I felt a twinge of sadness as I thought of Karin. Without any knowledge or skill in magecraft, she hadn't been able to impose her will on me. Ours had been a unique situation; all eighty-one previous wielders had been able to compel my obedience, but I would have fled without a second thought, had I been given the opportunity.
With Karin, though…
“I can understand how he might have felt,” I murmured.
“Yeah, you were owned by the Tsukimura clan for a long time, and the Sakurai before them. I can't even imagine what it would feel like… to be suddenly freed from that sort of life of servitude, given agency and control over your fate.”
My lips curved up into a dreamy smile. “It was the first 'best moment' in a succession of 'best moments' of my life.”
Amber's eyebrow rose. “Oh?”
“Every single moment since I met Karin has been a wonderful moment in its own right, even those that were frightening, infuriating or depressing,” I answered without any hesitation at all. My tail swished against the mat's surface and I stretched my arms and legs out, arching my back as I lifted my hands high.
“If she can earn your love, she's got to be one hell of a woman,” Amber remarked. The easy way the compliment rolled off her tongue surprised me; the Swordlady struck me as the type who held back praise and was difficult to please. My confusion must have shown in my face, because Amber started to laugh.
“What?” I demanded.
“I'll bet you were thinking I'm some kind of hardass impossible-to-please meathead ex-soldier,” she said, but the her tone was teasing, not accusatory. “Oh, no, don't deny it—I knew you'd start thinking that. Everybody thinks that, but it's fine. When everyone thinks you've got high standards and hold yourself to those standards, they hold themselves to it as well.”
I blinked. “Um… so you, what,
pretend
to be the stereotypical gruff military type?”
“Sure. Why not?” Amber chuckled and started working her left arm in slow, wide circles, working the residual numbness out. “The Army taught me a lot of things—fighting, shooting, blowing stuff up, fixing broke radio equipment—but the most important thing I learned was how to organize people and get the job done no matter what.”
Her words were starting to make sense. The public face of the leader and symbol of Luna's strength, the Swordlady, was not Amber's true personality, but a mask that she wore in order to do her job and keep her people alive.
I heard a soft click and turned to the double door leading into the corridor as it was pushed inward. Meilin came through, a familiar businesslike expression on her face. My ears flicked with anticipation—I could tell from her posture that it was time.
“The scouts have reported in and the main assault force is on the move. We're about to begin the final briefing with Archivist Elias and Security Chief Alex.” Meilin turned her gaze onto Amber and I could detect an almost-smile form on her lips. “Looks like you two have been enjoying yourselves.”
“Just working off a little steam,” Amber remarked as she worked her boots back on. She stood up and strapped the Shattered Sword and scabbard back to her right hip. “I can't really blame Misaki for being frustrated, since
I'm
frustrated, too.”
“We're going to do it.” Meilin regarded me with sympathy, but the iron resolve in her eyes never wavered. “We're absolutely going to bring Karin back.”
“I know.”
amber's game
The interior of the rotorless repulsion gunship was quiet as it scythed through the night sky. I had no idea how Luna managed to get their hands on one of these high-tech flying machines, but I decided it was better not to question certain things too deeply.
Amber sat across from me, still strapped into her seat. Her fingers curled around the hilt of the Shattered Sword, but outwardly she appeared to be as calm as ever. Meilin was beside me, intently studying the satellite images of the facility on a small tablet computer. None of us were interested in making small talk at this point.
“Five minutes to insertion point,” the pilot called out over the intercom.
“Thank you.” Amber unsnapped her crash harness and motioned for us to do likewise. My fingers trembled only a little as I depressed the release, feeling the thick nylon webbing loosen and fall away from my shoulders and waist.
“The main force should be hitting their outer defenses now,” Amber noted. “By the time we get on the ground, they should have the entire facility's security totally tied up. We should be able to slip in through the back and grab Karin without anyone noticing.”
I didn't bother responding. We all knew this operation was going to be beyond tough, testing the limits of our skill and strength. We would need to give everything we had and then some in order to save Karin and get out safely.
“I feel naked going into battle without my magic.” I turned the pistol over in my hands, regarding it as if it were an alien creature. I knew how to use it, of course, but I was never comfortable relying on a mechanical device in the midst of battle.
“The longer you hold off throwing fire at people, the longer it'll take for AEGIS to figure out exactly what's going on,” Amber reminded me. “Look, I know you're scared, Misaki. I can see it in your eyes. We're going to make this work. Trust me.”
My ears perked up slightly. Despite the situation, I
did
feel a little better. I could tell that Amber was eagerly anticipating the opportunity to fight. Unlike her sister, who was a competent and lethal warrior but viewed battle as an unfortunate necessity, Amber seemed to relish battle for its own sake.
“Stick close to me.” Meilin gave my free hand a reassuring squeeze. “We want to avoid engaging the enemy for as long as possible. We don't want them to try and move Karin during the confusion.”
I shook my head firmly. “They won't be able to do that.”
“Why not?” Amber shrugged as she checked over her gear. “It's what I'd do. They have to know that there's a chance they'll fail to hold her. Not having that sort of escape plan would be stupid.”
“I don't know why, but I know they can't do that,” I insisted, sliding the pistol back into the holster on my right hip. “It feels like… something happened and now they can't get close to her at all. I'm not sure what, exactly.” Amber gave me a dubious look, but she didn't bother arguing.
“We're at the insertion point,” the pilot's voice crackled over the intercom. “Opening rear hatch now.” There was a whirr of electric motors as the rear hatch began to open.
The air was calm and I could just barely hear the whine of the aircraft's repulsion jets. Outside the hatch I could see only trees, but I knew from the briefing that we were only about three meters above the ground.
“Let's get moving, people!”
Amber disappeared out of the open door. Meilin went next, dropping off the edge a moment before I stepped out onto the hatch myself. Curling my tail up against my back, I dropped down out of the gunship. The ground came rushing up to meet me, but I simply allowed my legs to bend at the knee and absorb the shock.
“We're on our own now,” Amber noted as the gunship's hatch sealed shut. Angling its repulsion jets away from us, the craft shot off into the sky. The pilot had been instructed to set down at a rally point fifty kilometers from the base and wait for Amber to signal for pickup.
I drew my pistol and thumbed off the safety, keeping my finger outside the trigger guard. My hands weren't shaking any longer; I considered that a good sign. The forest around us was dark, but I could make out the lights of the base through the obscuring layers of foliage.
“Lots of gunfire.” My ears pricked up and swiveled forward, trying to catch and dissect the sounds around me as I tried to get a feel for the area.
“The attack is already in progress,” Amber agreed. “Now let's not waste the chance our assault team's so graciously given us.”
We moved through the surrounding forest as quickly as we could, clearing the two hundred or so meters until we reached the base's perimeter fence. Heavy metal posts were deeply rooted into the ground, linked to each other by a series of horizontal wires. The fur on my tail started to stand on end as I came closer.
“Electrified fence, just as I suspected.” Amber drew the Shattered Sword and took it up in a two-handed grip. The cracked and fractured blade of the Relic began to pulse, flickering with deadly energy. Small forks of lightning spat between the fissures and cracks in the blade.
With a series of heavy slashes so quick I could scarcely follow them, half an entire section of the fence collapsed, the sheared-off ends of the thick high-current cables sparking indignantly in protest. Amber sheathed her Relic and drew her pistol. “Stay away from the ends; they're still live.”
“Right.” I made my way carefully through the gap cut in the fence with Meilin coming up behind me. The distant, throaty report of large-caliber rifles heralded the arrival of Luna sharpshooters.
We were approaching from the south side, furthest away from the access road that led through the main gate. The layout of the base had me wondering just what this place had originally been constructed for, but that was a question for another time.
Amber motioned for us to follow and we ducked down beside the smallest of the prefab buildings. It was some sort of large storage shed or supply dump; the building had no windows at all, but did have a roll-up metal door of the sort often used for garages. A wide set of more conventional double doors were firmly shut and locked.
“Which building is Karin in?”
I gestured to the north. “The large, older building. The permanent structure.”
“Okay,” she murmured, her voice rising slightly with eager anticipation, “the two of you, follow close but not too close. About two meters behind. If we encounter soldiers, I can take them out easy.”
I nodded. Judging by the properties already exhibited by the Shattered Sword, Amber would be able to draw and strike the ground with the blade to produce a potent shock wave of stunning energies to blast down anyone who stood too close.
Amber's hand came up and she signaled for us to move. Meilin and I waited, letting her get a few meters ahead, before we stepped out from behind our cover. The sound of gunfire was louder now, and I could also make out shouts as the base's defenders gave orders, called for backup and cried out in pain.
The Luna assault team was well-trained and decently armed, but they were going up against at least twice as many soldiers who were much better-equipped. During the strategy session, Amber and the Chief both stressed to their people that sowing confusion and chaos was more important than killing the enemy. Nearly all of the soldiers on both sides were well-entrenched, with Luna's forces using the forest to screen them.
As the three of us reached the old building, I peered out around the corner at the north end of the base. The assault team was using brute force and audacious tactics to cause as much discord as possible. Wreckage of a civilian hydrogen fuel tanker truck still smoldered amidst the ruined and twisted remains of the base's main gate.
I glanced at Amber. “Did they steal that tanker?”
“Quiet. Worry about the legalities
after
we rescue your lady love.”
Acquiescing to her desires, I fell silent and kept my ears swiveling around, building an auditory map of the battlefield in my mind. I took deep, slow breaths, analyzing the scent of the place. Acrid gunsmoke and the stomach-turning stink of burning plastics and composite polymers nearly smothered the faint smell of blood and sweat.
I drew myself out of the deep pool of sensory information and focused on the task before me. Amber had led us to a service entrance leading into the old building, a single-wide door set into the southern side of the structure.
“We're going in here,” Amber said, just loud enough to be heard over the cacophonous roar of the battle. She drew the Shattered Sword and carefully slid the blade against the door's retrofitted auto-lock. The tip of the Relic sparked violently and sent a potent electrical pulse into the panel. Auto-locks were generally extremely hardy pieces of equipment, but they clearly weren't designed with lightning-generating enchanted weapons in mind.
Plumes of acrid smoke curled from the panel. Amber flicked her wrist, the Shattered Sword descending almost delicately and shearing the auto-lock itself completely off the door. Without the auto-lock's thick steel bolt holding it closed, the heavy door swung open ponderously.
“Inside,” Amber ordered, keeping her Relic in hand. If—
when
, I silently amended—we encountered resistance, melee weapons would give us a significant advantage over firearm-wielding enemies in the cramped hallways. I slid my pistol back into the holster and unsnapped the dagger sheathed at the small of my back, making ready to draw the weapon at a moment's notice.
Amber was slowly creeping down the corridor, checking each open side room as we passed. This part of the building didn't look to be in use. The same unexplained certainty that told me the soldiers would be unable to move Karin offered an explanation.
“Now it all makes sense. This place was never intended to hold her permanently,” I murmured, almost to myself. Meilin and Amber both turned and shot me a matched set of disapproving glares and I fell silent. A few heartbeats passed and Amber raised a warning hand.
“We've got trouble,” she whispered. “Two guards posted at the end of the corridor and they haven't been cleared out yet.”
Her sister shrugged. “At least we know we're in the right place.”
“I already
told
you we're in the right place,” I muttered under my breath. Neither of them bothered to respond to me. I could detect a change in Amber's intent as she crouched in preparation. The Swordlady reached up and tapped the door activation switch.
Even though I'd already seen her work during the fight with the demons, I couldn't help but stare in amazement. Amber leaped through the door as it was still opening, determined not to give the guards even a split-second of preparation time. She drew the Shattered Sword in mid-leap and slammed the point into the floor. Arcs of argent lightning sheathed a concussive bubble of charged and compressed air that slammed into the two guards, sending them tumbling to the ground.
They hadn't even had time to put their fingers on the trigger. Amber stood up and gave the unconscious guards a quick examination.
“More black-armored soldiers.” Meilin's frown deepened considerably. “These aren't AEGIS personnel.”
“Not the AEGIS you knew, anyway.” Amber motioned for me to come up beside her as we secured the lobby area. Other than the two guards she'd just taken down, the place appeared deserted.
“They probably evacuated everyone when the attack started.”
“Yeah, probably. Mei, put that glove of yours to work and get us shielded up. If our girl is still here and they can't move her, they're going to have no choice but to dig in and defend their position.”
Meilin fixed her sister with a piercing glare. “I
told
you never to call me that.”
“Can't always get what you want, dear sister,” Amber said in a cheerful tone. “Get it done so we can get moving.”
With a disgusted grunt, Meilin flexed her left hand. The core of her Spell Engine began to glow brightly as she activated one of the programmed defensive invocations. I felt a tingle on my skin as the blue light began to stream away from the core and cling to my body. The astral armor spell would protect us from several gunshots before the spell failed.
“Where's our girl?”
“Nearby… but below us,” I murmured, my eyes taking on a faraway look. “Maybe ten meters down.”
“Two floors below?” Amber sheathed the Shattered Sword and looked around the room. It only took her a moment to find what she was looking for: a door leading to the emergency stairwell. In a situation like this, elevators were to be avoided if at all possible.
She shoved the door and it flung open. Surprised and not a little suspicious, Amber crept down the stairs slowly, drawing her pistol and keeping an eye down the staircase itself. If any other guards started heading toward the ground floor, we'd definitely want to be ready for them.
We encountered no resistance as we descended. Amber's prediction was most likely true; outside of the two forward sentries, every soldier who wasn't outside fighting off the attack would be setting up an impenetrable defense, likely in the same place where Karin was being held.
I still didn't know what to expect. I had no idea
why
they couldn't move her or approach her, but I
knew
that they couldn't. The inexplicable certainty in my mind was solidified by all the evidence around us. This place was not intended to hold her for long—it was merely a stopping point where Karin would have been stored temporarily until she could be transferred to a more appropriate research facility.