A Tough Decision

"I'll ask you again," Ulrich said softly. "What do you know about the wizard in black armor?"

In contrast to his voice, his grip tightened around Theo's chin like an iron clamp. Theo had no choice but to stare into his furious gray eye.

Theo's head was spinning, his face stinging. With every breath, he swallowed blood. The skin around his left eye had swollen so much he could barely see out of it.

Needless to say, he'd been in better shape. But no matter what, he refused to give Ulrich what he wanted.

"Tell me!" Ulrich shook Theo, hard. His head lurched and for a wild moment he felt like the cabin was spinning around him.

When his senses returned, he had his answer ready. Leaning forward, he spat out a wad of bloody spit.

To his joy, it struck Ulrich right in the eyepatch. Snarling in disgust, Ulrich reeled back. His grip loosened, but not enough for Theo to escape.

"You little – " His hand clamped down tight again, fingers pressing bruisingly hard, and he draw back his free hand in a trembling fist.

Theo squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth. Endure it….

Even so, his heartbeat spiked when he heard air whoosh. Only for another sound to drown it out – frantic pounding from the other side of the door.

Just like that, Ulrich released Theo. Theo tumbled onto his ass, gasping for breath. As the pounding grew louder, he felt like his head was splitting apart.

So it came as a relief when Ulrich flung open the door. "What the devil is going on? I told you not to bother me!"

"We need you, Master! The prisoners, they've – "

"What?" Ulrich's disbelieving cry cracked like a whip. As Theo struggled to focus his vision, he saw the wizard duck out of the door.

Theo's heart leaped into his throat. If he wasn't mistaken, Ulrich had just flat-out ditched him.

And no wonder. Beyond the door, he saw flashing lights, people racing back and forth, heard fists colliding and metal clanging.

His pain forgotten, he lurched to his feet and stumbled to the door.

A flash of green light almost blinded him. Blinking tears out of his eyes, Theo saw a smoking hole blasted through the deck only a few yards in front of him, several limp soldiers collapsed around it. Floating above like a terrible angel of vengeance, Avia was already aiming another arrow.

Mint green light surged further down the deck, illuminating Ryllis as she carved a swift path through the soldiers. Hot on her heels came Kress, who smashed two soldiers' heads together hard enough to break off one of their horns.

Sweeping his gaze across the deck, Theo saw Lodo in cat form slicing his metal claws, Darian darting and weaving between the soldiers. But they weren't what Theo was looking for. Where –

A familiar Levia surged in his chest, bright as a lightning bolt. There, right in the center of the deck. His armor shining in the darkness, Zenith swung his sword and parried a blow from Rain. Undeterred, Rain whirled at him from the left. This time, her blade glanced off Zenith's shield with a flurry of sparks.

Then a steel-gray diagram blazed beneath Rain. Theo opened his mouth to shout a warning, but too late – her sword aglow with the same gray light, Rain charged straight at Zenith.

Zenith couldn't block in time. With a sickening thud, the sword pierced his chest as if his armor was made of paper. As it burst out of his back, his body arched grotesquely.

When he crumpled to his knees, Theo's heart stopped. In a fit of panic, he cast the first spell that came to mind, a basic shield. The pink diagram burst in front of Zenith, knocking Rain backward.

But her sword was still lodged in Zenith's chest. As he doubled over, more soldiers surrounded him, and horror gripped Theo's throat when another confining diagram appeared beneath Zenith.

"Stupid whore!" Ulrich barked at Rain, heedless of the fray raging around him. "What were you thinking, damaging the merchandise like that?"

Rain bowed her head. "Apologies, Master."

"Well, whatever, we've got it. Now to secure the rest." But as Ulrich strode forward, a blur hurtled out of the crowd and grabbed him by the leg. Unbalanced, he tumbled over and hit the deck with a thud.

Fia, Theo realized when he saw the frantically flapping wings. As Fia and Ulrich rolled around on the deck, Theo realized he had a clear path to Zenith.

He rushed forward just as another one of Avia's arrows struck the deck behind him. The impact swept him off his feet, sending him tumbling forward. He crashed onto his hands and knees, gasping for breath.

When he lifted his head, gray light flooded his vision and a Levia as sharp as steel sliced at his head. Blinking hard, Theo forced himself to concentrate through the overwhelming power. His heart skipped when he realized he'd landed just inches from Zenith.

Zenith was still on his knees inside the confining diagram, trembling from head to toe. His hair fell in front of his face, but Theo couldn't miss the desperation surging through their bond. Nor could he ignore the sword piercing Zenith's chest, white lightning crackling around it.

Dread dragged down Theo's stomach. He'd seen Zenith shrug off more serious injuries – an entire arm chopped off – with much less effort. So why was he in such a bad condition now?

"Zenith," he gasped out, though the noise of the battle drowned out his voice. "Don't – don't worry, I'll get you out of there, I promise – "

Taking a deep breath, he reached for his Levia. Time to gather as much of it as he could, then use it to break through the confining spell. But he could barely concentrate through the frantic thud of his heart against his ribcage, to say nothing of the shouts and crashes behind him.

Before he could dredge up more than a few sputtering handfuls of Levia, something crashed onto the deck only a few feet away. Theo's eyes flew open just in time to see Fia curled up on their side, dark blue blood staining the shoulder of their poncho.

"Fia!" Theo rushed toward the sprite. "Are you okay?"

Fia's eyes were squeezed tightly shut, sweat beading their face. "Don't...don't let him get away…."

Glancing up, Theo saw Rain dragging Ulrich by the wrist toward the Himmelsfestung.

"Don't…." Fia repeated, only for a violent shudder to seize their body. As the bloodstain spread across their poncho, nausea clawed up Theo's throat.

'What should I do?' Fia was injured in front of him, Zenith trapped behind him, Ulrich escaping with his shard of the Star.

Then heavy footsteps pounded behind him – dangerously close. Theo whirled around just in time to see a soldier looming above him, sword raised.

Theo's heart lodged in his throat. But before he could move an inch, a squat figure appeared behind the soldier and swung a staff at his ankles. The staff struck with resounding crack, knocking the soldier off his feet. Theo barely managed to fling himself out of the way before the soldier crashed onto the deck.

Nevy jumped on his back next, swinging the staff at his head. It struck with a heavy thud and the soldier went limp, sword spilling out of his fingers.

Nevy turned toward Theo. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," Theo said, blinking at the metal staff in Nevy's hands. "Where did you get that? I thought they took our weapons away…."

"Ha!" Nevy hoisted the staff over her shoulder. "They didn't bother checking my pockets, I'm afraid. This fellow can fold up to the size of a cigar; convenient, no?"

Theo supposed. But he didn't have time to discuss weapons with Nevy. When Zenith let out a rattling breath from behind, he whirled back toward his familiar.

"Oh! Sir Zenith." Nevy stepped up to Theo's side. "My, oh my. This is bad...quite bad."

"What do you mean?" Theo demanded, his heart pounding.

"It looks like he got struck close to his power core." Nevy shook her head. "He'll need extensive repairs if he's not to shut down."

"What?" Icy horror flooded Theo's stomach. "Why? What's this power core anyway?"

"You don't know?" Nevy tilted her head, frowning. "It's essentially what keeps a homunculus functioning, formed of highly concentrated Levia. As long as it's intact, a homunculus can survive near anything, but if it's damaged, well…."

Theo thought of the core of crystalline light he always reached for when he cast spells on Zenith. Had that been his power core all along?

But no time to think about this. And when Fia shuddered and groaned, Theo's panic jumped even higher.

"I, Fia's hurt, but, but Zenith needs me," he found himself babbling. "I don't – "

"It's okay." When Nevy gripped his shoulder, Theo started. Her hand felt cold and hard as stone. "I'm the only one here who can repair Sir Zenith. I'll take care of him. You take Fia belowdecks to the infirmary."

"What?" Theo's heart flipped. "But – but Zenith's trapped."

"The wizard's gone back to his craft. The spell's going to break sooner or later. When that time comes, I'll be in the best position to help Sir Zenith. All right?"

An icy bead of sweat trickled down Theo's neck. All this time he'd thought Nevy was frivolous, but now he couldn't argue with her airtight logic. Better to wait it out than waste precious Levia on breaking Zenith free. As of now, Fia needed the most urgent attention.

"Okay." Theo nodded. "Thank you."

Nevy nodded back before taking position in front of Zenith, staff raised. Time for Theo to do his part. He ran toward the collapsed Fia, and didn't look back.