Chapter 56 (1/2)

My arrival at the park was as quiet and unceremonious as usual. Once I found my balance after the long-distance Phasing, I glanced around and quickly found my anchor silently trying to hide his considerable bulk behind two trees. I didn't know why he bothered, considering he was covered in the familiar thin film of magical camouflage, but I figured it might've been a habit. Anyhow, after making sure there was nobody else in the vicinity, I stepped up to him, and lightly tapped the cloaked Brang on the shoulder.

The large Faun didn't show any sign of surprise at my sudden appearance; he only turned his head towards me and gave me a smile that was visible even through the distortions created by Snowy's sigil.

”[Maintain your cloak of transparent shadows, general,]” I warned him in a whisper (or at least the closest thing to a whisper the Faun language could manage) before looking over our vicinity one more time. ”[Have your preparations ensued with ease?]”

”[Aye. The young ones have hidden themselves among the trees of this green patch of land, as we have discussed. If the Chimera or thine ireful companion were to arrive, they will keep their distance and observe unless an emergency were to arise.]”

”[Hearing that fills my chest cavity with feelings of reassurance.]” I paused for a moment, then after a few tries I managed to reword that into a slightly less verbose, ”[What I meant to convey was that I was glad to hear so.]”

Brang gave me an odd look that was perfectly evident even through his cloaking, but didn't ask. I, on the other hand, let out a relieved breath. My recent efforts to make my Faunish slightly less convoluted were finally bearing fruit. I'll have to thank Karukk and Pip for their help later.

”[Were thine arrangements also in order, Lord Blackloak?]” It took a single sharp glance from me for Brang to realize that he accidentally uttered the two forbidden words in my presence, so he hastily cleared his throat in an attempt to let it slide and pressed on. ”[What I meant to say was, you have arrived later than planned. Did thy plans proceed as they were envisioned?]”

”[To a greater or lesser amount.]”

To be honest, things didn't go as smoothly as they could, but I certainly wasn't lying to Brang. The last-minute planning session with the group started out well, but then Angie had an 'emergency tennis practice' session she had to attend to, and then Ammy awkwardly told me that she actually had plans for the afternoon, though she was very vague on the details.

For the former, I could get her off the hook by talking to the leader of the club (a short-haired, sporty upperclassman placeholder, for your interest), and after leveraging my previous help with the pitching machine, I got her to compromise.

As for the latter, it felt like pulling teeth, but at last I managed to have the class rep confess (in private, of course) that she was meeting up with Mike for an outing. That got resolved by a single phone call, though for some reason she was giving me the evil eye for the rest of the day for meddling in her affairs. To be fair though, considering how crucial she was in Josh's plan, it was I who should've chewed her out for going on a definitely-not-date smack dab in the middle of a pre-planned operation.

Also, a quick mental note: pay more attention to this odd, budding relationship. No, not because it was interesting and juicy gossip, but because it was a completely unexpected development.

To put it bluntly, Ammy was established to be part of Josh's entourage from day one (or three, I can't remember), so the fact that she was suddenly showing even a modicum of interest in another guy, even if he was as smitten and enthusiastic as Mike, felt like a culture shock.

Was Josh's harem protagonist aura fading? Or was it just the class rep realizing that she was losing the race against Snowy and Angie and cautiously testing the waters with others? Or better (or worse) yet, could it be that Mike was 'scripted' to be a love rival for Josh when it came to her attention? I mean, these kinds of love triangles are the bread and butter of any romance story, and harem narratives are no exception.

Let's look at this objectively: Mike was a side-character from the start, and a fairly well-established one at that. Those don't grow on trees. That told me that he was supposed to be important from the get-go, and what could be more important for a male side-character than being the protagonist's love rival?

I could already picture the scenario in my mind; if Josh were to pick Ammy to be his love interest, Mike would show up to try and seduce her, making Josh jealous and finally taking the initiative. But then, it would turn out it was just a Celestial ploy to infiltrate the School all along! Oh no, what a twist! Because of that, Josh and the class rep would go through a lot of trials and tribulations, and then it would lead to their relationship rising to the next level, and they would live happily ever after.

This was of course all hypothetical, based on the possible route system on which our world could operate, but if I was a betting man, I'd put good money on it being close to the mark. As such, it was very important for our research to keep a close eye on these two. For research, I stress. Not for gossip. Are we clear on that? Good. Now, where was I before this tangent?

Oh, right; preparing for the counter-ambush. So, after all that malarkey with the class rep was resolved, I had to sneakily take Judy home, lest she would end up in the middle of the crossfire. Needless to say, that resulted in yet another familiar lecture about safety and contingency plans and how she will flay my ass if I would show in the living room covered in blood again, yada-yada. I, as a good and very safety-minded boyfriend, naturally had to listen to her until the end, and only then did I manage to Phase here. All I'm trying to say is that it was a small miracle I arrived as early as I did.

Anyhow, I looked over the area we picked for the ambush, and once I was sure there wasn't a single soul around besides us, I extended my hand towards Brang. Without a word, he reached over his shoulder and, after unbuckling the leather holder, handed me the spear on his back. It wasn't his own, but a replica weapon I ordered online the same time I purchased our training equipment. It was a simple, undecorated weapon, with a leaf-shaped head that was on the longer side and a smooth, roughly two meters long ash wood shaft. It wasn't a fancy weapon, but a well-balanced one, and considering I was planning to leave the lion's share of the fighting to Rinne, it was more than enough for the occasion.

”[I shall lie in wait. Proceed with your duties, general.]”

The mostly invisible Faun slowly nodded in response to my words, followed by a salute. I returned the first gesture, but refrained from the second. He didn't mind, instead he dashed away with surprising speed, at least considering his bulk and his bum leg.

And just like that, I was left alone in the rapidly darkening woods, waiting for a terrifying being of untold bloodlust and wanton cruelty to show itself. Oh, and also a Chimera, I supposed. I exhaled sharply through my nose and glanced up at the cloudy sky above. The weather was perfectly nice until school was out, and then a wave of dark clouds rolled over us like an angry herd of grey sheep. I half wondered if it was just for a dramatic effect. I mean, climactic battles rarely happen in cheerful sunny weather, now do they? Well, I for one could've done without the trope, as it also made the air cool down even further, and the overcast skies were just a tad too foreboding for my liking. If not for the fact that I was already used to the ambiance, I probably would've been pretty tense by now.

Overall, I was more bored than anything else at the moment, so after a brief consideration I picked a comfortable looking spot near the base of the same trees the ex-general was hiding behind, and I took a seat on one of the twisting, arched roots sticking out of the ground nearby. I glanced around one last time, but I couldn't see any of the pre-arranged signals the Faun were supposed to send up in case the Chimera showed up early.

Next, I Far Glanced in the direction of Mountain Girl, but she was still home, meticulously oiling her infuriating sword using a long stick with a ball of cotton at the end of it. It was a little weird, but not enough to pay any more attention to it.

Now that I finished with the obligatory round, I could finally focus on the main dish of the day. With that giddy thought in mind, I switched my perspective over to Josh, and not a moment too soon. He was already well on his way towards the ambush point, and in Armband Guy's company, no less.

The small procession in front of me consisted of the aforementioned pair in the front, with Snowy and the princess following a few paces behind them, and the Class Rep/Angie duo so far back it was impossible to tell if they are even part of the same group. So far, so good.

”Are you certain?” came the vague question from Armband Guy right around the time I shifted my viewpoint over to him.

”The tip came from Leo, so it must be right.”

Josh's answer seemingly placated him for the time being, and my friend let out a relieved breath.

In terms of context, the bait we set for Armband Guy went something like this: using my amazing talent for subterfuge, I infiltrated the group of the local creepy misfits to gather evidence about their misdeeds. During that time, I had also discovered the top-secret location of their secret stash, hidden at an unassuming location in town just in case their little Gathering got raided.

I naturally told Josh about the stash, and he informed the disciplinary committee, badgering Armband Guy until he agreed to come with him to overseer the disposal of the contraband. It was a very straightforward cover story made credible by our actions from the day before, combined with just a hint of refuge in audacity. As a matter of fact, Josh was doing really well on the latter front, to the point where even I might've believed him about the existence of the secret stash of underwear of I didn't know better. He was a natural when it came to pretending to be offended and outraged by the state of public morals. I wonder if he ever thought about becoming a politician…

”Speaking of which, where's Dunning?” Pascal inquired in a flat voice and glanced over his shoulder.

The question probably wasn't aimed at her in particular, yet my girlfriend immediately jumped to my defense.

”Leo can't come because of the Chimera!”

”She means brother is going to come later, because he is tracking the Chimera around the city,” Snowy interjected in a hurry, keeping my cover story intact.

I was afraid Pascal would try to probe further, but he simply acknowledged their words with a blasé 'Hm,' and faced forward again. I let out a breath of relief I didn't even realize I was holding. I continued to follow him for a while, but even after a few minutes, he was only exchanging a few meaningless words with Josh. It wasn't even the fun, passive-aggressive kind of back and forth, just garden variety boring small talk about school life. I had to wonder since when were these two getting along? This was the second time I missed something like this after Ammy and Mike.

…

Oh, crap. I hope it's not the same situation! Our lives are complicated enough; we really don't need Josh's harem aura to start affecting guys too!

Bad jokes aside, since there was nothing particularly interesting to see here at the moment, I quickly shifted my attention over to Labcoat Guy. He was a whole block away from our guys, and he was standing on top of a… billboard. As in, one of those small, metal-framed billboards businesses put to the side of walkways in intersections.

… Um… What? Why was he doing that? Did I even want to know?

I shook my currently nonexistent head and decided to ignore the guy's peculiar choice of perch, and instead I focused on his immediate environment. I quickly found the trigger happy android and, let me see… Two, sixteen… Thirty-two of those silly sentai foot-soldier wannabees, plus at least one of those balls that turn into those biomechanical whatchamacallits. In other words, he was fully prepared. Unfortunately for him, we have already prepared for him to be prepared.

He also picked a great battleground again. It was the intersection of two of the main, four-lane roads running through the city. The juncture itself was already spacious, but then there was an empty supermarket parking lot on one side providing plenty of space for some carnage. On the opposite side, we had an eight-story office building with a number of balconies and fire escapes providing convenient footholds. In other words, whether the battle went horizontal or vertical, the stage was suitable.

However, while I was confident that Joshua could finally leverage his protagonist status to deal with our resident mad scientist, there was still one pivotal detail that could make or break this encounter. While Josh's plan was fine, triggering it required the 'contribution' of Labcoat Guy, as he had to willingly draw everyone into the Purple Zone on his end. I was a little worried whether he would do so if I wasn't around, so I naturally made contingency plans for this scenario.

I focused my attention to the next red dot on the edge of my vision, and the odd purple hue layered over everything within my sight abruptly disappeared as my point of view moved behind the corner of a nearby boutique. I was relieved to see that Vurrok wasn't held up and arrived at the ambush point on time. I picked him for the job because according to Brang he was the sneakiest of the whole sneaky bunch of them, and I needed him to be on standby near the battle site and act as my anchor, just in case I would need to Phase over to goad Labcoat Guy into showing his face.

While I could've used Armband guy or any of the others to do this, and then hand-wave my sudden appearance by claiming I was using illusions, I didn't want to over-use that explanation. I was afraid that if I did that, they would sooner or later realize I was pulling the wool over their eyes and would try to come up with ways to counter my ability. As they say, information is power, and misinformation is doubly so.

In the meantime, our totally hapless, not at all prepared and eager little group came to the intersection where Labcoat Guy, for some inexplicable reason, was still balancing on top of a billboard. Seriously, why though? Was it a height thing? Maybe he just wanted to make sure he was immediately visible? I mean, if that was the goal, he definitely succeeded, but I wasn't sure it was worth sacrificing his dignity for.

Oh, wait. This is the guy who's doing unabashed sentai shenanigans without even a hint of irony or self-awareness. He had no dignity to begin with. Sorry, false alarm.

Anyhow, I held my breath with rapt attention while I waited for Josh and company to reach the intersection, ready to move at a moment's notice. And then...

”Ki-hi-hi-ha-ha-ha!!!”

... the whole world turned purple again with the sound of manic laughter.

Armband Guy visibly twitched in response to the sudden development, but he kept his cool and only gave the cackling mad scientist wannabe standing arms akimbo on a bloody billboard (no, I'm still not over it) a long, suspicious stare. His reaction was reasonable, as this was an unscheduled attack on my friends, one he evidently didn't expect to happen, let alone get caught up in it.

”What's going on?” he asked my friend at his side, and Josh promptly shrugged his shoulders.

”Exactly what it looks like. An ambush.”

”You don't sound surprised,” Pascal noted with a frown.

”We got used to it,” the princess quipped as she and Snowy both stepped forth, and she even honest to goodness cracked her knuckles.

While that was going on, I hurriedly switched my attention over to the class rep. I had to make sure that they were also taken into the Purple Zone, otherwise things would go south really fast, and I was immediately relieved when I found the pair clumsily flying through the air.

”That way,” she instructed the Celestial girl carrying her while pointing at something with one hand, the other one frantically trying to stop the skirt of her magiform from flipping over. I didn't know why she was so embarrassed about it; it wasn't like anyone could see her panties at the moment. Well, except for me, but I didn't count.

Angie nodded, or at least I think she did, as she frantically flapped her transparent wings while holding Ammy under her armpits. While the wobbly way they were flying didn't exactly inspire confidence, I decided to cheer for them all the same and left them to their mission. So far, so good.

Since I confirmed that the duo was on track, I moved back to the scene of the real action.

To tell the truth, I was looking forward to the coming battle juuust a little bit, and it wasn't just because I could potentially get to see Labcoat Guy get his teeth kicked in, but because even after all this time, I never had the chance to see a proper supernatural battle from start to finish. I was also really curious about just how much Josh improved, and getting some data on Armbad Guy was also a nice bonus.

As such, I changed my PoV again, and when my vision settled, I immediately froze in shock as I laid my eyes on Joshua raising his fist high.

”Today, we'll take you down! Right, Pascal?”

... Josh... Dude. I know that you must be in the moment and all, but why in the name of all that is holy are you posing!? It wasn't part of the plan! Posing should never, ever, be part of any plan!

”R-Right! You are going down!” my sister followed him up just a tad awkwardly and... Okay, what the hell!? Snowy, why are you posing too!? And what's with the way you are holding your hands!? You are not a sailor scout! You can't punish him in the name of the moon!

Okay, calm down me. Deep breaths, happy thoughts, the works. Now, let's look at this rationally. Maybe they are just really in the mood and they got carried away in their excitement and oh for the love of god princess, not you too!

”We are going to make you regret picking a fight with us today!”

Dammit Elly! If you don't want to be left out, at least stick to the theme! You look like you want to do a crane kick! At least pick a fitting pose! Or better yet, just don't do a pose at all!

I rapidly breathed in and out to calm the fires of my internal rage, but then I realized something. One sentai pose could be a mistake. Two, an act of passion. Three? That meant there was predetermination involved. So… maybe this was the plan? Was this how they wanted to get Labcoat Guy's attention? By playing into their theatrics?

If so, then I'll applaud their ingenuity. If not, then I'll give them a stern talk for fraying my nerves like that. In fact, I'll give them a stern talk anyway on principle.

Anyhow, I positioned my point of view at a spot where I could keep my eyes on both them and Labcoat Guy's little mob of robotic eyesores. I was half afraid that my old nightmare would be realized in front of me and the situation would devolve into a back and forth exchange of hackneyed dialog about justice and whatnot, but thankfully it never came to pass due to Armband Guy raising his voice.

”Are you really going to do this while I'm also present?”

”Ki-hi-hi!” The guy still precariously teetering on the billboard continued to let out chuckles that made his weird welding mast rock up and down, and then he declared, ”Yes! Your presence is unexpected, but I'm actually glad to see you! With you here, he will have no choice but to show his true colors!”

”Who are you talking about?” Pascal asked back and my guys also shared an apprehensive look between each other.

”The man who made all the preparations for today's event! I'm sure he arranged for you to be here to test the veracity of my words! Isn't that right…” Speaking slowly, Labcoat guy leisurely raised his hand, and then sharply pointed forwards and exclaimed, ”Leonard Dunning! Did you think your tricks would work forever!? We already have the means to detect you… with science!”

I could hear Snowy gasp in surprise. I could see Elly blink in confusion. I could also see the nervous sweat-drops forming on Josh's brows. But most important, I could see our resident sentai enthusiast point… in a complexly different direction than where I was right now. Or rather, from where I was looking at the scene at the moment, but let's not get bogged down by semantics.

There was a long, silent beat following his declaration, but since nothing happened, he added on an emphatic ”Show yourself!” for little to no avail. Another five seconds of awkward silence later he sheepishly glanced over his shoulder and loudly whispered, ”Psst! Galatea!”

”Yes, master?”

”Are you sure he's over there?”

”Affirmative,” the eclectically dressed fembot answered without delay. ”The new anti-illusion sensor arrays are detecting an invisible humanoid in that direction. Preliminary biometric scans indicate their height is approximately two meters. The probability of it being Leonard Dunning is ninety-seven percent.”

”… I don't think he was that tall.”

The funky android gave her master a flat look, then uttered, ”Ninety-two percent.”

”Whatever!” Labcoat Guy threw his hands into the air in resignation, almost losing his balance in the process. I really hoped he would fall over and we could get this over with, but unfortunately he quickly steadied himself and pointed in the same direction again. ”You hear that, Leonard Dunning?! We can detect you, so come out already!”

Once again, nothing happened, even though everyone was paying close attention to the spot where he was pointing, and they seemed to be expecting that someone would suddenly appear out of thin air to walk around the corner. This, of course, actually included the invisible Faun around said corner. This was one of those moments where words simply failed me, and I had no hands to facepalm, so I had to settle with a long mental groan instead.

This encounter was already off the rails, and I had a premonition we had a trainwreck on our hands…

So, things were getting complicated. That's not new. No need to be flustered just yet. Let's just look at the situation objectively.

First off, it looked like Labcoat Guy was laboring under some kind of misunderstanding about why we tricked Armband Guy into coming with our group. He didn't run away though, and he still went through with the ambush, so it's probably not a bad thing.

As for his other misunderstanding, I can't say the same yet. I have momentarily wondered why Vurrok was taken into the Purple Zone along with the rest of the gang, but if he was mistaken for me hiding around the corner, it would all make sense. In fact, in some way this was to our advantage, as this diversion gave Angie and Ammy more time to find the core of the Purple Zone and lock it down. Now, the real question was this: what would Labcoat Guy do when the Faun doesn't come out of hiding?

Or rather, I hoped he wouldn't come out of hiding; otherwise we would've a lot of explaining to do for Pascal and the Arch-Mage, and it may prove to be a disadvantage during negotiations. Considering that, I actually entertained the idea of waiting until Josh got the bad guys' attention and then sneakily smuggling him out of the battlefield. I just had to wait for the right moment, and…

”Galatea, he's not coming out!” Labcoat Guy suddenly exploded with anger. ”Do something!”

”Understood,” she responded in a flat voice, following which she extended her hand towards the corner of the building where Vurrok was hiding, and oh my bloody god, you have to be kidding me!

Before I knew it, I already initiated a Phase jump and reappeared just behind the confused Faun inside the Purple Zone. The sudden transition, combined with the fact that my body was sitting on rough ground just a moment ago, almost caused me to fall over, but I managed to regain my balance at the very last moment and grab him by the shoulder.

Vurrok let out a high-pitched gasp that would've been hilariously anachronistic under any other circumstances, but at the moment I was so far beyond caring I wasn't even in the same time zone. Instead, I uttered a hasty ”[Maintain motionlessness!]” as I wrapped my Phantom Limb around his waist and picked another red dot to move to before I disappeared, dragging the hapless guy along with me.

”[What manner of ludicrousness is this?]”

I presume that question came from Brang, no doubt really shocked by the two of us appearing right in front of him while he was still on the lookout. As much as I wanted to give him an answer right away, my legs had other plans, and they unceremoniously slipped right out of under me. I stumbled backward, barely managing to brace myself in time so that I only landed on my butt instead of getting sprawled out on the ground.

It took a few seconds to get my bearings. The rapid Phasing combined with forcefully pulling someone with me did a number on my head. I felt like the whole world was spinning, with my body parts also spinning, but in the opposite direction and at various different speeds. It wasn’t particularly pleasant is all I'm trying to say here.

”[Are you all right, my Lord?]” Vurrok inquired in a panicked voice as he began to buzz around me.

”[To a degree that is far from satisfactory, yet not one that threatens this life of mine. Now excuse me, for I must reign in the rebellious impulses of my disobedient innards.]”

”[Are you certain thy condition isn't dire?] came the next inquiry from Brang as he casually leaned on his spear. [You even forgot to denounce young Vurrok for referring to you by thine title.]”

I gave the easy-going ex-general a critical glance, but he only smiled back like he was oh-so-clever.

”[All is not lost that is delayed.]” My off-handed response only earned me a subdued chuckle, so I decided even rolling my eyes would've been wasted on him, and instead I focused on somehow standing back up. It was only slightly harder than strictly necessary, but with the help of Vurrok, I managed to stand on my own two feet again.

Brang waited for me to readjust myself, and only then did he ask me, ”[Is my presumption correct in that something unexpected happened for you to arrive in thine unsteady state?]”

”[Unexpected is a word that places it without due consideration,]” I grumbled before I stretched my back. Then I paused, rewound my words in my head, and after a short yet intense sigh I added, ”I wanted to say 'it's putting it lightly.'”

”[We understood thine words.]”

Brang might have said that, but based on Vurrok's expression, no, he didn't. I let it slide for the moment, and I asked the obvious. ”Are we still in the park?”

”[Aye.]”

”Which way is the ambush point?” Brang wordlessly pointed to our right. I glanced in the direction, and after rummaging through my memories for a while for familiar landmarks, I finally managed to roughly pinpoint my current location within the park. I wasn't far away, but it would still take a minute or two on foot to get back into position. ”Well, I better get back there.”

”[Do you require our aid in traversing the grounds?]”

”No, I'll manage. Let's stick to the plan. Maintain your positions for now, and warn me when the Chimera makes its move.”

Instead of waiting for the response, I immediately began jogging towards my destination. As expected, it only took about two minutes to get back to the spot where I Phased from, and the moment I arrived, I immediately took a seat on the same root and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

Catching my breath might've been important, but there was something more urgent going on at the moment, so I quickly closed my eyes and picked one of our guys before projecting my point of view over with Far Sight. What welcomed me was utter, unabashed chaos, to the point I couldn't even decide where I should look first.

Okay, let's start with a general overview of the situation. First off, it was hard to see because there was a lot of dust in the air. That should already tell you that there was a lot of collateral damage involved, such as the broken windows on the buildings or the way the utility poles around the intersection were knocked over, but hey, it's the Purple Zone. It conveniently existed so that we wouldn't have to care about wantonly destroying everything at times like this. That said though, the odd mannequins, representing the locations of people on the outside at the moment the zone was opened, getting flattened left and right did feel a little icky, but again, no one got hurt, so it wasn't that big of a deal either.

One correction though: at the moment, the area could be better described as 'Red Zone', with the usual violet hues being replaced by a tense crimson ambiance, with most surfaces also getting vein-like black cracks on them. It was all pretty eerie, even more so than usual, but if I had to guess, I would say it was the result of the class rep working her literal magic on the anchor points to lock down the place. That was reassuring, though I was a little worried as well, since I couldn't see Ammy or Angie anywhere.

But then again, that wasn't something I couldn't fix in a split-second, so I immediately Far Glanced over to their side and sighed in relief when I found the class rep tinkering with a glowing spot on the ground while Angie had her bow on the ready while sitting on the shoulders of Petra the golem and watching the perimeter. Once I confirmed that they were fine, I quickly shifted my attention back to the battleground.

So, back to the overview: in front and center, a transformed Josh and Armband Guy were currently fighting the mad scientist, who was putting up a decent fight, if I do say myself. He was throwing around all kinds of gadgets, and the silly-looking pauldrons he was wearing were, for the lack of better words, 'unfolded' so that they formed what looked like the torso-part of a power armor that also covered his arms with metal plates. This, incidentally, made his legs appear hilariously small in comparison.

That side of the battlefield looked pretty intense, but not nearly as noisy as the others. The parking lot on my left was now in even worse shape than the intersection, with a lot of the cars flattened or lying on their sides as if someone kicked them over.

”AAAAAARYAAA!!”

Correction: they didn't just look like that, they were kicked over, as demonstrated by my lovely, if at the moment absolutely terrifying, girlfriend sending a small green sedan tumbling across the lot with a single, draconic-physique enhanced kick. The poor vehicle didn't get much airtime, but on its last roll it still managed to land squarely on the heads of three of Labcoat Guy's foot soldiers. It resulted in a metallic yet still painful crunching sound.

*GHRAAAAAAA!!!*

It was at this moment that, with the sound of a roaring furnace in an echo-chamber, a pair of three-fingered arms reached down and grabbed hold of the already totaled car before sending it careening back towards the princess. Thankfully the Gigant had terrible aim, but she dived to the side anyway. Elly rolled on the asphalt before she quickly leaped to her feet while delivering an uppercut to the face of one of the nearby Sprockets surrounding her. She had so much momentum that it actually carried her into the air, and then she did a three-point-landing and dashed forward to dodge the Gigant's follow up attacks.

If it wasn't completely obvious by the description, my girlfriend was soloing both the mooks and the oversized miniboss, and considering that half of the robots were already in pieces, she was doing really well for herself. Still, I would've preferred if Josh or Snowy was there to back her up, but in the case of my friend, I could at least understand why he was busy, considering he had to keep an eye on and 'encourage' Armband Guy to fight properly.

But speaking of which, where's my sister? I looked for her dot, and to my sincerest surprise, it was pointing upwards. I Far Glanced there, and found her flying through the air somewhere halfway between the intersection and where Ammy and Angie were staying. Then, just as my vision cleared up, I almost let out a scream as I found an ice spear flying right at me.

Of course, it passed right through the spot from where I was looking, but damn, it almost gave me a heart attack! I mean, I wasn't easy to rattle, but I have bad memories of those. I let out a small gasp, and once I gathered my wits, I turned around to see where she was aiming, and I found the funky android there. She dodged the incoming projectile with a pirouette and seemed to maneuver through the air using a series of glowing spots on her shoulders, back, soles, and butt. I couldn't tell if they were technological, magical, or both, but she managed to use them to fly with surprising grace all the same. Well, at least until Snowy used what looked like a blast of snowflakes to stall her, and then deliver a literal flying kick to her back.

In other words, she was also doing well. I had a hard time deciding who should I watch, but I settled on getting another good look at Josh first, if only so that I could take a better look at Armbad Guy's fighting style.

When I returned to them, Josh was in the process of scaling the side of the office building by the intersection; using the super-human strength given to him by his Abyssal transformation to grab onto ledges and use them to fling himself from one balcony to the next. The way he was doing it struck me as really dangerous, since one wrong move could send him falling tens of meters, but based on his expression, he might've been enjoying this.

”Parkoooour!”

… No, scratch that. He was definitely enjoying it. With one last heave, he landed on the rooftop of the building with a heavy thud that made me wince and he quickly glanced around to find the other two engaged in trading blows smack dab in the middle of the roof. The whole place was flat, save for a few large air conditioners and satellite dishes, so it was a perfect place for a showdown.

Without further ado, Josh rushed towards them in the cover of one of the air conditioners, popping out into the open just as Labcoat Guy's left shoulder plate opened up and launched a small, round object towards Pascal.

”Duck!” Josh shouted as his hands made a series of subtle motions. There was a flash of light in his palm, followed by a blast of wind aimed at the ball. He didn't manage to hit it head-on, but the wave of air still threw the projective off its track and it landed a couple of steps to the left of Armband Guy, where it exploded into a puddle of viscous yellow liquid.

I wondered if it was something like an acid grenade, or maybe some kind of superglue designed to hold someone in place, but my attention was quickly yanked back to the fight when Josh came to a halt beside the bespectacled disciplinary committee member and told him with a grin, ”Sorry I'm late, I still have to work on my parkour tricks.”

”Your assistance was wholly unnecessary,” Armband Guy answered dourly, but then a moment later he added, ”Thanks, nonetheless.”

”You're welcome. Now, let's take this guy down!”

”Ki-hi-hi! Do you think you have what it takes t—!?”

Labcoat guy got exactly that far before the whole building shook so violently the three of them could barely keep their footing. I was also startled by the development, so I quickly Far Glanced around to find the cause of the disturbance, and I soon found the culprit on the ground.

Elly was standing on top of the wreckage of a different car, leaning forward and with a series of magical sparkles dancing around her face, her hair cascading behind her like she was in a wind tunnel. I'm not going to lie, she looked outright stunning, but I quickly shut down my lizard brain and its annoying signals, and instead I focused on the direction where she was looking.

Pivoting around, I found myself face to face with one of the severed arms of the Gigant, blown right into the middle of the intersection and leaving a nasty indent on the asphalt. More importantly though, I noticed how there was a huge gash in the side of the office building, almost as if a straight line was gauged out of it with the world's largest ice cream scoop.

Dammit, princess! I know I just mentioned that you don't need to mind the collateral damage in the Purple Zone, but at least pay attention to where you are firing your dragon flame! Friendly fire is still a thing! Also, I'm fairly sure that even if none of the buildings are strictly real, they would kill you if they fell on your head all the same. Be more careful, and… Wait. Could this be how Judy feels when I do something reckless?

Putting any eye-opening revelations aside, I quickly looked around to locate the owner of the large severed arm; not that it was hard to find it, considering it was a honking huge monster thing. The princess's attack only grazed it, as it still had three of its arms remaining. That said, I also noticed a dent on the metal plates centered around its chest region, one that wasn't there the last time I saw the creature, and its shape looked suspiciously like it was left behind by a comparatively tiny fist. Which meant…

Dammit, did I just miss the moment when my girlfriend decked the three stories tall monster? Why do I keep missing the best parts? Oh, speaking of which, I just realized that there was a series of bright flashes in the direction where I last saw Snowy. I had a feeling something was going on over there, so I moved my point of view, just in time to catch a chase between the android, my sister, and Angie, who must have joined the fray while I was paying attention elsewhere.

The three of them were weaving between buildings and under street lamps, and while I wouldn't have called it a high-speed chase per see, they were still moving fast (and frantically) enough to give me motion sickness, so I switched over to Ammy, who was watching the spectacle from the shoulders of her golem. From this vantage point, I could finally see that the flashes of light I was seeing were from Angie firing her bow while flying and the arrows exploding mid-flight as they came into contact with some kind of transparent force field that surrounded the fembot's body.

I kept watching them for a while and cheered on them, though I couldn't see much. I figured I might as well try to follow one of them again once I braced myself for the motion sickness, but before I could get to it, there was an unexpected development in the form of the sound of thunder followed by the office building in the distance beginning to tilt. The moment I realized what was going on, I immediately moved my vision over to Josh, ready to do another Phase and grab operation at a moment's notice.

Thankfully my worries were unfounded, as once I arrived, I found them already standing in the middle of the crossroad, right next to an enormous, severed black arm. Before I knew it, Elly also joined the fray, while the Gigant and the remaining silly robots surrounded Labcoat guy. Once they squared off, the oversized biomechanical monster thingie casually reached down, picked up the limb that the princess blasted off with her breath attack, and simply reattached it to the stump on its shoulder.

Wow, that's a handy ability.

…

I apologize for my terrible pun. I reflected on my actions, and it won't happen again.

Anyhow, for the moment neither side was willing to make the first move, and I was afraid it would devolve into a stalemate until the Purple Zone got unlocked and allowed the baddies to scurry away, but my reservations were once again overstated, as Labcoat Guy immediately let out another one of his grating chuckles.

”Ki-hi-hi-hi-hi! So this is what it came to! This is how it feels to be betrayed!”