to clear out of this Zone. I’ve been going around with my team, exterminating the Kinetice on every planet we can in it. Staying mostly in one place for a while and getting as much AP as possible for myself and my team, that kind of idea. So, just leave the rest of the Kinetice in the Erkolls system to me.”

“I’ll have to tell Admiral Bruzigan about this,” I said, “but we stopped here in the first place for major repairs and maintenance anyway, and weren’t staying in this Zone after Erkolls. If you don’t take longer about it than, I think probably a week, we don’t have the capacity to stop you from kill stealing anyway. Only...”

“I’ll direct the Federation ships willing to join you to where you’re set up, don’t worry. All right, we’re done here.”

“I guess we are. It’s just, I can’t help but wonder, why would you pick this Zone in particular? There are plenty in Area 1 that are even more swarming with Kinetice. You could have gone just about anywhere. But you went here. And you were awfully close behind the enemies. The battle can’t have even been going for ten minutes, and that Dreadnaught would have been a lot slower than them.”

Otto’s eyes narrowed. “Just what are you trying to say?”

“You had protecting the Erkolls system in mind from the start, didn’t you? Once word gets out that its Zone is your personal hunting ground, no one will dare try to bring it into the war anymore. I’m guessing you originally arrived in the Area in the Erkolls system—meaning, the people from your original home world are entering from the Tutorial from this system. You’re protecting them. And you know what’s a hell of a coincidence? I entered in the exact same system. This very planet, in fact. What’s up with that?”

Otto’s expression turned serious. “I never made any indication, I’ve never done or said anything to imply that I’m from the Erkolls system. And you should never imply that I am to anyone else, either. And you should especially not mention it in terms of you entering from the same system as me.”