No one expects the Inqusition

Master, again? The thought lingered, tantalizing. Should I search for a fob watch in my warehouse? Or maybe back at the base on Io?

Jokes aside, possibilities began to weave together in my mind.

One obvious conjecture was that the black soldier had mistaken me for another. But another was that he hadn't.

Master was my go-to alias. The legacy of a misspent youth.

While others furthered their education at college I spent that time playing (murder) tournaments. Well, Rin Tohsaka version I did, I did have memories of two other lives going to two different mundane colleges in both America and Europe. And I suppose Imladris could be counted as a college-level education as well. 

But since I did not remember encountering using that alias in this World before, it either meant that I forgot, which would not happen naturally, or it has yet to happen from my perspective. 

Time-travel.

Either another accident or finally I would manage to do it reliably.

I had the urge to smile, but it wouldn't quite fit the role I was about to play.

He sought an audience with the Master, and I was more than willing to indulge him. The outcome, I hoped, would prove satisfying for him.

A barely perceptible change and my lips twisted into a smirk that danced between amusement and sadism. I shifted my gaze, looking past the figure before me. He wasn't truly an enemy, just a plaything. An object. I was the only thing real in this universe. Everything else merely existed as toys for my entertainment.

My muscles eased subtly, and although my readiness for combat remained undiminished, my exterior betrayed nothing. The aura I now radiated was one of cool, arrogant menace.

To those adept in the art of subterfuge, donning a mask might seem to onlookers like its removal.

"Knowing this, you still face me alone?" My voice carried a hint of playful mockery. "Such valour."

"I had faced you before, Master," the black soldier said boldly. His confidence contrasted with the tight grip he had on his metal tube, its end twisted into a distinct V shape. I wondered where he'd managed to acquire such an artefact. Well, one way I could get one was evident: from his cold, lifeless hands.

"You live because I allowed it," I said. I needed to keep the soldier's attention on myself. For that reason, I didn't even glance at the boys. I was selling the illusion that they did not matter to me.

Still, I knew where they were. Trevor was right next to me, holding his sleeping baby brother, and Two was a bit further away. And there was one more thing that mattered in the room. Not the comic that Trevor had drawn while lost in Birdland, but the storage cube with spare weapons. The good news was that I had left it open since there would be no time to deal with its intricate lock. The bad news, it was just outside my reach.

I was not yet sure how much threat the soldier was, but if I had met him before as an enemy and he survived…

But pondering on it, maybe he survived solely for this destined confrontation. Temporal mechanics was a complex subject, for which English frustratingly lacked the proper tenses to articulate.

"And I am not the only one alone," the soldier declared, advancing further into the room through the breach he had created in the wall. Rubble and fragmented masonry crunched distinctively under his boots. "You are bereft of your demonic legions, and Archer is preoccupied by the Old Man of the Mountain. Such an opportunity is rare."

"If you believe that's of any consequence, let's play this game," I retorted, my voice dripping with the smug assurance of a cat that had cornered an unsuspecting mouse. The air was thick with dust, its gritty taste evident on my tongue. "Trevor, be a dear and escort your younger brother deeper into the house. Resurrecting him once was bothersome enough. And as for..."

I paused, intending to direct Two to shadow Trevor, if not for protection, then at least to give him a semblance of purpose. That blond boy was much easier to manage when he believed that he was useful.

But I was interrupted when the black soldier pointed his weapon toward Trevor and shouted, "STOP! One step more and I will incinerate you both, boy." The weapon surged with a vibrant red energy, its raw power palpable in the air.

Every instinct wanted my muscles to tense, but with a supreme effort of will, I kept myself completely relaxed, preserving the outward facade of calmness and control.

The energy's essence... it struck a chord of familiarity. How I wished Archer was by my side. His bloodhound nose would've been quite useful.

"I thought that you wanted to face me alone?" I asked, in a tone of idle curiosity, like the soldier was some sort of amusing bug, that had behaved outside predicted patterns. "Changed your mind?

"If you want those two to leave, naturally I will prevent it," the soldier declared with unwavering conviction. The cold absence of mercy in his eyes was evident. He was prepared to kill an eighteen-year-old and his infant brother, simply because I desired to shield them.

Could he believe that I posed such a threat that all who crossed my path must be eradicated for the greater good?

I smirked, my lips curling with a mix of amusement and malice. "But can you truly stop me while I stand right here?" Internally, I weighed my options. The standoff couldn't endure. While I could deceive with the best of them, bluffs had an expiration date. The soldier's current hesitation, driven by fear, would eventually morph into aggression. It was imperative I dictated the tempo. Adopting a hypnotic cadence, I commanded, "Trevor, obey your master. Take your brother and flee."

I was so engrossed in the soldier that I missed Trevor following my directive. But it was clear he had when, without a moment's pause, the soldier aimed his peculiar weapon, unleashing an energy beam straight at the brothers.

Anticipating this, I chanted, "Recall," in the nick of time. Drawing upon the karmic ties binding me to my familiars, I invoked True Magic. With a force that tore through space, I summoned them to my side.

Suddenly, the room was aflutter with my bird familiars, previously stationed to survey Hawkins. But there were additions. Two's pet snake, a dual-purpose creature, slithered near the boy. And then, materializing between the soldier and me, was a bubbling mass of radioactive green muck – the Toxic Slime.

I'd employed this creature for half a year to cleanse the forsaken sections of the Enrichment Center – areas abandoned for very valid reasons.

The sudden influx of so many different sensory inputs would have been hard to manage if I did not have the Personality Cores implanted within my Magic Crest: the regal leader Leo, the cautious watcher Arnold, and lastly the humble scribe Boaz, so easily overlooked.

Together we turned the disparate mob into a coordinated force.

A valiant red-breasted robin interposed itself, intercepting the searing beam to shield the fleeing brothers. A vigilant sparrow pursued them, granting me a borrowed vision of their escape.

Peering through a crow's eyes, I observed the aftermath of an explosion — my storage cube had toppled, revealing its contents: the peculiar z-shaped gun, a mystic tome, and a pair of grenades.

As an initial gambit, I dispatched a sharp-beaked woodpecker to gauge the soldier's defences. Naturally, the Master wouldn't be so wary against someone deemed non-threatening. However, the Master relished the game, toying with adversaries in a manner reminiscent of a cruel, playful cat.

But the first move against the soldier came unexpectedly from Two. His eyes ignited with power as he hurled a potent telekinetic assault. Yet, instead of being repelled, the soldier stood unyielding, enveloped by a blue shield that absorbed the onslaught. The impact produced a deafening, bell-like sound so intense it felt as though the very air had been struck with a mighty blow.

The fine dust, recently settled from the explosion, was once more kicked up, clouding the air. With a pained cry, Two stumbled back, landing unceremoniously on his rear. The snake swiftly slid over to the fallen boy, raising its head and body in a defensive posture. Its forked tongue flicked out, sensing the environment, while its fangs were bared menacingly.

The intense sound wave may have momentarily deterred the woodpecker, but it was undaunted. The bird hovered near the still-glowing shield, then began its relentless assault.

With each rapid peck, the woodpecker's sharp beak struck the shield. Initially slow, its speed quickly escalated. The red crest atop its head began to glow, dissipating the heat generated by the continuous impacts.

The soldier, in a bid to fend off this unexpected attacker, swung his rod. The v-shaped ornamentation at its tip aimed to skewer the persistent bird. But the woodpecker, agile and swift, nimbly darted around, evading the soldier's attempts while maintaining its onslaught. Though it didn't breach the shield, the soldier was sufficiently distracted.

My mental reach tried to connect with Two, urging him to safety. But his mind was shuttered to me. The serpent, however, remained receptive...

The snake nudged Two and pointed its head to the hallway door, where Trevor had run carrying his baby brother.

"I'm not going to run away. I am not fucking weak. I can help," he growled through gritted teeth.

Suddenly, a zapping sound echoed through the room. The blue shield was briefly covered by crawling lightning. In that split second, the woodpecker burned and fell to the floor, the second casualty of this conflict.

"Compared to the Grand Witches Master commanded in the past?" the soldier rhetorically asked. He chuckled menacingly and then said. "I remember an eight-year-old girl who could reduce a house of this size into rubble with thought." A small pause, and then he added with glee, "She burned beautifully."

Grand Witches and immolating little girls… That sounded positively medieval.

Yet, the mana I sensed from the soldier's v-topped staff, wielded with such finesse, felt remarkably like the Stone Grail I'd uncovered on Io. The mana's inherent healing properties hinted at the potential to prolong life, even without the aid of specific spells. I'd believed these traits were exclusive to the grail.

Had I been mistaken? Or did the soldier possess a near-identical relic?

Either scenario presented an opportunity. If another grail existed, I now had a lead on its whereabouts. If not, I'd stumbled upon a unique ether variant. The magical energy was inherently corrosive and toxic – akin to oxygen. Hence, Jewel Magecraft treated gems as expendable. But the energy from the Stone Grail was neither.

That was for later. Now was no time to get distracted, even with potential groundbreaking discoveries.

Most critically, I'd identified a potential chink in the soldier's defense. In the fleeting moment when the woodpecker met its electrifying end, its beak managed a minuscule breach of the shield. If not for Boaz I might have missed it. 

But how to use it?

Well, I would need to provoke the soldier to use the lighting mode of the shield again. 

"You will find that I am harder to kill than a little girl," Two growled.

As he regained his footing, the damaged wall behind him shuddered. With a determined growl, he raised his hands, causing fragments of the shattered wall to levitate, enveloped in a whirlwind of chaotic energy. Commanding this swirling maelstrom, he sent the rubble hurtling toward the soldier in one coordinated assault. Each piece, its jagged edge catching the sporadic light, sped toward the enemy with lethal intent.

The soldier sneered as the projectiles harmlessly shattered on his glowing shield. "I doubt it."

"It is a good attempt, Two," I gently praised the boy, "But there is better ammunition here than just rubble," I added nodding to the storage cube, and spilled gun and grenades.

Two's face lit in a wicked grin.

"Not so fast, boy," the soldier said, pointing the rod at Two, "Burn, witch!"

From the V-shaped tip of the rod sprayed the liquid fire, bright and hot. It sizzled and spat, inching ever closer to Two with frightening speed. Different from the thermal beam by which the soldier tried to incinerate Trevor. It would be hard to intercept with one of my bird familiars.

Versatile and adaptive, the soldier was a troublesome opponent. But I had a lot of experience fighting such foes.

There was a reason I placed the Toxic Slime between us and the soldier. It was more than just a deterrent to prevent him from charging at us.

As the flame reached above it, the Toxic Slime moved with uncanny swiftness. From a bubbling puddle on the floor, it transformed into a pillar slightly taller than Two. From its side, two sail-like protrusions sprouted, effectively blocking the flame. The liquid fire clung to the surface of the slime, immolating it.

However, the slime was no ordinary substance. Although I had named it Toxic Slime, a more accurate name would be Hazardous Material and Effects Containment Slime — but that would be a mouthful. Already the slime was absorbing the surface layers coated with the liquid flame into its interior. In a way, it could be said that it was 'eating' the burning liquid, completely nullifying the soldier's attack and providing me with invaluable data.

Ignoring the soldier's attack, I continued to instruct Two. "Try a grenade with a blue stripe." The blue stripe signified that the bomb was filled with Repulsion Gel. The soldier's shield was reactive and could deflect projectiles, but the Repulsion Gel would redirect that force back into the shield. I wasn't sure if that would be enough to bring the shield down. If it failed, I had another plan in mind: sending the entire flock of my bird familiars and hoping to provoke the soldier into using that lightning shield effect.

Either way, once the shield was weakened, I could finish the fight with my last gem bullet. 

As I was preparing to put my plans into action, a sudden movement caught my eye I looked toward the breach behind the soldier, and my heart sank as I saw a wall of fire rapidly approaching. A massive explosion headed straight for us.

There was no time to manually adjust settings on Spellweaver, and besides, from the size of the explosion I needed this spell at maximum power. I would just have to bear the backlash.

Safety disengaged. Full synchronization with Magic Crest. Bullet type: Sapphire. Configuration set: Material Barrier.

In a burst of magical energy, the Sapphire bullet was launched from Spellweaver, detonating in a brilliant display of shimmering fragments. The sparkling shards coalesced into a swirling mass of azure energy, crackling with Jewel Magecraft's inherent power. The vortex grew, taking on a solid form, stretching into a wall of sapphire blue that shimmered and pulsated with an otherworldly glow.

The wall stood firm, its surface rippling as the shockwave from the explosion slammed into it with incredible force. For a heartbeat, the wall threatened to shatter under the strain, but it held resolute against the blast.

The explosion tore through the roof above, sending debris flying in all directions. The force of the blast shook the ground beneath our feet, sending vibrations up our legs and rattling the very foundations of the building. Within the Material Barrier's safety, Two and I stood unharmed, shielded from the blast's destructive power. Even the comic Trevor worked on was perfectly preserved.

The backlash from such a powerful spell was brutal and immediate.

A severe headache took hold of me, and I felt like my skull was being crushed from the inside out. The pain throbbed behind my eyes, making it difficult to see clearly. My vision blurred and swayed as if I were standing on the deck of a ship in the middle of a stormy sea.

Suddenly, blood gushed from my nostrils, warm and viscous, flowing down my face and pooling on the ground below. It was as if a faucet had been turned on inside my head, and the blood just wouldn't stop.

The pain intensified, and I dropped to my knees, clutching my head with both hands. My body shook, and the world around me became muffled as if I were submerged underwater. My breaths came in ragged gasps.

As the pain overwhelmed me, I had no choice but to close my eyes and wait for it to subside. I didn't know how much time had passed, but when I finally opened my eyes again, my vision was still blurred and my head was throbbing with pain. As I looked up, I saw Two's worried face staring down at me, and I could feel the concern emanating from him.

I closed my eyes, trying to block out the pain that radiated through my skull. I didn't know how long I was out, but when I opened my eyes again, the world was still hazy and blurred. Through the fog, I could see Two's face hovering above me, his expression a mixture of fear and shock.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes darting to the blood on my face, his voice shaky.

I tried to speak, but my throat felt dry and scratchy, so I just nodded weakly. Two's hands were shaking as he helped me to my feet, and I could feel the weight of his worry settling on my shoulders.

"That was insane," he muttered, his bravado fading as he looked around at the destruction caused by the explosion. "I thought we were done for."

I managed to gasp out a question, my voice strained by the intense pain still throbbing in my head. "The soldier?"

"Fucking gone," Two replied, his words rushed and breathless. "The explosion must have done him in. Not even a corpse was left."

My mind was still foggy from the pain, but I knew I had to focus. "The storage cube," I said, struggling to form a coherent thought. "There's medicine in there."

In a daze, I felt something being pushed into my hand. Opening my eyes, I saw Two standing next to me, holding the open Aperture storage cube. I couldn't recall how he had gotten it, but it didn't matter. The cube had spilled its contents, scattering them all over the ground.

Focusing on the task at hand, I rummaged through the mess, searching for the one thing that could help me - the special chocolate bar. It contained the same energy as the soldier's staff, and I needed it desperately.

With urgency driving my every move, I tore into the wrapper, the rich scent of the chocolate hitting me even before I devoured it. As I did, a hot wave of rejuvenating energy coursed through me, pushing back the pain and fatigue.

Half of the room was gone, leaving only a clear line where the barrier had been. Everything beyond had been annihilated. Glass covered the floor, but something didn't seem right. The explosion wasn't hot enough to turn everything into glass. As I looked closer, a crystalline pattern revealed the glass's origin: the Toxic Slime I had used to clear the abandoned floor of the Enrichment Center. The slime processed what it could and contained what it couldn't, including the vitrification agent that had previously turned several floors into glass.

When the explosion destroyed it, everything that was contained by it must have been set free. The resulting blast likely dispersed a variety of hazards over a large area. Although the population density in this rural area was low, many people were sure to die in unpleasant ways. The victory tasted like ashes in my mouth, both literally and figuratively, and I didn't even get the artifact I wanted.

"What's next?" Two asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

"We need to get you back to Io," I replied absentmindedly, my mind already racing through the next steps. "You're not safe here. That soldier was looking for you."

As I spoke, I mentally went over the tasks that needed to be done. Clearing the scene, removing any evidence that could lead to Ace and Aperture, and opening a gate to Io to hide Two and Didi. Establishing an alibi for me and Trevor, and then evacuating people from the affected area. But above all, finding out what happened to Archer was the top priority.

Because the only reasonable explanation for the origin of the explosion was Archer's battle with Hassan. It would be stretching the bounds of probability for it to be something completely unrelated.

"How can you be so sure?" Two said, his eyebrows furrowing. "Unless... you've been expecting something like this?"

"I needed to make sure Earth was safe for you and your cohorts," I replied with a cold tone. "Your reckless actions have conveniently provided a way to test it."

I took inventory of the remaining bird familiars. More than half were lost in the explosion. And with both of my slimes gone, restocking was going to be something of a logistical issue. Which one should I send to seek Archer? I would need to communicate with him once I found him, so I chose the only one who could talk, a mockingbird. It was a small bird with gray feathers and a white belly.

With a silent command from me, the little bird took flight into the wasteland created by the explosion.

"That's why you have allowed me to wander Missing Mile freely. Like a plump little bunny, just waiting to be devoured."

"You are hardly helpless, Two. And Sacred Yew is hardly a jungle. The only thing in danger there was your virtue. Not something that you want to protect, since the first thing you did was to pick up Trevor. Besides, Archer was watching over you."

"The mysterious archer? Am I going to meet him?"

"You already have. Archer is Fano's callsign. Like Master is mine."

Looking through the eyes of my bird familiar, I could see the wasteland caused by the explosion that had happened mere minutes ago. The flat rural area had been transformed into a desolate and eerie landscape. The ground was scorched and cracked, with plumes of smoke rising from smoldering craters. The air was thick with the acrid scent of burnt earth.

But what caught my attention the most was the large crater at the center of it all. It was in the shape of wings, like countless wings spreading from the center without rhyme or reason. The edges of the wings were jagged and uneven as if torn apart by some tremendous force.

"But I was. Helpless, I mean," Two said, drawing my attention back. "Both against the soldier, and that copy, and even Trevor. I hate it. Make me stronger."

"It is possible. But that would take both time and effort. Precisely my time. Prove to me that you are worth it. Here is your first task. Trevor is hiding in the bathroom. He has managed to squeeze both himself and his baby brother into his old hiding place. Coax him out. Convince him to let you take his brother to Io. Take care of his brother while we are occupied here. Depending on how well you do, we can talk about your training later. Now, go and impress me." 

As Two left, I refocused my attention on searching for Archer amidst the wreckage. I found him in the center of the crater, pristine among ruins.

Seeing him relatively unharmed, a wave of relief washed over me. Not that I worried. I had complete confidence that he would prevail.

As my bird approached Archer, he spoke to it with a somber tone, "I have lost the sword you gave me."

I landed my bird on a piece of rubble nearby and used it to say to Archer, "I can always make you another. Are you injured?"

"Nothing serious. I had used intangibility to dodge the blast. It was just so much stronger than expected."

Archer's gaze fell to the ground, his shoulders slumping. He kicked at a loose piece of rubble, his voice thick with self-loathing. "I used the smartphone self-destruct app. I didn't know it would cause this much devastation. I intentionally let my opponent disarm me. And once he had taken my sword under his shield, it was an opportunity I could not miss."

Archer looked up at me, a hint of desperation in his eyes. "One more thing. My opponent. He had a staff that smelled like the grail you found. I couldn't copy it. It was of alien make. Are you sure that the invasion you fear has not already begun?"