[Local Announcements]

Area Mana Regeneration Decreases by 1%.

…

Area Mana Regeneration Decreases by 1%.

…

In the end, Aidan thought, they had accidentally set up correctly.

When Amelia appeared above the Square with Vienne, Amelia had rallied everyone in a vague way around the statue. That was where Vienne was located. As a result of the nonspecific order, Rebels and Imperials had slowly collapsed on the Square in circles. The circle of defense was thinner to the north, the furthest point from the portal, but that actually worked in their favor. The enemy ground spawns all bee-lined directly from the south, none of them veering off in any kind of directed flanking maneuver.

What had originally started out as a desperate formation to protect Vienne now worked in their favor as Amelia did… whatever it was that Amelia was doing.

He looked up at the lightning, watching it coast serenely through the sky. He looked at Amelia, noticing that her eyes were far away. He’d tried speaking with her once or twice but she’d just grunted and turned, or once, even stepped passed him like he was blocking her view. He’d taken the hint.

As the lightning grew, so did a peculiar roar.

“It’s more of a keen keen keen,” Fanciful was arguing with Mavis about it.

“No, it sounds like insect wings when a moth or something flaps right in your ear!” Mavis replied.

“It sounds like a bullroarer,” Raven said at this point. Her eyes were following the lightning too. “Is this the counterattack? What does it do? It seems kind of wishy washy.”

“What’s a bullroarer,” Fanciful finally asked.

She and Mavis had been eyeing each other, neither one of them wanting to admit they didn’t know what that was. Fanciful had broken first.

Hunter fielded this one because Raven looked at Fanciful and a look of abject terror crossed her face. Like she had just realized Fanciful was here.

“Without depreciating thousands of years of culture too much,” Hunter coughed into her hand, “It’s an instrument used to communicate over long distances. You spin it, and depending on how hard you spin the vibrations of the plate or spoon make different noises that carry over a long distance.”

Mavis squinted.

Hunter smiled. “Go look it up later, they’re really quite neat.”

They were interrupted when the lightning turned again, producing a louder wail as the air vibrated. The lightning was returning to the city, only pausing to slowly ascend, coiling in on itself like it was trying to take up less space in the sky.

“Look at that,” Hunter motioned with her head.

Aidan followed her gaze and saw that Amelia had both arms stretched out now.

[Local Announcement]

Area Mana Regeneration Decreases by 5%.

…

Area Mana Regeneration Decreases by 5%.

“[Examine].” Aidan called out quietly. He stared at the lightning, feeling perplexed.

Description: Profound [One].

“...neat,” Aidan muttered. It didn’t really tell him anything.

“As a casual Amelia enjoyer,” Raven began.

Aidan turned toward her and lifted an eyebrow, making Raven rush to get out the rest of what she was about to say before he could make a comment.

“...I like to think I know a lot about Amelia. What she’s thinking. What she likes to eat. How many days in a row she wears the same underwear…” Raven nervously continued when Aidan just lifted one corner of his mouth. “...but, and I am afraid to suggest this, I think Amelia may have just wandered off into her own private world. Which, you know, respect…” Raven winced. “But isn’t this really not a great time to just be screwing around? Don’t our mages need the mana regeneration more than Amelia needs to play with…” Raven began to gesture largely in the general direction of the lightning snake that looked like it might just wander off and subjugate a far off land if it got the inclination.

Aidan was about to reply when he noticed the new activity in the sky.

“B-3 seems to be concerned,” Mordred spoke up. There was a hint of envy in his tone. For the most part he had just been watching the lightning in the sky, a forlorn look on his face. “B-3 doesn’t even block Vienne, but now it is taking action to try and oppose the lightning.”

“A mistake,” Raven said with a wince.

“What do you mean?” Mordred asked, eyebrow lifting.

Aidan’s shoulders lifted up and down in silent laughter.

Raven just looked embarrassed, eyes darting to the right and left. “Look man…”

Aidan decided to cover for Raven, for once. “Mordred, there are two things you need to understand about Amelia.” He held up two fingers.

“Okay?” Mordred replied quietly, interest flaring up in his eyes.

“The first thing you need to understand is that Amelia will start with a path that goes from point A to point B,” Aidan held up both index fingers next to each other and then started to widen the gap. “But there are a lot of things between point A and point B that might be interesting. Like, a lot of things. So, chances are, Amelia would have just forgot about B-3 for a time.”

Raven nodded in a ‘it’s very sad’ fashion.

Hunter grunted at her, “like you’re not also the Empress of wandering off chasing butterflies.”

Raven grinned. “So, I’m also an Empress…”

Mordred’s eyes flickered to them but returned to Aidan, “and the second thing?”

“Amelia runs after the game at high speed. All the time. She loves the game.” Aidan sighed.

Mordred smiled and leaned back, his shoulders relaxing. “I mean, we all love the game.”

“We all love the game, sure.” Aidan looked at Amelia, lost in her own world. There was the barest hint of irritation that was pinching her brow, making her nose turn up in a cute way. “...but the game loves Amelia back.”

The roaring was getting louder now. Each time the lightning changed direction to avoid B-3 the sound of beating wings and the air vibrating got a little more intense, a little louder, and more distracting. They all watched as B-3 finally managed to get in front of the lightning. Instead of reeling away at the last second like it had been doing, the giant cascade of energy stretched back for a moment…and then lunged, washing over B-3 until there was nothing left. Then the lightning continued it’s serene glide toward the city, already turning a different direction like it was getting ready to go somewhere else. Destroying B-3’s clone had seemed to be an afterthought.

Aidan, Raven, Mordred, Mavis, Fanciful, Hunter, and about a dozen people closest to them slowly turned to Amelia. The look of irritation on her face had vanished. Once again lost to the thrill.

“I wonder why she looks so happy,” Fanciful sounded the slightest bit jealous.

“Wouldn’t you be?” Aidan didn’t look away from the blue cloaked figure. “If you were doing magic?”

B-3 appeared at the tail end of the lightning, standing in the sky and watching it traverse further south. All the intense back and forth between B-3 and Vienne ceased. Vienne appeared between the lightning and B-3, slowly moving her head back and forth with a frown. B-3 took a side-step in the air, trying to peer around Vienne. Vienne took a sidestep, blocking her view. She shook her head slowly in warning once more.

B-3 cocked her head for a moment, the expressionless face hanging for a moment before the usual corporate smile reappeared on her face. She turned in the air and stared down at the city, eyes flickering over the Transients.

She raised an arm.

“This is bad,” Raven said immediately.

Red-lines began to appear from B-3 and started shooting out toward… everyone.

Vienne struck forward from behind her and cut her in half. She stepped passed her after B-3 made no sign of regenerating or stopping her large scale enemy assessment. Vienne swiped her sword across the red lines as fast as she could, her sword a blur.

All the red lines faded before they reached their targets.

Raven let out a slow sigh of relief.

Aidan’s eyes narrowed. “This is bad.”

“That’s what I said!” Raven cried out, “no stealing lines!”

“No, I mean, fine,” Aidan shook his head. “B-3 can’t stop the lightning directly, and seems to have intuited that someone on the ground is controlling it. She just tried to examine everyone and Vienne cut her off, but there are other ways to identify the caster…”

Raven and Aidan both looked at Amelia. Amelia was dead to the world, smiling happily as she swayed from foot to foot with both arms stretched out toward the lightning. One arm would lift… and the head or tail of the massive spell would lift in response.

The roaring was getting louder all the time.

[Local Announcement]

Area Mana Regeneration Decreases by 5%.

Area Mana Regeneration Decreases by 5%.

…Alert…

Area Natural Regeneration Has Dipped Below 75%

“Could we just drape a sheet over her?” Raven asked hopefully.

Aidan stared at her blankly, for a crazy moment entertaining the idea. “That’s stupid, but you may be onto something. I could put up a partition with my Job and just make her look like something else. Or I could copy her image and throw a bunch of them around! Or…”

“Or you could just do something hugely complicated and unnecessary,” Mordred finally stopped him. “Hold on a second, let me think of the best way to phrase it to all the Rebels around here and then you can tailor it for the Imperials.”

Mordred sighed, shoulders slumping. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not on your side. This is just for the armistice.”

They all stared at him.

He sighed again.