We have a plan?

Kalli let out a nervous laugh. Yeah, don’t die.

Great plan.

She stuck out her tongue. I think you’re starting to rub off on me.

We gathered in Celestea castle to go over our options. The war room with the conference table felt empty without Celestea to offer her thoughts. While Kalli’s father wasn’t always there, we felt his absence too.

Seated at the table was our ragtag group of friends. Now that he was back to full health, Orpheus took his place beside Kalli. We made a pit stop at Solitair to pick up Maya and Nir so they could weigh in. With new bodies and significantly lower levels, we decided that the two wouldn’t be much help in the upcoming battle with Rasputin. That, and I didn’t want to lose my sister again.

Nir laughed when I brought up her level. “When you’ve been around longer than the system, you understand that levels have little meaning when comparing greater beings to lesser ones.”

Zofia was also present, accompanied by her aide Natalya. The two of them sat huddled at the far end of the table going over notes and sifting through a box of gadgets they’d brought along.

Esha and Boombrix joined as well, even though it was decided that it would be impossible to sneak non-humans into the castle. In the end, it was the Dabian representative that was the most helpful.

Edith stood before us in her impeccably pressed uniform and said, “Dabia stands with you. We will do everything in our power to overthrow the off-worlder who usurped the throne. If you can sneak in the usual way, we will smuggle you straight to the throne room.”

“No chamber pot duty this time?” I confirmed, cringing at the thought.

Edith’s lip curled up into a hint of a smile but only for a moment before going back to her trademark neutral expression. “That will not be necessary. Rolfe will smuggle you through a secret corridor directly to the throne room. Once you’ve dealt with Rasputin, the Dabian army stands ready to overthrow his men in town.”

“Do you think they can handle tanks?” I asked, wondering if the Dabians had hidden technology I was unaware of.

She shook her head. “They only have one tank and we have ways of handling it.”

“Boombrix and her sisters can make the tank go boom,” Boombrix offered, a maniacal smile on her face. “Boombrix isn’t afraid to sneaky-sneaky into the castle town.”

Edith’s lip curled up for a different reason as the tiny green goblin spoke. “I don’t see how that will be-“

“Let’s worry about that later,” Kalli cut her off, offering a reassuring smile to Boombrix. “For now, we need every advantage we can get. As you can see, we are going into this shorthanded. We were unable to find anyone that can help us that is even remotely close to Rasputin’s level.”

Edith frowned. “How do you plan on beating him then?”

Should we tell her that we beat high-level people before?

Kalli shook her head at me. No. She should already know about your defeat of Mardella. Depending on what she heard from the king, she might know how badly you were hurt in that fight. All she needs to know is that we have a plan.

Right, don’t die!

Kalli struggled to suppress a giggle. That and we know how he attacks. Between the two of us, I’m sure we will find a way to beat him.

We both knew the ring was an option. Of course, it meant possibly releasing Mardella since the only other prisoners of the ring appeared to be helpless princesses. I hadn’t bothered to check their level but the odds were high that imprisoning Rasputin meant releasing Mardella, and that might mean exchanging one battle for another. Especially if she was insane.

Realizing everyone was waiting for an answer, I stood to address the room. “He showed his cards the last time we fought him. He can kill with a touch. We also know from Maya that he uses his mana to do it. That means if we can repel his mana, he can’t hurt us. Kalli and I have both been working on touch-based attacks. We can thank Mardella and the ancients for that. I believe if I can get the drop on him, I can subdue him if not kill him outright. There are a few variables that come into play here. First off, we don’t know if he has any other awakened with him. If he does, we will have to retreat and regroup. There is also the possibility that he has ranged attacks he hasn’t shown yet.”

When I stopped, Kalli took over. “We also have weapons provided by Zofia and her group that has already proven effective against him. We are hoping to use those to at least stun him long enough to give us an advantage. For any of this to work, we are relying heavily on the element of surprise. This is why we must sneak into the castle unnoticed.”

“We will get you in unseen,” Edith replied. “That man will execute many Dabians should you fail to kill him. I want you to bear that in mind before you go in. Failure is not an option.”

I found myself nodding along with everyone else. Failure in this case potentially meant the fall of Gaia. Thinking of the tank, I was reminded of how I dealt with the last one. “Do you know where the tank is parked? I can delete it if I get within eyesight.”

She shook her head. “Using your magic on it would be a dead giveaway that you are in town. That is also why we haven’t planned a rescue for Queen Kalliphae’s parents. They are likely bait designed to capture the two of you.”

Kalli shuddered and her eyes began to water at the mention of her parents. However, I felt her quickly steel herself as she blinked away the tears and replied. “Our top priority is to eliminate Rasputin. We can deal with everything else afterward.”

“Agreed,” Edith said, giving Kalli a nod of approval. “The next question is how many people are we planning on sneaking into Dabia?”

As it turned out, we had quite an army of people to smuggle. Zofia arranged for a group of twenty men to accompany her. From the looks of them, they were likely mercenaries employed by the TGB. I also noticed they came with more traditional weapons from Earth including guns and something that looked mysteriously like a rocket-propelled grenade.

After meeting some of the men, I turned to Zofia and snickered. “What? No Iron Man?”

She turned my look around at me with a smirk. “Would you like me to suit up?”

The funny thing was, I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. We also had a couple dozen humans from Meltopia that volunteered to help rescue Kalli’s mother and father. Included in the group was Gulliver. He embraced Kalli the moment he saw her and said, “I can never thank you enough for rescuing my Guinny. Helping get your parents back is the least I can do.”

The villagers didn’t look nearly as battle ready as Zofia’s men but what they lacked in skill, they made up for in enthusiasm. Each came equipped with various farm tools which I quickly edited into more deadly weapons. Zofia outfitted each with a PING and gave them a quick rundown on how to use them. I noticed she didn’t pass out any regular guns but figured that was probably for the best, friendly fire being a thing and all.

Getting to Dabia was easy. I teleported the entire group directly under the city in the Thief’s Corridor in one go. Edith snuck us up in small groups, spreading our forces across multiple homes. Unlike the last time, we didn’t need safe houses that were set up specifically for that purpose as all of the townsfolk had a vested interest in liberating their city. They jumped at the chance to put up their would-be liberators.

Aside from us, the only ones left were non-humans. Boombrix danced around, cradling a wicked-looking bomb in her tiny arms. “Boombrix is ready to send the wicked humans back where they belong.”

The main group went up last only after everyone else was safely hidden from the public. That group consisted of me, Kalli, Orpheus, Zofia, Gulliver, and several armed mercenaries from the TGB.

We used group chat for communication. Zofia and her people were a little apprehensive, each of them already equipped with earwigs. After trying to get them in the group, there was a lot of accidental chatter as everyone broadcast their internal thoughts, not realizing how telepathic group chat worked.

These little green men are strange.

Who said that?

The voices in my head are speaking to me again.

In the end, we decided to let them use their radios and we would use group chat. The exception was Zofia who was eager to try anything magical. Our group didn’t waste any time with safe houses. Edith marched us through alleys until we were at the familiar servant’s entrance to the castle.

When Edith knocked on the door, Rolfe answered immediately making it obvious that he was waiting for us. Gone was the look of disdain on his face. While he wasn’t exactly smiling, he didn’t turn his nose up at us as though we reeked of chamber pots. Edith invited him to the group the moment she saw him.

Rolfe Dia has joined the group.

He gave Edith a grim nod and said, The staff has been confined to essential duties. Even you are not free to walk about as you like, so we need to stick to the passageways.

Edith nodded. That’s what I expected. Do you have any information on other magic users? In the guest wings perhaps?

Rolfe shook his head. No, actually I was going to ask you about that. The man who killed the king and queen seems quite mad. He did bring other men into the capital but insisted they stay outside of the castle.

Kalli stepped forward and asked, Have you seen my parents? Are they alive?

Rolfes expression softened when he saw the look on Kalli’s face. I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Your parents aren’t in the castle. So far as I know, nobody has seen them.

They could be in the tank. Perhaps I can-

Kalli vetoed the idea. It’s fine. I’m sure they will turn up. We need to focus on Rasputin.

I looked back at the group. There were more people with us than I was comfortable sneaking around for long with.

We need to get out of sight. Take us to Rasputin.

Rolfe nodded and took us to a room that looked like a janitor’s closet. After moving several brooms and a mop out of the way, he pushed a tile on the wall. It sunk in and a secret door slid open. I was mildly disappointed that special music didn’t play to announce we’d discovered it.

The passage through the walls was dusty and dark but that didn’t seem to bother anyone in the group. Rolfe walked with the confidence he must have gotten from many trips through the ancient walls of the castle. Kalli and I relied on the God Eye skill to see everything clear as day. Zofia donned a strange-looking pair of goggles that made her eyes seem four times bigger than normal and her mercenaries trailed close behind with their guns drawn. While Gulliver didn’t have a way of seeing in the dark, he did a good job of keeping up nonetheless.

After walking for what felt like an eternity, Rolfe stopped us, pointing to a wall with a latch on it. Through here is the throne room. You will find him sitting on the throne. I am quite certain he is expecting you.