It was a strange war.
For it was a war between those who so loved the World and wished to save it, and those who were so tired of the World that they could do nothing but reject it.
A children's crusade. For adults, those who were certain of their place in the world had proven too brittle to last.
By either category Mars and I had no place here. But we were still here, pretending to be teenagers, pretending to care. By now we had gotten really good at pretending.
It began with the fall of Summer Scout camp. The fallout from the incident was easy for me to ignore. Not so much for Mars.
"They are frightened," he said to me the next day. The patrol was canceled, and with nothing to replace it, scouts just milled aimlessly around camp. The camp counselors could have organized something as a distraction, but I suppose they had their own problems.
"Of course they are. They're too used to Him winning. They may have lost individuals to the devil, but never en mass like this." I commented, shrugging, "It will get worse before it gets better."
"You know something?' His gaze was sharp. If I didn't know him as well as I did it would almost sound like an accusation, but he was merely asking to share my take on the situation. He knew that I needed to be prompted from time to time, or I would just keep all my thoughts to myself.
"Know is too strong a word." After all, we entered the period after the end of the game.
The future from here on out remained unwritten.
But from what I knew from both the game and from what I've encountered in this world, some worrying conclusions could be drawn.
"But I have my suspicions. The devil we met in the woods was a failure. A stillborn. If the whole camp has fallen, I don't think we've seen the end result yet."
"We need to help," he said, his conviction plain as day. That was what I liked about him. Even though his ideals had betrayed him, and he betrayed them in turn, he was still someone who wished to save others.
A masochist after my own heart.
False hope is more often than not worse than no hope at all, was not what I said aloud.
But there must've been something in my expression or body language because Mars just looked at me with those sad, disappointed eyes.
So instead, I said, "There is one thing we could do."
"You have a plan?" he asked.
"A simple, but hopefully effective one. You gather them all up in one place. Meanwhile, I need to look through the bible for some proper psalms. To promise, even by implication, that things will get better will backfire if they get worse. I need some quotes on enduring tribulations."
Singing should help lift everyone's spirits, or at least put some morale into them.
Kirei's mandatory choir boy duty was finally paying off, I suppose.
I went back to the cabin to get my bible. It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for since the bible I had was so well-indexed and cross-referenced.
When I went out, I saw that Mars had managed to gather most of the campers in one large group. They were all eerily silent. I would've expected a large group of children to be noisier as they talked to each other, maybe even horsed around a little. But they were just... listless.
Joining him, I whispered, "Are they ready?"
He just nodded, so I cleared my throat and started my performance.
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?"
A singing voice wasn't something I had a natural gift for, but it's not like I'm tone-deaf. It's one of the few areas where I'm mediocre really. The first verse was sung by me and Mars alone, but at the second one more scouts joined, and by the third, they were all singing along.
As our voices spread, passing campers came in and joined, and even some adults paused to listen. It seemed to help, more so than I thought it would.
The next day, at breakfast, the Camp Director announced that the situation was being handled.
"I don't deny that what happened was a tragedy. The laxness and lack of faith allowed the whole camp to succumb to the devil. But you needn't fear that happening here, we have no troubled children here. After all, one bad apple spoiled the whole bunch." He paused there, to take a sip of water. "The devil doesn't get to win. Even as I speak, the proper response is being organized from other nearby camps, with better, more pious scouts; the scouts have volunteered to go and cleanse the devil's lair. We should be hearing good news by dinner."
We didn't get good news at dinner, but we did get bad news at breakfast the next day.
"Idle hands are the devil's playthings!" The Director's pronounced, simmering with a visible rage. "Obviously the scouts were lazy. Unprepared. Unworthy of the sacred task bestowed upon them! That will not happen here. Today, we are starting a new intensive training program!"
The next day and those that followed weren't much fun. They started with a lecture after breakfast about the weakness of today's youth.
Followed by a whole day of training, interrupted by a short lunch. There were injuries. Nothing serious yet, but there were twisted ankles and some burns.
There was no singing around the bonfire in the evening. Everyone was just too tired.
"Stop pacing," I said to Mars while I dug out a small hole. The fourth one tonight. "You're supposed to keep watch."
"Everyone is asleep," he almost snarled. And he was right. Fear and exhaustion had taken its toll, leaving campers listless. Adults no batter. "Are sure we can't do more?"
"Even this may be too much," I replied. I placed the rock crystal charged with my magical energy into the hole and covered it up. Now there would be four of them, each in a cardinal direction, surrounding the ambulance, "Last thing we need is a witch hunt."
"Alright," I said, dusting off my hands. "Now we pray."
"Pray?" He asked. "That isn't how you usually set something like this."
"Usually I have better reagents. We need to do some legwork to help shore up the difference. So, prayers." I hated praying.
I didn't know exactly why, I thought I could use it as a simple verbal component of a spell, and it worked.
It needed a mental component to work better, that was the same with magecraft. It was the reason why self-hypnosis was one of the basic skills of any Magus.
Just... something about prayer rubbed me the wrong way.
"Mercury?" He put his hand on my shoulder. It was comfortably warm. "Are you alright?"
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm myself. "I agreed that we should do this. It's just, that I have a limited stock of charged rock crystals."
Spending them now, we wouldn't have them for later. But then if this prevented more serious injuries, they would be well spent.
But that wasn't the root of the problem.
The problem was with Mars, and with me to a lesser extent.
Reverting into a teenager had consequences. I haven't even bothered to learn a single camper's name, besides Mars', and I've been with them for two months.
And Mars was acting a bit more like Shirou, which made me worry that he would do something stupid.
"Just promise that you won't do something stupid. Like, run off to fight the devil in its lair."
"Do I look like that fool?" Was that a rhetorical question? Because, with the sole exception of that single while lock of hair, he looked exactly like his younger self. "Besides the adults have it handled."
I was not as sure about that as he sounded.
As we have been informed the next morning, there was a large group, practically a small army, of adult exorcists gathering to deal with the fallen camp. For now, the fallen were content to stay where they were, so the government or church, or whoever was in charge of organizing it, was taking time to gather as many skilled people as possible.
It was supposed to be a surefire way to deal with the crisis.
But I had my doubts.
An apple for a whole world.
Was that just youthful arrogance, or could they actually be a serious threat? And what would happen if they continue to be successful?
There had been a time when humanity had disappointed God.
I liked swimming but not that much.
The prayer helped. Knitting together streams of magical energy was never this easy back home. The random movement of energy was almost always just where I needed it to be without having to micromanage every last thing.
"We're done here. Let's go to bed, I'm tired."
On the tenth day after the original incident, we got the news that the attack was finally ready.
On the eleventh, there was no wake-up call.
"Shock," Mars said after we found four adults in their cabin unresponsive. It wasn't much larger than ours, but it had three separate rooms for our two. Bedroom, bath, and place we found them, some kind of office. "Or complete mental breakdown? I'm not much than a field medic."
"If it was physical, I could maybe do something with a rock crystal. I still have few left, but mental?" I was looking to see if there was anything they could be of help with. Why were they in this room? There was nothing here than an old-fashioned computer. "I could try hypnotism, but that could make the situation even worse. Let's just get them to the ambulance for now. Then I'm coming back here to look at the computer. Maybe we could get some news. You talk to other kids. And make breakfast."
We carried the Director first. When we went back, some other scouts emerged from their cabin and quickly went to help us. They asked about what happened, but we didn't have any real answers.
After we moved adults to the ambulance, I went, with another scout, back to the office. Others left with Mars.
"Look if there are any clues here," I said to the slim blonde boy, who had accompanied me here. He was a little shorter than me, and appeared to be the same age or a little bit younger."I will see if there is anything on the computer."
I started the machine. Luckily there was no password required. No internet connection. I mean there seemed to be, but it wasn't working currently. Schedules. Constant information for campers. That could be useful. I mean I was sure that would help morale if scouts were able to speak with their parents. There was no contact information for me or Mars. Strange, but currently irrelevant. Contact information for emergencies. That would be useful. Plans. They had pictures of us. I didn't notice them taking them.
It was when I arrived at the official camp mail, that I found out what happened. Once more poor cyber security came to the rescue. They had the password in a text file right on the desktop.
It was worse than I thought. Army had been routed, and what was worse, new converts were not content to stay in the lost camp but had begun to spread. A biblical flood of hell's angels.
Orders for our camp were simple. Fortify the camp and wait for someone to come and pick us up.
"Phone is not working." the boy said. It seemed that he had been done for some time and patiently waiting for me to finish.
Just the news we needed. It did render all that contact information utterly useless.
"I think I know what happened. But I really don't want to tell it twice. Let's go join others."
When we arrived at the "Manna" cabin, the usual crew was already setting breakfast. It smelled much better than when Cook was making it. Mars was at our table.
"Excuse me!" I yelled, Scouts quieted and turned their attention to me. "I know what has happened, but first, you must calm down. Sit."
I waited until they were all seated and quiet, and then I continued speaking, "First, all counselors are in an ambulance. There is nothing physically wrong with them, but they still need time to recover. Someone needs to watch over them. Volunteers?"
Scouts who were under Nurse leadership raised their hands. I suppose that made sense.
"Good," I said. "Ow, please don't panic. The news is bad. The ones sent to quell the devil, have failed. But we must be part of the solution, and not yet another problem in this crisis. We have simple orders, stay put and wait. Here we are safe, and we will remain so. I know that all of you want to be with your families, but getting us to them just isn't practical for now. Running off and trying to get to them would just create trouble for other people when there is much to do. So let us not be selfish. Let us trust in God and pray that we, and our families, will endure this time of tribulation."
Not the best speech, but they seemed to take it well.
It was easy organizing scouts. This was a camp for Good Kids. They were used to being obedient and quiet. We just had to keep everything going until someone came to pick us up.
We had to cover adult jobs, at least until they recovered. But fortunately, they didn't do much. Scouts would continue doing their chores.
Mars would take over Cook's duties, which would improve morale since he was so much better at it. I would look over sirens, alone, since Mars would be busy.
And since I had less to do, they had saddled me with general organization, which was talking to everyone and seeing that all that needed to be done was actually done.
The next week was quiet. Adults recovered somewhat, but they were listless and depressed. At least Nurse would be available in case of an emergency.
That lack of communication may have even helped. Since we had no contact with the outside world, and no one possessed by the devil assaulted us, we could imagine that situation was being handled. I encouraged that way of thinking. There was nothing we could do for now, and panic or depression wouldn't help anyone.
We made camp a carefully cultivated island of normality in a world that could be descending into hell from what we knew.
Mars and I did what could to help keep morale. Me with songs, prayers, and keeping the Boy Scouts busy. And he with food and snacks and breweries.
And then the hope arrived. Hope and call for war.
There were two of them.
An older girl and a younger boy.
They drove an old battered bus into the camp, somewhen about noon.
They had some bearing news of the outside world and were looking for reinforcements. Fresh bodies to trow into the grind.
First was more detailed about what happened at Summer Scouts camp. Some of what I knew from the game and some of what was new.
It seemed that the first attack was not a complete failure, although many were lost during the attack, some managed to retreat, and they even managed to save one of the Summer Scouts campers.
From him, they learned what exactly had happened. Summer Scouts practiced trial by fire, in that they would place three troubled children in a remote cabin, so one would get possessed and the other two deal with the possessed one.
Something went wrong with Group West. All three got possessed together. And they were different.
Usually, the devil works alone. Even when there were multiple possessed at the same place they rarely exhibited teamwork.
Such was the nature of the devil.
These three were different. Something new. Something dangerous. And they even gave themselves a new collective name. Three Worse Girls since Eve. Even though one of their group was a boy.
And there were minor things, like that they looked slightly less repulsive looking than the normal devil.
The survivors reported that to authorities, but they were not believed. People had been fighting the devil for a long time, and there had not been many surprises in that war.
And then disaster with adult exorcists. They didn't know much about what exactly happened, only that it was going well at first, and this was what they later learned from those rescued, then they had been hit by former Group West. From all testimonies, they were on another level.
So after that, survivors of the first attack recruited other scouts to try to keep the worst contained. Which was relatively easy since most of those who stayed didn't really want to leave the grounds of the former Summer Scout camp.
And for those taken by the devil who had left, even if they were slightly better at cooperating than usual kind of possessed, they still dispersed in small groups.
The main problem was both panic and despair, as well as a lack of adult exorcists. Most of them and most skilled of them had been on that assault.
There was another problem.
Teenagers who were rescued were mostly ready to fight again for God, but adults were less resilient.
More brittle, more easily broken.
With that, the brave pair finished their tale and asked for help.
The other scouts were eager to do something. To contribute. There was no dissent. There were really Good Kids.
They voted and the result was never in doubt. They had chosen to follow messengers to war.
Mars and I went with them. What other choice did we have? It wasn't as if we could leave them to go battle the devil without us.
They were just kids.
As the old bus drove the forsaken battlefield, scouts sang joyous hymns, battling fear with zealotry.
Being old, the vehicle broke several times, but Mars was an excellent mechanic. I knew that each time he was torn between helping the scout arrive and despairing seeing them on the battlefield.
I hugged him after each time for comfort. Not just his.
When we finally arrived we found that this fight had evolved into some strange sort of siege, that there was a place to be defended, and that it was mainly a battle of attrition.
But there was no fortification, and the defenders needed no supplies.
Gathered scouts went into woods that surrounded what was once the camp of Summer Scouts to hunt the devil, and the devil hunted us at the same time.
Those woods had been transformed into a place of chaos and madness. There were trees whose leaves were made of songs, and brooks made of rainbows. The time and space were twisted, one step could take you miles, and at the same time last for an hour. It was worse closer to the former camp.
And afterward, the scouts would to the temporary tent city, for some food and a brief rest, before once more braving that madness of the infernal forest.
The place from where crusading scouts marched to battle out was temporal by design. A collation of hastily erected camping tents surrounded by poles with sirens on top.
The was no permanency. Such a thing was not needed (could not be admitted). Victory was imminent.
Victory had been imminent for quite some time.
Our troop had been given a plot to set out our own tents, as well as supplies. And then we expected to contribute to the war effort.
Each troop was independent. The madness of the forest made any strategy of attack impossible.
How could one plan a battle when the battlefield changed without any rime or reason?
How could one organize formation when a single spet could separate any large group?
Most other scouts hunted in pairs.
After all, that was nothing to fear when there were two against the devil.
But there was still some organization.
Each morning leaders of the scouts met in a large tent, to discuss the progress of the previous day. From what I heard since that was before I had arrived, they at first would meet in the evening, but that had proven inefficient.
I was one of the leaders. The rest of the scouts from my camp had dumped that duty on me like a hot potato.
In truth, I was the one hosting these meetings. It used to rotate, but I made the mistake of letting Mars make tea and cookies for the first one I hosted.
"We have lost seven and managed to rescue four," the blond boy, about sixteen in age reported. Slender and effeminate. His name was Ganymede, and there was something hollow in his voice.
There was little death in this war, but there were casualties.
We hunted the devil to decrease their numbers, and they hunted us to increase them. The forced conversion was the main weapon here.
But there were consequences as could be seen with Ganymede. He was captured, turned into one of them, and later rescued.
It was like something was missing from him, and like he also forgot what was missing.
It was a common ailment among those whom we rescued. Most of those suffering from it were rendered useless and needed to be replaced by fresh recruits.
It was a testament of his will, that he still fought. But how long would that last?
He continued, "Two are still recovering, one had chosen to stay. The last one will be leaving."
"And that is allowed!?" Man in gray exclaimed, gesturing wildly, like a malfunctioning windmill.
He was the representative of government, and the only adult, since Mars and I didn't count, in these meetings.
He was replacing the last one, which was recalled a few days ago.
If he lasted more than a few days, I may be bothered to learn his name. For now, he was just a Representative.
"Of course, it's allowed. We need only volunteers. Unwilling would be worse than useless," the one who replied to him was a tall girl named Elara. She and her partner, a smaller boy named Puck, who was currently stuffing his mouth with cookies, were here nearly from the beginning of the crisis.
They went to a nearby camp and were the last remains of the first responders. Going by seniority, she was one who should be hosting these meetings, but she had neither temperament nor inclination for it.
I was glad for her intervention. Triton looked like he was going to punch the man in the grey suit. Triton was Ganymede's partner. He was a blue-haired boy, with a swimmer build, a little shorter than me.
He wasn't with his partner when Ganymede was captured. He had hurt his ankle a day before. Ever since we had gotten Ganymede back he had been a little overprotective.
"No one lost," Elara continued. "Rescued two. Both are still in recovery."
I nodded. And said "Dia?"
The black-haired boy stooped sipping his tea and answered, "We lost two, gained five. Two are leaving, and three are still in recovery."
I moved to the next one. "Tarvos?"
"I have excellent news," a tall brown-haired boy enthusiastically replied. "No losses, but we managed to rescue five. Four are staying. We have excellent news about the last one. It is a Bonfire Captain of the Summer Scouts."
That was really excellent news. The longer one was inhabited by the devil, the more troublesome the devil became.
He was the adult at the site of the incident. From those who were changed at the fall of the camp, only two scouts from group South and the whole group West remained.
The rest leaders continued giving reports on loss and gain. It was relatively good news. Slowly but surely we were winning.
"Ten saved with no losses, eight are staying" I gave my report. As usual, my group numbers were the best.
But then Mars and I were cheating. Between Mars' ability to smell supernatural phenomena and my sensitivity to disruptions in space-time, we managed to keep our whole group together and hunt efficiently.
I even used some magecraft to heal those we rescued. Although I was running low on rock crystal. And that piece of onyx was nearly spent as well.
I had little pride in it. It was only to be expected. Same with Mars.
But not with scouts in troops, they marched with heads held high, awed looks trying behind them.
I did nothing to discourage that. We needed any scrap of morale we could get.
"If no one has anything to do we should finish this and get back to work."
"That's all!" the representative voice was shrill. I hoped that he wouldn't be taken by the devil. It happened to one before the last one. "You need to get better. This has to end." As if all his energy was spent he slumped back. I was right, he won't last much longer.
After the meeting ended, our group was back in the woods hunting for the devil.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me," I prayed loudly, even as I used floating mirrors to reflect the laser bolt away from my trope.
I still hated prayer, but for their sake, I would use weapons in my arsenal.
The swarm of butterflies that one scout shot in retaliation looked almost gentle but it tore through the devil's heavy armor with ease.
There was something both surreal and disturbing, as seeing fragile wings tear trough twisted fusion of metal, chitin, and flesh.
But such nature of the fight.
It was still strange to march on the side of angels. Before, when walked, hell walked with me.
I knew demons intimately, and with that forbidden knowledge, I could make some guesses.
Demons and the devil were so different, yet similar in a way.
The world that rejected them, they rejected in turn. Laws that forbid them they corrupted.
The god-given powers were not parlor tricks, they were miracles. A piece of the Word. Reinforcement of the World Law.
It did finish the devil, but it staggered enough for Mars to reach him, and carve armor apart like the turkey he made for dinner the night before.
As another devil fell apart revealing the human boy contained within I finally managed to get a large enough sample size to form a believable hypothesis.
"The devil is but a shadow man cast in the light of God," I quoted the game, and this world since I managed to find that passage in it. What I didn't say was what came after that in the game, God's own words: 'The meaning of this parable was there is no devil'. What I did say was, "I think I finally understand"
Pieces of the devil, pieces of Nothingness, that which was not possible, but materialized, corrupted by the host boy's element, floated away from him.
That was the first clue, residue for both old and new devils was practically the same. If they were made of the same thing why were they so different?
The truth was they really weren't.
We all had parts of us that proudly showed in light and those parts we hid in shadows.
To be possessed, no more accurately was to say, to become one with the devil that had to be reversed. Like turning around so your back was to the light and you were gazing into the darkness.
The devil was disgusting because we were disgusted by those parts of ourselves.
The devil was terrifying because we feared those parts of ourselves.
And what if someone came and said that those parts we hid were alright? That they were beautiful, unique, and what made us special. Then you get a new breed of the devil.
"What utterly useless bit of knowledge. Truly to increase one's wisdom was to increase one's suffering." I said, kneeling by the boy. With one step incantation, I used one of the last rock crystals to quicken his recovery.
In the best scenario, he would join our hunt, in worst at least we wouldn't need to carry him. The piece of quartz crumbled between my fingers, all used up.
The boy opened his eyes and suddenly grabbed my hand. He yelled, "This is an ambush. They are coming!"
He didn't need to say more, we all know what he meant.
With deliberate calm, I gave orders, "As we had planned. Mars and I will stay, you run back to the camp. No arguments. In this battle, you would only be a distraction."
That obeyed, but not without glancing back. Their faces split between separate hope and hopeless fear.
I turned towards Mars as they left, "Like old times, right."
He had shifted his radio to bow, and replied, "As they say it here, there is nothing to fear when there are two against the devil."
I shifted mine into a necklace and put it around my neck. It would serve as a connection to the divine, but it would leave my hands free. "Let's arrange terrain more to our advantage."
Mars nodded and began to recite his aria, finishing with, "So as I pray, Unlimited Blade Works."
The fire bloomed around us like the incoming tide, Archer's Reality Marble turning the surrounding landscape into a familiar wasteland of sand and weaponry.
But there were differences. This Reality Marble was a reflection of his Inner World, and that was not static. Like that bright star that shined high in the sky. It had appeared sometime after the first war.
And there was something new. The sand was black. And from the smell, I think it was pure iron.
A thick haze formed from embers and wisps of black smog rising from the ground, produced by the forging of iron, cleared showing the horizon and with it our enemy.
An army of three.
Unlimited Blade Works drowned under the oncoming sea. A flood of biblical proportions, consuming the land in a parody of an embrace, taking countless swords under its alien currents even as it approaches us.
Above the sea was a storm of hands that covered the sky. They reached out from the sky to take gears. Some to polish, repelling rust with their touch. Some gears the storm hands rearranged into strange, alien configurations that defied space and logic. Some they merely picked up to place them back down again, as though after examining them before deeming that they had been where they should be.
Between the intrusive storm and impossible sea, danced a being of light. It was the multitude, yet singular. Its wings touched the sea and caressed the hands of the storm. Its light was the harsh glare of the summer sun, and yet it was also the gentle tickle of a fire's warmth. It gently coaxed out sins from the most secretive part of your soul and radiated approval and encouragement where He would only scorn and condemn.
That was how the wishes were granted (by the devil).
Once there was a girl named Jupiter, who yearned to touch and be touched, to hurt and be hurt. But her mother taught her that it wasn't polite to touch others and her father taught her that as a girl she had to protect herself. She had done everything that was asked of her, but her heart betrayed her. So she let the devil in.
Once there was a girl named Neptune, who drowned in bitterness at the unfairness of the world. Why did people have to prove that they were good? Why did they have to cut away pieces of themselves? Why were they judged? So she let the devil in.
Once there was a boy named Venus, who was gentle and kind. But he suffered from a sin of pride for he could not accept God's plan for him. He yearned for something different, to be something different. So she let the devil in.
Without words, they called us. To cast away everything that made us unhappy. To abandon the tyranny of God and be finally free.
I was tempted, so very tempted. To take Mars and join them. There was no place for us in this World, and they promised that there was a place for everyone in theirs.
But I looked at Mars and I saw that he was in pain. This was not the land of God, his soul that they were altering. An error on our part, a miscalculation of what they could do to this place.
And there were other worlds.
"They're still too far out for me," I said, looking at the enemy.
Mars nodded and said "Then I will strike first. That is the role of an archer."
He answered the oncoming storm with a typhoon of swords, flying through the air like a school of fish through water.
But the hands seemed endless. Cut one apart and three new ones took their place. The light revealed the swords for the fakes they were and can you truly wound the sea with a sword, no matter how many?
"Stop," I commanded. They were closer now. "We need to stall them. Don't use magecraft. Have faith in His power." Even now I had to pretend. Especially now.
"A dedication to God," he said and smirked. He drew another sword. For a moment I thought that had somehow brought Caliburn, but it was another Holly Sword, one I didn't recognize. With a decisive strike, he planted it in the ground. He spoke the name of the Noble Phantasm, but it was less a bold declaration and more a soft prayer. So I missed it.
The sword burned with harsh light, driving out all other sources of illumination until it resembled a glowing cross.
By His light, iron sand obeyed Mars, and built a dam, to halt the sea's approach. Light tried to burn it, to undo His miracles, so I brought mercury, and created mirrors to reflect its assaults into the sea, creating great explosions of steam. Hands descended, shattering my mirrors with unearthly might. But they were liquid and easy to reform. Mars rained swords up into the hands, ripping them apart, but there were always more.
We were human, fighting off those who had discarded their human form, casting it away like an old dress they had outgrown.
The dam broke. The sea advanced.
Eventually, it reached us and we stood no more on a hill, but on an island The light blinded us, and the hands above were reaching down, to touch us, to caress us, to change us.
I had one last gamble to play.
I didn't use sorcery much, for most things magecraft was more efficient. Although it was potentially much more powerful, true magic was much harder to master. But some things only powers that reach beyond the limits of the world could accomplish.
They may have seemed invincible, but they had been defeated. Not in this world, but in parallel timelines. One timeline for each defeat.
That was the power of friendship. Like all power, it was a double-edged sword. The friends could lift you up, but you could also pull them down.
I just had to look in the right place. The places where only one falls.
"Bonds," with this incantation I started the spell. A new spell was created on the spot just for this occasion.
Energy requirements were steep.
But I have conserved magical energy for this. I used it all, all remaining gems, and even batteries, all power within my circuits and crest, and all power within my mystic code necklace.
Even with all that at my level, I would have only a moment.
But that moment was all I needed.
They came.
They came to answer my summons.
They came to destroy the devil.
They came to save a dear friend.
There were six of them. Three sets of twins (alternates). Four girls and two boys.
A girl and boy face the sea.
Two girls stand against the light.
A boy and a girl oppose the storm.
But there was nothing to fear when there were two against the devil.
They strike.
He brought the light. She brought the storm. Sea parted. The devil was destroyed and the girl was saved.
One girl brought water. The other one brought a storm. The light shattered into a rainbow. The devil was destroyed and the boy was saved.
She brought water. He brought the light. Storm stilled. The devil was destroyed and the girl was saved.
Nine of them stand together. Three sets of three. An eyeblink later and there were only three. Lying prone in the iron sand of Mars' manifest soul.
I fall to my knees. I had given everything I had. I was so tired. This had been almost beyond my skill. If I hadn't had that transformation sequence...
Mars put a hand on my shoulder."Is it done?"
"Yes," I replied, "It is done."
The desert faded, revealing the forest glade. And then even the forest glade began to fade. So tired.