“So much for subtlety!” Vanessa cried out as she ripped off her photon suppressor. I watched as everyone else took theirs off, and I removed mine as well, feeling relieved that my ability to sense the photons around me had returned.

There was something about not being able to feel them that gave me anxiety, as though I was walking around being numb to my sense of touch.

It was a good thing I removed it too, since the sensation of multiple portals opening around the city was immediately transmitted to me.

“Vanessa! Hazeel!” They complied, with Vanessa becoming her bastard-sword/katana variant, and Hazeel transforming into a massive buster sword.

Rexir and Leresa also went into combat mode, with Rexir’s body melding away to become the Minami’s ceremonial sword.

Even Zare, despite receiving a withering look from Leresa, summoned her spellsword armor onto her body, and geared up for battle.

Maria went and hid behind the counter of the shop, shouting, “Good luck Leo! I might not be of help now, but at least I can cheer you on!”

We waited for the onslaught that would come, but no one else entered the small donut shop. “I don’t suppose it’s because they don’t want to ruin a good donut place?” I asked, checking outside for the people whose presence I could feel, but couldn’t see.

‘Definitely not.’ Dantae replied with a sigh. ‘However, what matters is that we have a bit of free time. We should use that to strategize with the other three, and…’

Her pause made me look over at the otherworlders. Leresa was boring a hole through Zare with her gaze, and the poor Minami princess was doing anything she could to avoid her stare.

‘Ah, I see.’ Hazeel chimed in. ‘We should figure out how to best protect Zare, right? We wouldn’t want her to get injured, or possibly killed during this revolt of yours.’

‘Exactly.’ Dantae replied. ‘She has no attachments to this world, so why should she be forced to choose to die for it?’

‘So what do we do?’ Hazeel asked as I sheathed her and Vanessa into the scabbards on my back. ‘Do we send her back to your hometown with a portal? Would that place be safer than here?’

‘Out of the question.’ Dantae replied as I sat down and picked up one of the cups of coffee I had made. ‘The fact that she’d be right next to a portal, without having us there would be like sending a beacon out into Massachusetts telling the entire clone army to come and get her.’

‘Ok…’ Hazeel replied, clearly skeptical of how quickly Vanessa dismissed her idea. ‘Well, do you have any better ideas for her?’

Passing the ball into Vanessa’s court, there was a brief silence which was interrupted when Leresa walked up to us with Zare in tow.

“Alright. We’ve decided to take Zare with us for now.” Rexir’s voice popped into my head, an ability he had gained when he first transformed into his weapon form.

“What do you mean?” I asked, putting Vanessa’s question into words. “Surely she’ll be in more danger if she comes with us.”

“I don’t believe so.” Rexir said, and Leresa placed a hand on Zare’s head, petting the girl. “As long as she remains by our side, we can respond to any threats that come her way.”

“I suppose I see the logic.” I sighed, and offered Zare a powdered donut, which she happily took and started munching on.

“She can also be another source of firepower for us, so it’s three against a hundred, instead of two against the same odds.” Rexir chimed in.

“Besides,” Leresa added, looking kindly at the imperial princess, “She’s mine and Rexir’s responsibility to look after. We would feel bad leaving her fate entirely on your shoulders.”

She smiled, and I could feel a determination coming from her. “Ok then. We’ll also do our best to support you.” I said as I stood up.

“Let’s get going then. If I’m not mistaken, the White House is where Alpha’s intel said that Christian is staying right now.”

I heard a rustling behind me, and watched as Maria peeked her head out from behind the counter. “Did you beat them all yet?”

---

We only had a few minutes to go before we reached our destination. I had tried to open a portal directly there, but was unable to do so.

Vanessa theorized that it was probably a mechanism within the building itself that forbade photons from coalescing in one spot.

So, we had spent the past twenty minutes fighting our way through the one hundred Vanessa clones. However, something was off about them.

It was a feeling that kept nagging at me, even as I came upon our fiftieth victim. The girl ran up to me fluidly, but as soon as her eyes met mine, she started moving in a robotic and clunky way.

She approached like that, allowing me to easily get past her guard and bisect her. I had made it a rule not to look backwards before they disappeared. After all, who would want to see their beloved murdered by their own hands? Sensing her photons dissipate into the atmosphere, I turned back to look at the spot where she’d been slain.

“Why…” I trailed off, coming to a stop. Maria stopped when I did, although she was constantly remaining ten feet behind us.

Leresa saw the look on my face and pulled Zare along forward, going to scout to see if there were any regular soldiers wearing photon suppressors around.

“Why are they doing this? It just seems to me like they’re committing suicide by using me. Don’t they have a will to live?”

Dantae and Hazeel both returned to their humanoid forms, with Vanessa taking my front, and the wood elf hugging my back tightly.

“Of course they do.” Vanessa gave me a small peck on the lips. “They’re me after all. However, they’re probably all thinking the same thing: that we love you too much to become something that impedes you. They’re fighting against the compulsion in their own way.”

I frowned as another clone walked forward to challenge us. Maria ducked into a store, while Vanessa and Hazeel changed back into weapons.

The clone repeated the same thing I had been seeing all day: making her movement clunky and predictable as she approached me.

I repeated the process of killing Vanessa again, only this time, I turned towards the soon-to-be corpse lying on the ground.

There, I saw her smiling brightly. Even with the stab wound in her chest, and even as she was disappearing to become a part of the Dimension Eater that had taken Earth hostage, she genuinely wanted me to succeed.

I took a shaky breath as my heart trembled. It was all I could do not to cry before the final battle.