Nyx and Julian were sitting next to Agnes, flying over the city at top speed on her giant harpy eagle. Julian was holding onto Angelica's unconscious body, trying his best to prevent her from falling off.
- "Good thing you came back to check on me." Julian tells Agnes.
- "Tsk. What did you expect me to do after you decided to run off when we finished evacuating the neighborhood?" She irritatedly replies.
- "I kinda had to. I knew something was wrong when I saw that giant Lady Night just eating all of their attacks, so I figured I should at least try to get there to see if I could come up with a plan." He glances at Nyx. "By the way, about plans…"
Nyx was absentmindedly looking down at the streets far below them. She could see cloaked figures wearing white robes not too dissimilar to those Radiance dons, but only with a single black star on their chest. They were battling with guards and civilians, and the light of spells flying in all directions was lighting up the capital with an eerie multicolored glow.
- "Hey. Earth to Nyx." Julian taps her on the forehead.
- "Huh? Sorry, I spaced out." Nyx shakes her head. "You guys are still around? How many centuries has it been?"
- "Like, zero centuries and ten minutes? What are you talking about?"
- "Oh… I think being outside of Vanessa really isn't good for me."
- "Are you starting to revert to your primal form or something? We really don't need that right now… You're already low on magical energy too."
- "I don't know…"
- "Nyx." Agnes calls, staring at the chaos spreading through the city. "Why would you do this? We could've been fine if you let her be. But now, we have to deal with all this…" Agnes turns to look at her, a genuinely desperate look on her face. "Was I really that wrong to place my trust in you?"
- "Agnes…" Julian starts, putting a hand on her shoulder.
- "I don't think I did anything wrong." Nyx replies.
- "..." Agnes silently grits her teeth.
- "This is what's best." Nyx smiles at her as a fireball the size of a rhinoceros flies by them. "Think about it, we just proved that Lady Night isn't invincible, just like me! That means that even if we expose her…"
- "...She can't openly come after us…" Julian continues, nodding along. "But…"
- "Was it worth putting all these lives at risk then?!" Agnes lashes out. "Are you satisfied?!"
- "No." Nyx drops her smile. "I don't want people to die. But this is something I had to do. If we just sit around and let Lady Night do whatever she wants, she'll get too strong for everyone to handle." Nyx extends her hand in front of her, and a small ring of stars forms above her palm. "You saw what I can do after absorbing just one fragment."
- "Yeah we could see that giant beam from there." Julian comments. "I'm surprised that didn't do her in."
- "Uh huh. And when she's strong enough… then she'll come after everyone. And I won't be able to stop her. Even really strong people like Angelica won't stand a chance." Nyx gets up, the nocturnal wind causing her hair to wildly fly back as she stares directly at Agnes. "I don't want that to happen. Ever. Because I want to spend more time with all of you."
- "..." Agnes' shoulders relax ever so slightly. "You're thinking way too far ahead."
- "I want everyone to be alive in the future. Just being alive right now isn't enough."
- "I'm… willing to accept that for now." Agnes deeply sighs. "At least I know you're not just acting on impulse…"
- "Thank you." Nyx smiles. "I know I can be a big pain, but-"
Nyx suddenly loses her balance, and realizes a bit too late that standing on the back of a fast moving flying creature might not be the best idea. As she falls off, she is suddenly stopped by something invisible wrapping around her entire body.
- "You definitely can be…" Julian says as he struggles to pull her back up with his magic. "But don't forget you can rely on us too, alright? Don't just dash in there berserker style with Angelica and call it a day. Brute strength isn't the only thing that matters in solving issues."
- "I agree with Julian." Agnes frowns. "You could've at least run that by me first, we would've probably found a better way to do this."
- "I'll definitely do that next time then!" Nyx replies as she lands back on the harpy eagle.
- "I'd rather if there wasn't a next time…"
- "By Solomon…" Julian squints at something in the distance. "Is this?..."
Agnes and Nyx turn to see what he was looking at, and notice the tower of the Fourth Branch was finally in sight.
- "Who… could be doing this?..." Agnes whispers as the harpy eagle slows down and begins its descent to avoid the powerful wind currents.
An absolutely ginormous tornado was surrounding the entire structure, powerful enough to draw in clouds from the sky. Lightning was crackling within the vortex, sometimes projecting giant bolts that tore through spells directed at the tower.
- "It's her." Nyx replies, looking up at the roof of the structure.
Floating above the peak of the tower, the elf-Nyx was waving her hands around like an orchestra conductor, controlling the wind currents with an unbelievable amount of precision. Powerful gales were picking up the people in white robes from the ground, sending them flying past the cloud line, while hundreds of smaller gusts were busy defending the many civilians running to the tower from the remaining cultists. The harpy eagle lands, and as soon as it does a large hand made of white wind appears in front of them, happily waving left and right.
- "I can't see who's on top of the tower, but I've got my idea." Julian grumbles as he jumps off. He reaches towards the empty scabbard on his hip, and moves his hand as if he was drawing a weapon from it.
- "What are you doing?" Nyx curiously asks.
- "Just taking a page from Angelica's book. Since her magic's too unstable when used by itself, she needs a sword to help focus her spells. Mine can't really make stuff that's too sharp, but if I use a custom scabbard lined with iron and shaped like a sword, then harden all the air inside…" He swings the invisible weapon, and a faint whistling sound is heard. "I can create a half decent blade."
- "Oooh." Nyx lightly claps, and the wind-hand above them forms into a thumbs up.
- "I don't need your validation…" Julian irritatedly comments, looking up at the hand.
Agnes snaps her fingers and the harpy eagle disappears, replaced by a flock of eagles. Two of which pick up Angelica with their talons and begin following her at low altitude. They then proceed to the entrance of the tower as quickly as they can. Agnes was deploying as many summons as possible to assist civilians seeking refuge within the headquarters, while Nyx was bombarding the cultists with asteroids. Any that got too close to them would be intercepted by Julian, who would dash at them and mercilessly tear them to pieces in seconds. By the time they reached the entrance, his white shirt was covered in bloodstains and his sword of solid air was now visible to everyone, its edge outlined by a layer of fresh blood.
- "Ugh…" He sighs as the sword falls apart, dropping all the blood on the ground, and he creates a new one out of his scabbard.
- "Is this okay?" Nyx asks. "I thought you didn't want to kill people anymore."
- "I only got morals when I can afford to. I don't want to risk everyone's life because I'm trying to spare some crazed freak that's actively trying to kill us."
They step through the large glass doors, and are faced with the main hall of the tower. It was full of injured civilians and guards, and the doctor was constantly running between all the makeshift beds to provide first aid, along with a small group of volunteers. The faces of the guards light up when they see Agnes.
- "Miss Agnes!" One of them yells. "Thank Solomon you're back!"
- "The situation is far from under control, but yes." Agnes replies. "Where's the director?"
- "He was summoned by the Church to help with the defense effort… We all thought it was over, but then the elf in the suit appeared and started laying waste to all these guys in white robes!"
- "How does she have as much power as me though?" Nyx comments.
- "You can probably thank Lord Solomon for that." Julian answers. "It looks like he didn't just split your magical energy evenly, but fully copied it instead."
- "So he's actually helping me in the end?..."
- "I don't know if he intended for this whole thing to happen, so I'd just leave it at that."
- "Nyx!" They hear from the crowd.
Vanessa runs up to them, huffing heavily.
- "I'm really not used to running anymore…" She comments as she catches her breath.
- "Hi Vanessa." Nyx helps her stand properly. "Where's Beatrice?"
- "..." Vanessa's face goes pale. "Now that you mention it, I didn't see her anywhere… And the other floors are full of these weird people in white."
- "...Agnes." Nyx calls.
- "Yes, yes." Agnes rolls her eyes. "I'll be coordinating the defense. Julian, go with her, Vanessa you stay here with me."
Nyx immediately runs to the stone staircase, followed by Julian. It was sealed by a glowing, semi transparent barrier, but Nyx raises her hand at it before forming it into a fist, covering her arm in a bright layer of starlight. She then punches the barrier, shattering it with a burst of light and sparkles. It quickly starts regenerating, but both her and Julian slip into the staircase before that can happen.
A few minutes later, Nyx blows open the door to the corridor of the dorms with a solar flare. She looks around, panicked, only to find unconscious cultists lying on piles of white sand. Multiple craters were scattered along the hallway, and holes were seemingly punched in the walls. Nyx and Julian both rush to Beatrice's room and Nyx rips the door off its hinges, kicking away the numerous unconscious cultists in front of it.
- "Get them!" They both hear shouted from the other side.
Nyx is met with a stone fist hitting her in the face, and sending her flying into the far wall. Julian narrowly dodges the second swing, as a tall humanoid figure made of the same marble the floor was made of walks out from the room.
- "Ouch…" Nyx holds her bloody nose, extending her other hand towards the figure. A neutron star begins forming in her palm.
- "Huh? You're different…" The same voice who shouted exclaims.
Beatrice climbs on the shoulder of the marble figure to get a better look at them, and her face lights up.
- "Nyx!" She shouts.
- "Beatrice!" Nyx replies, firing the neutron star to the side. The ray of plasma continues down the corridor and blows up a faraway wall.
- "Glad you're safe…" Julian comments, before looking at the marble figure. "Care to explain why you have a golem protecting you?"
- "A… friend made it for me." Beatrice avoids his gaze.
- "And who was that? I'm pretty sure nobody in the Fourth Branch dabbles in golemcraft."
- "It was someone who came here, you know, because of the problems outside!"
- "What was their name?"
- "Uh… Night Star?..."
- "Night Star. Their name is Night Star."
- "Yeah- ah."
Nine other golems approach from their left, two of them carrying unconscious cultists. They drop them on the ground in front of Beatrice's room, adding to the pile.
- "And that Night Star person made those too?" Julian asks.
- "Yep…" Beatrice replies, shooing the golems away. They walk off into the corridor, gathering more unconscious bodies as they go. "Stop doing that!"
The golems immediately stop moving, and return to her instead.
- "Controlling them with only commands is really hard…" She deeply sighs. "Just… deactivate please. I'm safe now."
They quickly crumble into chunks of marble, piling up on the floor.
- "...Okay. I know better than to question this right now." Julian shakes his head. "Let's go back to the ground floor."
A few minutes later, Beatrice opens the barrier to the ground floor with her magic. Agnes was surrounded by guards and giving orders, but immediately locks onto them and runs over.
- "Okay, you're safe." She puts her hand on Beatrice's head. "Good job you two."
- "Yeah it was… weirdly easy." Julian replies.
- "Looks like Beatrice can handle herself!" Nyx adds.
- "Mhm!" Beatrice nods along.
- "Alright, we have a bigger problem though." Agnes glances at the entrance.
- "What now?" Julian sighs. "Wait, I don't hear that tornado anymore…"
- "Hello people. Hello Julian." The elf-Nyx says as she approaches them.
- "Urk… Wait, aren't you supposed to be outside?..."
- "I appear to be mostly out of magical energy." She gives them an awkward smile. "Embarrassing isn't it?"
- "Oh, you're also out?" Nyx adds, attempting to create a small star in her hand. It flickers before dissolving into particles of light.
- "...I'm gonna need some coffee." Julian buries his face in his hands.