“I can’t say I was expecting to ride in a ‘batmobile’ today,” Saina muttered.

In front of her was a black, sleek car. It was clearly themed after a bat, although it looked like a normal car for the most part, with five seats and a trunk.

Batman began to explain while the trunk opened and he set a basket filled with weapons inside. “It’s got a forcefield and automatic defenses to keep us safe. Tazers and m-channel nets aren’t very effective on water, so hopefully, Saphi can handle the elementals. And while we’re at it, we can stop by the lake to grab some water.”

Saphi, who had quickly leaped onto the front seat, the door of which had folded upward after Batman had clicked his remote, grabbed the wheel and imagined driving it with glee. She turned her head when the lake was mentioned. “I don’t like the lake’s water...it’s creepy.”

“Uhh...creepy?”

Saina nodded. “Saphi thinks there’s something evil under Michigan Lake. I can’t say if she’s right or not.”

“That’s fine, I guess. She got plenty from my pond anyway,” he said, motioning to the ever-flowing ring of water that followed Saphi wherever it was most convenient.

It wasn’t long before the batmobile rushed out of a storage unit and began riding across the street by the edge of the lake, Batman driving while Saphi and Saina sat in the passenger seat.

Saina watched as, hardly far away, the last remnants of The Great Water Elemental was drained away by Uffield. The waves which had crashed and battered the street they were on had cleared out by then, the elemental so weakened that it could hardly even topple a single building.

“All of that strife...over something she destroyed in an hour...” Saina muttered to herself.

“What do you mean?” Batman said before turning a hard left away from a pile of rubble and bringing them further from the shore.

“Saphi was stolen from me when she was a child because people thought she could control that thing.” She placed a hand on Saphi’s head, the child looking back at the elemental with her just as a mound of rubble blocked their view. “Her father died attempting to call it upon a rival tribe. Drade killed him.”

He frowned. “Killed? I thought he was a pacifist.”

“He is.”

The car suddenly jerked to a stop as water blasted toward the front window, though it deflected off an invisible barrier a little above it. “Elemental at three o’clock!”

“Saphi, now!” Saina said although the kid had already sent the water floating around her into the elemental.

The elemental was as large as a house and stood on a vortex of water as it pointed it’s arms and moaned with the sound of a tidal wave. It pointed it’s hand forward and shot another blast of water, only for Saphi to deflect it with a dramatic swipe of her hand, causing it to crash into a nearby pile of rubble instead.

Her water quickly mixed with the elemental’s, and a moment later, she swiped her other hand out, and it was ripped apart. It gurgled loudly as it exploded, splattering across the pavement as it was ripped from the inside-out.

Saphi raised a hand up, causing the water to fly into a large ring, which then moved back over the car.

Batman hit the gas again as he asked, “Are the hand motions really needed? I see you all use magic without them all the time.”

“It helps mages focus our power. It also telegraphs our moves for allies and all,” Saina shrugged. “But it does also feel cooler than just sitting still.”

“And so the truth comes out...”

The Friend’s hideout was a complete mess.

Most, though not all, of the remaining members of the cult-imitating group were huddled in the school gym, doing what they could with the little leadership they had. They barred doors and watched the outside from the building’s few windows, keeping tabs on the group of soldiers surrounding their fallback point.

Vertai looked about the room from her spot at the top of the bleachers, her phone in her hand. She had been just a moment from calling Datai and asking for an update when it suddenly flickered off. Other people seemed to undergo the same issue, panic rising as their only connection to the outside was cut.

She grimaced, then suddenly teleported to Ketar, a guy with a sack of baseballs hanging from his waist and a bat in his hand, who was standing beside a window, looking out. She then looked out it, pushing him aside for a moment. Three people watched them from the top of a pile of rubble, freely drinking water with smiles as though they were completely unworried about the people they were keeping watch on.

“They haven’t moved,” Ketar said, hefting his bat onto his shoulder.

“I know,” Vertai responded. “Two more people suddenly fell onto the building, so I was wondering...”

She suddenly teleported again, this time onto the top of the building. Two people, armed with strange guns and equipped with full-body military suits stood atop it, one kneeling.

An instant later, she teleported back to Ketar. “Can I borrow your bat?” she asked.

He handed it over, letting it flip down between his fingers. “Sure, man. Why not.”

A moment later, she appeared behind the two, who were confusedly looking where she had been only a few seconds earlier. Then as she fell, she slammed the bat into one’s head, sending him slamming into the floor. As the other moved his gun toward her, she teleported behind him and smacked him just as he shot the gun at empty air.

Then, she teleported back to Ketar, dropped the bat, teleported back between the two quickly recovering grunts, grabbed their guns as they tried to raise them, then teleported back with guns in hand just in time to hear the bat clatter to the floor.

“Hey~ weird guns, neat,” Ketar said.

Vertai’s eyes were wide as breathed in and out heavily. “That was scary.”

“Heh. Your magic is nuts, but I guess guns are scary either way.”

She nodded. “Teleporting anywhere I can’t see is really scary, even without guns.”

“W-what the heck is that thing!?” someone yelled on the other side of the gym.”

A moment later, Vertai was beside the person in question, Xerth, teleporting above them over and over again to get a good look at what they’d yelled at.

It was a mass of moss, rising from beneath the bleachers and causing more and more people to run away to another corner of the gym as it rose up and gained mass.

She teleported onto the ground. “Oh, that’s just Moss.”

The room paused.

Vertai scratched her head. “You all didn’t know about them?”

“Moss?” Xerth sent Vertai a strange look. Xerth wore strange yellow clothes with a number of bells strung to their sleeve.

She nodded. “Hi, Moss. Did you come up with a plan?”

An awkward moment ensued, filled with silence. Then, a quiet, muffled voice spoke, “Plan? What is happening?”

“Oh, you were asleep the whole time. We’re under siege. The whole city is being attacked.”

“Wow, I missed a lot.” Suddenly, something popped out of the bush of moss, then moved like a tumbleweed to Vertai. It appeared to be a mass of moss with a single red dot that vaguely resembled an eye, glowing in the darkness of its form. “Can I help?”

“Uhh...” She looked around. “What can you do?”

Vertai only knew about Moss because she could sense people within fifty feet of herself -and teleport around them at will, of course. The first time she met it, she’d noted noted its presence and made the mistake of teleporting into its mass of Moss.

What had resulted was an intense moment of fear as she tried and failed to teleport away as she was dragged further into the mass, only to learn that it was an innocent, curious little creature with anti-magic powers. Well...it was a sentient plant, apparently, and she wasn’t so sure if that counted as a creature. Or was moss a fungus...? She wasn’t sure.

It moved across the tiles, then leaped onto her leg and crawled onto her shoulder, slightly unnerving Vertai.

“W-what is it?” Xerth asked.

“I’m Moss. Nice to meet you.”

“It’s Moss,” Vertai explained with a sardonic shrug.

“T-that’s its name?”

She nodded, then turned her head to Moss. “We’re surrounded by superpowered people, and they seem pretty keen on keeping us here. Phones aren’t working, we don’t have many people with magic in the gym right now, half of The Friends are missing or evacuating...and yeah...it’s not going great. Any way we can turn this around?”

It took a moment before it said, “Superpowered?”

She nodded. “They could break our doors in easily with just their fists.”

“I can negate weak magic powers, but I’m great at negating ‘physical enhancement’. If I touch one of them, I can leave them vulnerable for you to attack.”

Vertai blinked, not expecting such a robust plan from the sentient Moss, despite being acquainted with it already. “O-okay, that sounds good...but getting you on one of them would be difficult...” she glanced at the enormous mass it had left behind. “And they can just run from you...”

“What about me?”

Vertai turned her head toward the sound of the voice, only to lower an eyebrow when she saw nothing. “Who said that?”

“Me.”

Vertai stepped back in surprise, then slowly relaxed. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t notice you, Tracey.”

“I’m used to it,” thin air said. Tracey was...invisible. Not just that, she was untraceable, even by Vertai. She was unsurprisingly soft-spoken, as well.

“W-well...what were you trying to tell me?”

“What if I carried Moss to them?”

“I...I guess that could work. Moss?”

The bundle of moss leaped onto the invisible girl and rested on her shoulder, seemingly floating.

“That...” Vertai squinted. “I guess you can be Moss’s escort...actually, can you make them invisible?”

“Me and one other person,” she said.

“More than I can do. Okay, you’ll take moss over to the soldiers, and I take them out with Ketar’s bat.”

“Sis, just pick one from the storage closet!” Ketar argued.

She nodded. “That works, too. You two get ready to leave, I’ll wait for your signal.”

“Man, this reminds me of the good ol’ days, Drade!” Livia said, casually outrunning everyone else backward.

“Drauko,” Drauko corrected her. “It feels kinda...” They took in a breath, growing tired. “...weird to be called Drade as I am right now.”

“Anyway, most of what I remember from back then was us running from certain death around every corner. Fun days.”

“Okay...” Onei shook her head. “How the heck...are you so...fast?” she said through gasping breaths.

“Pretty simple, really. I can exercise a ton by just healing my muscles constantly. I’m doing it for you all right now, too.”

Onei blinked. So that’s why I suddenly stopped hurting...not that I’m not still exhausted. “So kinda like magic steroids, I guess.”

She shrugged. “Completely different, but a bit like that.”

“Umm...guys?” Felix looked back from behind them. “We’re being chased by a slime now. A-and some of the superpowered people...” He trailed off as Tabitha began chasing them, picking off and throwing the enemy soldiers to the ground with ease as they tried to leap from building to building. On the other hand, a flood of black slime had begun rushing through the street, making progress toward them.

“Aww man, more of those things? I thought we’d left them behind in the sewers!” Onei complained.

“Okay, fine,” Drauko began, “They’re targeting me for some reason, so I think we should split up. How about...you three take the next right, and Onei and Livia will go left with me?”

Datai frowned. “If they’re aiming for you, you know I can always take you into the Astral Plane, D...Drauko. Are you sure you don’t want to do that?”

They nodded. “My plan is to bait out Therin. If we evade them for long enough, he might just come to us. I think I might be able to convince him to stop all of this.”

Datai frowned. “Alright. I’ll try to stay close, though, in case you run into any serious trouble. If they take you hostage, we can’t keep fighting.”

Drauko nodded, then glanced at Onei and Livia. The latter shook her head in understanding, then held up her laser rifle. “I’ll shoot down the soldiers as we go...though that goop might be a problem.” She smiled nostalgically. “Maybe we could blow it up using our signature Drade Torture Combo.”

Onei smiled nervously. “What the fuck is a Drade Torture Combo, and why do I want to know what it is?”

Drauko put a hand to their forehead as the other three suddenly dashed right, waving back at them. “Note to self: Drade’s friends are sadists.”

“Hey what’d I ever do!?”

“You stabbed Faio to death?”

Onei nodded. “You make a fair point. Let’s meet in the middle on Yandere.”

“What about self-harm enthusiast.”

“Okay, that’s out-of-pocket...but fair enough, I guess.”

Livia laughed as she held up her rifle and began rapid-fire shooting at soldiers as they dashed toward them. “Don’t worry, you’re not alone~ That said, I can’t believe Drade replaced me!”

Drauko shook their head. “We didn’t ask for Onei to follow us. Drade still feels bad about what he put you through...”

“Pfft, someone’s forgetting that they were the one trying to stop me from following them around because I kept getting hurt. You didn’t even stop me when I accepted a job as an assassin.”

Drauko remained silent, a regretful expression briefly passing over their face.

Livia frowned as she shot down one more soldier down, immediately healing them after shooting off their leg. Despite their immense durability, the gun she’d picked up was clearly built to kill people like them.

“Assassin?” Onei said. “The healing girl is an assassin?!”

Livia nodded. “I did just say that, Mrs.Supporting Character. I also do well with kidnapping.”

“Another out-of-pocket insult? By the end of today, my pockets are going to be full.”

“Actually, I correct myself; comic relief.”

“You really like meta humor, huh?”

“Being Drade’s friend convinced me that he was the MC.”

“Heh...Wait are you being-”

“Slime incoming! now we turn left!” Livia yelled, rushing into an alleyway as the slime reached out to grab Onei.

As they rounded the corner and dashed in, the slime flooded past them, then curved back and continued down the alley.

Then, as they gained on it, six armed soldiers flanked them on the other side, armed with laser rifles, and began to shoot at them like a firing squad.

“Well shit,” Livia muttered as she raised her gun.

Drauko began to move rapidly, their eyes widening as the magical knives of energy were chaotically shot around them. They could barely avoid the bullets, forced to stop and completely focus on dodging.

Livia shot as she suddenly picked up in speed and ducked, then leaped against the half-broken wall and kicked off of it, leaping over most of their shots and wildly shooting into the surprised soldiers.

Onei didn’t know what to do, however. With panic, she rushed forward with Livia. A moment later, a bolt cut through her thigh. She dropped to the ground.

For a split second, she didn’t understand what had happened, even as she screamed in agony. She looked back at her leg, only to see that it had nearly been cut in two, blood pouring across the ground in swathes.

Her screams died down into fearful, unintelligible babbling as she looked forward and tried to crawl toward Livia, who fell into the group of soldiers and quickly dispatched of them with superior skill, stunning them by basically disassembling their bodies with precise shots of her gun. Meanwhile, Onei’s leg suddenly moved back onto itself and healed.

Drauko, seemingly mortified, dashed to Onei and lifted her up, trying to drag her from the rapidly approaching puddle of goop. “Onei, get a hang of yourself, you’re healed, okay?”

She put her uninjured leg forward, then stumbled into a run as Drauko led her forward.

Livia shot a bolt into one of the soldier’s brains as they tried to raise their gun back up, even after having their arm shot then repaired, and quickly healed it as she shuffled through one’s pockets. “A grenade. Idiots should’ve just used that...” she muttered as she flicked out the pin and chucked it past her companions onto the concrete. Just as it was swallowed by the ooze and they dashed out of the alley, it exploded, sending slime flying.

She followed with them, breathing heavily in exhaustion. “Why the fuck did you let the normal-ass girl go with us, Drade?!” she yelled as she ran behind them, irritated after being severely cut by a number of bullets.

“I’ll explain later, we just need to keep running!”

Livia shook her head in frustration.

Kai’Vra watched from atop a mostly fallen building as the small group fought.

“The ability to heal even human brains without so much as a glance...” she muttered. “How troublesome...”

She evaded a punch from one of her superpowered pursuers by simply leaning back, then shoved them into a nearby building, causing its wall to finally crumble away.

She was tempted to just rush in and kill the three- it would have been simple enough. She could tell that the Livia girl protected her head first and foremost, which probably meant that, without a brain, she couldn’t heal herself or others.

It could have been a red herring, though. She couldn’t put keeping secrets past her foes, and the girl was clearly a professional, considering her mentions of being an assassin.

That said, she could actually be in some trouble, as the girl had sneakily picked up a second gun and would likley give it to Drade...

Kai’Vra’s head suddenly unfurled into a mass of vines as someone tried to kick her from above, and she thoughtlessly grabbed their leg and chucked them into the other yet-recovering person as her head wrapped back into a human form.

The soldiers with any semblance of logic instead ran past her, and she briefly debated continuing to halt their progress.

“No, I can use this...” she muttered. “Besides, my goal has shifted...” she muttered. “This luck of his...I want to know what makes it tick.” She licked her lips. “Then I can stop playing...”

She glanced at the enormous, flowing mass of black liquid which had practically begun swallowing the street. And that will be my ticket to ending this.

Uffield hovered upward to look at what remained of The Great Water Elemental.

It had been quite some time, maybe something like forty minutes, since she’d begun her battle with it -a quite mentally exhaustive one, at that- and over that time, she had drained away its mana, slowly drinking it down like a refreshing drink.

Now, it was clear what the elemental was; a single large soul connected to the slightly magical waters of the lake. It tried to raise water up to fight her, yet failed to even scratch the eldritch being, even with direct hits. Uffield wasn’t exactly sure what the elemental was meant to be, but it seemed to have been turned into a completely ordinary water elemental at this point.

She swiped a few tentacles through it at Mach speed, rotating in the air like a spinning starfish, and churned its soul to nothing more than scattered ‘soulcules’.

“Now that I’ve dealt with you...” She focused her attention on the cliffside. “Hehehe...” she chuckled to herself as she rushed a mile away to that location she’d seen as she fought...

Maysray watched Uffield, the familiar, strangely cute tentacle monster, suddenly fly up the cliff face and decelerate as she flew over the cliff to fall gently on the ground not far away. The mass of cats parted in a panic as she landed, hundreds clamoring over each other, trying to escape the godlike entity.

“W-what are we meant to do against that?!” the black-striped leader said, rising to its feet atop Maysray.

“Uhh...I have a feeling...” Maysray began, knowing well just how docile Uffield was.

Suddenly, eight tentacles whipped out from Uffield, then wrapped together around the masses of cats in all four directions and bulldozed them toward her.

“Kitty-cats!” she yelled. “Kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-cats~! Hehehehe, come here, kitty cats!”

She hugged the cats close to herself, and while most of them tried to run and leap over her tentacles, a few were either too weak or too lazy to escape her grip and were soon hugged close to the entity.

The leader’s eyes fell half-closed. “Oh. She’s...that type of person.”

“I had a feeling...” Maysay muttered. “Maybe I should talk to her?”

The cat growled in annoyance as they leaped off her lap. “Why not...” they muttered.

As she stood, Maysray couldn’t help but ask, “So...are there just talking cats now?”

“There always have been ‘talking cats’, but many cats such as them can recognize speech, but not speak.”

“Since when?”

“Since always! I just explained that!”

She scratched her head. “News to me.”

“Hmph. Most humans think we can’t understand them when in reality we’re really just ignoring them.”

“Sounds about right.”

“But ‘talking’ cats like me allow them to understand speech with our magic, as we are a rare breed whom were born with souls.”

“I see. Very fascinating,” Maysray said, the details flying over her head as she stepped into the clearing around Uffield, where most of the cats dared not to tread. By process of elimination, it happened to be around the size of Uffield’s vision. “Uffield?” The eldritch girl seemed to shift as she heard her speak. “Hey.”

“Oh, hi,” Uffield said. “What’re you doing here, May?”

“Uhh, j-just...I guess working for the bad guys?”

“Oh...” A slight pause passed. “Cool. How are you doing?”

“Good? Uhh...just doing...prophet things. You know how it is.”

“Not really, but I’ll say uh-huh anyway!”

Maysray chuckled. “I forget you’re really funny!”

“I am my father’s daughter,” she said with a chuckle, although Maysray didn’t know what it meant. “And a steamer...V...tuber? Am I still a streamer if I’m a V-tuber? Probably.”

“You’re a what now?”

“A V-tuber.”

“Umm...what the heck is that...?” she muttered with a smile.

“Umm...it means I’m an online anime girl...k-kinda? L-like I have a 3d model that reads my expressions somehow, and then it makes me move.”

“Is that so?” Maysray said, completely failing to understand anything she’d just been told. She knew basically nothing about ‘anime’ except that Uffield liked it.

...

“Anyway, Kitty!”

The moment the cat’s leader, by Maysray’s side, heard her say ‘kitty’ he tried to leap away. “Oh shi-” Before he could even make it a meter away, a tentacle had blitzed toward him in a flash, then began dragging him back toward the entity, even as he clawed at the ground, futilely attempting to escape the entity’s grasp. “No! No, you can’t do this to me! Maysray! Maysray, save me!”

“Talking kitty!!”

“What would I do? You oughta’ know that you can’t escape an eldritch entity once it’s set its sights on you.”

“Traitor! Traitooorrrrr!” the cat yelled as it was moved into her small menagerie of cats.

“Hehe~ You’re not escaping me, little kitty!” Uffield said as she let them down. The cat immediately tried to leap out and over her small wall of tentacles but was caught again and dragged back down. “Actually...you’re the talking cat, so you get the VIP position,” Uffield said before placing them atop herself.

The cat made a small indent on the entity with it’s weight, and as the tentacle unwrapped around it, it reluctantly sat down, hoping to trick Uffield into thinking they wouldn’t move.

Then...

“Ahh...w-wait...this is...really...comfortabrr...” The cat began to purr and roll around Uffield’s ‘back’.

Maysray blinked, surprised that the cat had actually relaxed. A moment passed, the fellow cats watching their leader with curiosity, before a few cats began running toward Uffield.

“Kitties!” she yelled.

A moment later, Maysray watched in awe as a flood of cats began coating the ground around Uffield while a number of them ‘fought’ for space on her ‘back’(by laying atop each other until their opponent chose to leave).

Maysray didn’t know what to say, but Uffield had clearly got what she’d wanted.

She turned her head as she saw footsteps behind her. Saphire looked forward at the cat-covered entity with apathy, a cat on his crossed arms. “She’s strong...” he muttered.

“Yeah, she sure is.”

“She defeated my fake elemental...but I don’t understand...why did Therin make me summon it just to bait her here?”

Maysray stepped back, out of Uffield’s field of vision along with Saphire. “I’m not sure. Maybe he wanted you to destroy the city?”

“Hmm...”

“And I thought that was the real one?”

He shook his head. “The real one is actually...n-nevermind. I probably shouldn’t tell you.”

“Alright.”

...

Someone flew up the cliff, then landed between the two, who stepped back in surprise.

“T-Therin?” Maysray said, blinking. Saphire, instead, took a knee and bowed his head.

Therin glanced at each of them, then at Uffield. “A plan not gone astray. I’m almost surprised.”

“Umm...yeah. She likes the cats.”

“Good job, Saphire. You can stand.”

He nodded and stood up with a smile.

“Now,” Therin said before walking into Uffield’s field of vision. “Uffield.”

“Therin?” Her body shifted, along with her complete attention. “It’s been so long, Therin! Hi! How have you been? I’d hug you, but I’m...you know, it’s difficult to move.”

He chuckled. “I’ve been doing well. And congratulations on defeating The Great Water Elemental, Uffy.”

“Aww, thanks. But we both know that wasn’t really it.”

He shifted his mouth, his expression indistinguishable. “How astute of you. Yes, its true form is much more obtuse. Even then, you saved the city, and that was quite impressive.”

“Heh, as if! The city’s probably a pile of rubble by now!”

“That’s true, but I safely evacuated everyone, so don’t worry about that.”

“I figured someone would.”

“That said...” Therin rubbed his chin. “There is more I have to do. I’ll have to work on the repairs quickly, I’m sure, but you can keep resting with these cats and leave the rest to me.”

“Oh? Okay...I hope my V-tubing setup wasn’t destroyed, though...”

“V-tubing? Are you referring to the anime thing you pretend to be online?”

“Ugh, don’t make me explain it again.”

Therin waved it off with a hand. “No, no, don’t bother. I’m sure The Repairman will handle it well enough without assistance anyway. Ah, but I was only here to check up on you. I’m rather...” He frowned and turned his head, his face darkening with guilt. “...busy.”

“O-oh, okay. I’ll see you later, then?”

“Yes, sometime later. Please relax while I handle things.” He began to step back out.

However, he paused as Uffield spoke again. “Bye, Therin.”

His expression softened as he raised the back of his hand. “Bye, Uffield.” Then, he stepped out and past two subordinates, a strange expression on his face.

“You two...know each other?” Maysray asked.

He rubbed his eyes with his forearm. “Yes. Yes I do.”

“Just...who are you to her, then?”

“Her g...uncle. I suppose I was simply her babysitter,” he tried to harden his voice, but it just as quickly grew soft. He stepped forward and stopped at the edge of the cliff. “Take good care of her, and ensure she does not leave. It goes without saying that she cannot be allowed to interfere with the plan.

Maysray glanced back. “Understood, sir.”

With that, the bandage-wrapped supervillain flew off.

Drauko looked behind themselves, where the soldiers were being much more cautious as they chased after them, avoiding being in sight long enough for them or Livia to aim. Can’t blame them. Dying sucks!

“So is our plan to just keep running until this ‘Therin’ guy shows up?” Livia asked.

Drauko nodded, trying to keep breathing, as their stamina had nearly run out. Although the slowly approaching flood of goop was an issue they’d have to deal with sooner or later, as well.

“It’s something, but there’s something I need to t-”

Suddenly, Drauko sensed a rupture of magic to their right, and a moment later, the wall exploded outward, falling directly atop them.

They grabbed Onei’s hand, knowing that she was struggling to keep up, unlike Livia, and dragged her forward, outrunning the collapsing rubble and diving past it. As they did, though, they looked back.

While the concrete fell, they saw Livia standing behind it all for just an instant, then another soul quickly fell to her side, followed by a sudden flash of magic. It was difficult for them to recognize the soul through the falling rocks and panic, though.

The rocks quickly scattered about the street and came to a complete stop, leaving it draped in silence.

“Livia?” Drauko yelled as they and Onei stumbled to their feet.

...

“L-Livi-”

“I-I’m alright!” they heard her yell from the other side of the debris. “I’m going to climb over to you...” They heard her step forward, rocks shifting under her weight. “Actually...there’s something I need to do.”

“What?” Drauko paused, their eyebrows narrowing, unsure. “What is it?”

“It’s...I’ll tell you later. You need to get going.”

“O-Okay...” Drauko glanced at Onei with a somewhat disappointed expression, although the other girl narrowed her eyes at the rubble. They then grabbed her hand and accelerated into a jog, Onei reluctantly following. “Bye, Livia!” they called back, even though it was difficult to speak.

“It’s...I’ll tell you later. You need to get going.”

Livia thrashed in her binding, desperately trying to yell through her gag, even as blood fell in swathes from her chest. She scraped her shoes against the pavement, trying to step forward, but she couldn’t move more than a foot forward, bending the sapling that had impaled her.

A hand set onto her head and then scuffed her hair. Kai’Vra smiled at the girl, who was wrapped up in a swathe of grass.

Once she heard Drauko and Onei run too far to hear a thing, she leaned closer to the gagged, helpless girl. She then spoke with Livia’s voice, mocking her. “Don’t worry, dear. I doubt you’ll die any time soon with those regeneration powers of yours.”

She growled at Kai’Vra through her gag, glaring with bloodshot eyes.

“Oh my, you’re quite the monster,” she said. “Unkillable, furious, and sealed away...” She frowned. “But I’ve had enough of toying with my prey. I’ll handle you later. Now be a good girl and don’t find some way to interfere. In the meantime, I’ll do a favor for you.”

Kai’Vra walked toward the approaching goop, and as it rushed toward her, she threw out small sprinkles of something white.

The instant it touched the goop, it suddenly paused, then lost all cohesion, dying on the spot. Kai’Vra stepped into an alley as she sent Livia a sardonic smile, then began to run on the street parallel to Drade, leaving Livia to continue soaking the street in a pool of blood.

...

The soldiers passed by her, ignoring her after the hell she’d given them.

...

It was at least a couple of minutes before Hilda suddenly appeared beside Livia. She made a disgusted expression. “Umm...what the fuck is this scene I just blinked into?”

Livia stared at her pleadingly, tears of pain falling from her eyes.

Hilda rolled her eyes and then put a hand to her ear. “There’s a girl bleeding out on Velocky Street. If someone can get her off the tree she’s impaled on, that’d be nice.” She glanced at the thirty gallons of blood flooding the ground. “No pressure.”

“Looks like it’s just you and me again,” Onei said.

“Yep,” Drauko agreed.

Suddenly, someone fell to the ground beside them. “Aaand now it isn’t,” Onei muttered.

“Hello again,” Tabitha said, smiling toothlessly at her.

“Hi,” Drauko said back.

Everyone but Tabitha seemed too exhausted to say anything else. “Okay, follow me. We can get a break if we hide real quick.” She rounded a corner, and the other two followed her as she broke open a door and led them into a mostly destroyed room, the roof open to the sky. Tabitha looked back at the door. “I don’t think they saw us. You two can relax for now.”

“Hilda will find us,” Drauko said. “It won’t take long.”

“That’s enough time for you to take a quick breather. I’ll carry you two out if I have to.”

“Huh...A quick breather, you say...” Drauko muttered, glancing at the corner of the room. “Heh, don’t mind if I do...” They then took their jacket off and wrapped it into a ball to use it as a pillow to lie on, snuggling comfortably onto it in the corner.

Onei smiled at the action, then moved her eyes suspiciously to Tabitha, who watched them snuggle up with a blank expression. “But how did you suddenly get magic super strength, anyway?” she asked.

Tabitha slowly blinked as though her mind had been blank for a moment. “Oh, umm...my power takes a toll on me after it runs out,” she said, hardly without thinking. “I still have another hour or something till’ it does, though, so don’t worry.”

“Is that so...but then why did you run from them when we first met you, and why did you only do it now? Heck, why didn’t you evacuate when the sirens first blared?”

“That’s...difficult to explain.” Tabitha shrugged, smiling embarrassedly.

Onei rolled her eyes, then crossed her arms as she fell onto a wall and slid to the ground. “Whatever...it’s not like it matters...” She sighed, then began trying to calm herself, breathing in and out slower and slower.

As Drauko relaxed, they began to think to themselves. It figures that today turned out to be super exhausting...yesterday was so calm, besides that other blonde girl coming to my house...and Sara...and that ghost girl, but maybe that was just foreshadowing for today...and Onei...speaking of which, I wonder what was with Law sending that ghost girl and having us unleash The Great Mother. That was super strange.

They yawned. Actually...now that we’re fused together...it might be possible for us to use magic like Drade can...but that’d probably use Luuko’s soul up instead. I’d rather not do that, heh. Then what about her magic...?

“Hey, Drauko~” Onei suddenly perked up, interrupting their thought process. “This is really exhausting. Why don’t we just commit double suicide and skip today?” she said with a smile.

Both other people looked at her like she was insane.

“I mean, that’s more fun than going through all of this schenazzle, right?”

“What’s a schenazzle?” Tabitha asked.

“And more importantly, could you phrase that any other way?” Drauko added.

“But it’s more funny if I look insane when I say it!”

“A: bad grammar B: I’m not so sure about that!”

“Fine, what if I un-alived both you and me...in minecraft. And as painlessly as possible, of course!”

“That’s kinda a smart idea...” Drauko muttered before shaking their head. “but...that’s just the Luuko in me speaking. I’m not dying today for a lot of reasons.”

Onei shrugged. “Not like I expected you to say yes. Besides, I’d rather not have to stab you anyway...” She looked at Tabitha, who looked more curious than anything else. “And shouldn’t you be a bit more surprised?”

Tabitha shook her head. “No, I just...figured that you had some sort of magic that explained it.”

“Huuuh?” she said sardonically, obviously doubting her. “Is that so?” Onei closed her eyes, checking out and ignoring the other girl.

“So we were talking about your luck...” Tabitha began. “And you mentioned ‘fate’. What do you know of fate?”

Drauko’s expression shifted into one of uncertainty. “I don’t know much. Fate...if that’s even what it is...is something...real, I guess you might say. It’s a force, and it manipulates both mind and matter.”

Tabitha frowned. “That’s not right,” she argued. “Fate should be the path of people’s actions, small changes in the path of the world which result in a cohesive whole -a multifaceted goal. To think that it influences the world so...brazenly...that it influences people’s actions...seems quite unbelievable to me.”

“U-umm...I kinda agree with you, it seems silly, but...”

“A-and to what purpose would it need to work that way? And why would it focus so solely on you of all people.”

“I...I get why it’s confusing, but there is more to my guesses than...‘luck’. Think about it for a moment. Don’t you think it’s strange how nobody knows that magic is real?”

Tabitha opened her mouth but paused. “Explain further.”

“Look, you can already see what’s happened to Changeton. The city is basically a pile of rubble, so wouldn’t it be obvious that magic caused all of this?” Although Drade could be quite succinct when it came to explanations, Drauko was easier to follow in a conversation.

“Hmm...” Tabitha glanced at Onei as she thought. She frowned at her phone, then put it away and listened in, if only because she had nothing to do. “I suppose so...?”

“Right. And so, realistically, it shouldn’t be long before magic becomes common knowledge. But I’ll bet that it doesn’t happen.” Drauko shrugged. “Why? Because fate doesn’t want that to happen.”

Tabitha finally sat and leaned back, intrigued. “So you’re proposing that fate has an agenda...I guess that goes without saying...” she leaned in. “But why, though? What’s the point?”

“My guess? It’s trying to protect the world. Magic is the manifestation of Chaos-” They coughed. “I would know. My...Drade’s life has been nothing but...that. We live in a world where a random kid an be born as the reincarnation of a god, or with the ability to control forces of nature capable of annihilating civilization.” They shrugged. “If fate didn’t manipulate things in the background...Who knows what would happen?”

Tabitha nodded. “Fascinating concept...though maybe I’ll need to learn more to understand fully.”

Drauko leaned back again. “You can leave it alone, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most people live perfectly fulfilling lives without ever thinking more about fate beyond their passing thoughts and unbased beliefs. There’s nothing to gain from overthinking it.”

“But you seem to dislike this ‘luck’ of yours, at least to some degree. Clearly, you have reason to think about it.”

“I do. But honestly...although I wish I could make it stop, it’s my crap luck that’s made me who I am today. I wouldn’t have ever grown as much as I have if it hadn’t pushed me. I say let sleeping dogs lie.”

Kai’Vra looked down.

The power of fate. If this boy...girl...thing...f-fusion? were correct about everything they said...then some very real power could control not just luck, but even people.

Kai’Vra had always thought that she was favored by fate. Perhaps this was a sign. One that meant she should change her plans or perhaps simply wait and learn.

No! She shook her head. How ridiculous. She had been put in the perfect position to learn all of this just before she finished her current adversary off. The two people before her had no idea what she was planning, and at any moment, she could deliver a finishing blow.

That said...if fate truly existed in such a form...if it really wished for her to succeed...then why would it hold magic back like so? It wanted to save humanity from destruction, and that surely made it her enemy.

Her frown deepened as something nicked the back of her mind.

...

“Oh, hey, Drauko, didn’t you want to call someone?” Onei asked.

What was it? It was a familiar feeling, one where...

Her eyes widened.

No, that feeling had always been there. It had never left since she was released from her seal. It was...her sense for falsehood.

Something was very, very wrong. How had she never noticed it in the back of her head? Why was it just now flaring up? What the boy said rang true- she felt quite convinced by his sentiment, even as flickers of doubt pierced up from some cynical part of her that she didn’t recognize.

“Oh, yeah! We’re a dumb two people, heh. We keep forgetting. Let’s call Mr.Drade’s Dad right now,” Drauko responded, pulling out their phone and straightening into a sitting position.”

Thoughts continued to rapidly flash through Kai’Vra’s head. So much seemed wrong. Magic? Other forms of magic had surely never existed, and she refused to believe that she had lived hundreds of years without ever noticing magic beyond her own and the druids’. She refused to believe that something as subtle as fate had caused her to miss such an obvious fact.

She suddenly calmed down. Who was Drauko calling again? Right, Drade’s father. No doubt a mysterious and powerful entity, from what she had gathered. Should she worry about-

No! That wasn’t the problem at hand! She had time to worry about threats later! Why would she focus on something as meandrous as that!?

What was wrong? Kai’Vra nearly yelled in frustration but managed to keep her fearful confusion to nothing more than subtle expressions. What had she just thought about?! R-right, fate. No...that something was wrong. She had never felt this way. Kai’Vra’s sense for falsehood applied to a number of things- lies, bluffs, even jokes, and even sometimes worked if she simply misunderstood a situation or was about to walk into a pitfall trap or the like. While it was certainly inconsistent, she was never misled by her sense.

And right now, it was telling her that something was wrong with the-

“Oh, there it is. Alright, everyone, be quiet we’re about to-”

Both Kai’Vra’s thought process and Drauko were interrupted as someone suddenly appeared in front of them, startling them. On her hoverboard, Hilda’s bored frown turned into a smirk. “Good thing I checked the one group I’d ignored this whole time.” She put a hand to her ear. “Ther-”

Suddenly, Kai’Vra yelled, “Shut the fuck up!” She then threw an incredibly fast punch toward Hilda. She vanished just before the bullet-speed punch could make contact.

Her expression darkened further as she realized that she couldn’t remember what she’d just been talking about.

My mind is lacking when it comes to such an important topic at such an important time! I can’t let this keep happening! It was...it was...

“Yeesh, you alright, Tabitha?” Drauko asked, standing up in surprise. Kai’Vra did not respond.

It was...right. Her sense was telling her something was wrong...wrong with not something as small as a lie, or a trap, or anything of the sort. No, she felt that something was wrong with...the world.

“I think she’s got beef with fate or something,” Onei shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first person I saw like that.”

But what was it? And...what was the other feeling that kept growing in her head?

“I guess so...anyway, stop getting distracted and call your dad! It sounds like Therin might be stopping by if we stay here, so why not?”

“Yeah, yeah...”

Onei smiled. “No prob. Felt like fate kept stopping you from calling your dad. Though...how is your phone even working?”

They looked up from their phone with a frown.“Why wouldn’t it?”

It was even like her truthseeking sense was...telling her that...she was wrong, as well.

Onei raised her phone up and clicked its power button. “Mine got shut off somehow. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just the battery.”

No...Kai’Vra’s eyes widened. It wasn’t just that she wasn’t right, it was that...

“Probably because my phone works on magic. I think it’s a model Therin designed. It can make calls to anyone anywhere using magic cell service, so it’s pretty nice.” Drauko clicked on ‘Dad’ and then put their cell phone to their ear.

“Cool, magic cell service. Didn’t expect to hear that one.”

Kai’Vra turned her back on the two as she felt herself falling into an existential crisis. This wasn’t right. Her memories didn’t feel right, her mind didn’t feel right, not even the world around her felt right. It was all wrong- false- bullshit.

“Hmhm...hello, son...” she heard come from Drade’s phone with her keen ears. “It sure has been quite a long time since you called me. Did you just want to catch up?”

“Nope. I was actually going to ask you about Therin.”

“Sure, what about my ever-so-darein’ Therin? I didn’t even know that you two had met before.”

Kai’Vra took a deep breath, soaking in the delicious carbon dioxide to calm herself. One thing at a time...The world felt wrong. Moreover, it felt like it wasn’t completely the same one she had lived in her whole life, whatever that meant.

That was fine. She could handle that revelation.

But then...her memories. They were...altered. It was somehow related to the first revelation, though, and although she feared just what memories had been altered...Kai’Vra was fairly sure that most of them were right.

And lastly...her own mind. Something was affecting her, in the here and now, trying to stop her from thinking properly. Who?

She looked around. Only two people were visible, and surely neither had some ability...

Kai’Vra remembered the conversation that had prompted her to ask about ‘fate’. She had heard Drauko mention how they had seen the luck that caused the others in the car to be knocked out. For just a moment, she had written it off, but her truthsense had warned her, and she’d, just to make sure, she’d asked what they meant by what they had said.

Then, later...she had almost forgotten about something important they had said:

“It’s difficult to notice when fate touches people, but whenever I mention it, most people ignore me, like...like they didn’t pay attention to my words, I guess you could say.”

Fate...this...‘fate’ had been clouding her mind. Kai’Vra’s eyes widened as she turned a hateful gaze toward Drauko.

She could remember it; that feeling of not being fully in control of her actions. When they had first met, she had toyed with her prey...why? She didn’t do it to anyone else, at least for the most part. It was subtle, but while she certainly had reason to observe Drade on their first meeting, she had made a fatal mistake and lost her prey by the skin of its teeth.

Then when she had let them pull out their phone and ask about that ‘orbital strike’ it was even worse. She’d neglected to simply do as she should have done, ending him there and then.

And when she’d been ready to strike, back when they had walked through the traffic jam...her mind had continued to drift off.

Even now...she could feel a force pushing her mind to think more in-detail about those events, to justify her actions...to stall her.

She turned her head to Drauko, a cold, visceral hatred coloring her face. This boy...Drade was a threat. The very fabric of reality seemed to shift in his favor, and he knew it.

As he paced around the room, speaking to his father, Onei loosely followed him around, stretching with a curious expression.

This had to end. Kai’Vra couldn’t allow her mind to deteriorate any further. The source of the disturbance in fate...

Onei’s eyes widened as her eyes happened to pass over Kai’Vra. “U-umm...Drauko?”

“Yup. He’s probably going to take me captive now. One second...”

Kai’Vra stepped forward. Nothing would distract her. That woman, Hilda, would soon return with this ‘Therin’ person, and just like all things around Drauko, that would surely result in the threat to their life -Kai’Vra- to be halted.

She stepped forward and reached into her pocket.

“D-Drauko?! STEP BACK!”

With another step, Kai’Vra flicked the knife out from within its handle.

With one last step, she thrust forward.