The Simulacrum

~Chapter 139~ Part 2

"Bloody hell! Why does everything have to happen at the same bloody time!" I cursed under my breath as I looked for a Phasing spot.

"{If you want to head to Site C, you can use the Restricted Space as cover.}"

Site C? Would that make this Site B? What's Site A then? The hideout?

I shook the stupid questions out of my head and Phased into the Purple Zone erected by Lord Gulliver. Judy was right; functionally speaking, my Phasing was practically indistinguishable from going in and out of a Purple Zone to external observers, I just rarely had the opportunity to exploit this fact.

Anyhow, I looked up, and couldn't see either the Deusified Angie, or the arch-mage duo in the sky, but based on the distant explosions, they were still at it. I was sure they could handle things for a while longer, so I honed in on Snowy's mark and got ready to Phase... only to stop and re-evaluate things.

This whole situation was really familiar. Didn't something like this happen when the plots piled up after we tried to capture Fred prematurely? In the end, I was forced to move between multiple locations, and the only reason I could get away with it was because nobody back then communicated with each other. I had a feeling I had a similar situation on my hands, and while I could probably hand-wave arriving here practically instantly by saying I rushed with all my might, that excuse would get increasingly harder to keep up if I was forced to bounce between two or more locations.

"Dormouse? Are you still on the line?"

"{I'm listening.}"

"I need a second opinion. I'm thinking about bringing out Bel to deal with things on Snowy's side. Yay or nay?"

"{That sounds like it would make things more complicated.}"

"Probably, but that's the best idea I have right now. It would make more sense for him to show up to re-capture the old bastard anyway, and I might be needed here again at a moment's notice as Polemos again. It's better not to be at two places at once; it would raise too many questions."

There was a long beat of silence on the communications line, and then she told me, "{Just do it, then. We'll deal with the fallout afterwards.}"

She didn't sound entirely on board with the idea, but so long as it wasn't a hard 'No', I took it.

As such, I focused on the red dot in the out-of-the-way storage room within the underground base, and I Phased right next to Pudding-kun. The disguised mini-shoggoth didn't even stir, already used to my sudden arrivals, so I paid little attention to it and shifted into my Bel outfit. I internally debated whether I should also pick up Pudding-kun to serve as my second layer of disguise, but I decided against it. In case I was forced to shift outfits in a hurry, I figured they might become a bit of a liability.

In the end I settled the mask on my face, and after exhaling hard, I Phased to Site C, as my girlfriend called it.

"Clear the line of fire!"

The first thing that came into my vision was a series of small explosions, as a hail of magical arrows rained down behind Snowy. She was still in her Magiformer, with her wings extended, and she was weaving between the heavy machinery of the factory floor while pursued by a group of similarly airborne Celestial agents wielding bows and spears. Then, she suddenly flashed with orange light, indicating that she used her stealth Sigil, confusing her pursuers before turning around and hitting one of them squarely in the chest with one of her icicles.

"Man down!" one of the Celestials yelled as their comrade fell down and crashed against one of the machines. There was no blood, so their Barrier probably saved their life, but they were still out of commission.

Conclusion: my sister got this. What about the other side?

I didn't have to look for long, as I quickly found another hotspot near the other end of the factory building. Actually, the whole place felt weirdly familiar, even when I was only looking through Far Sight, but it was only at this point that I realized this was where Sir Percival led me into the trap that eventually resulted in my trip to the Elysium and the whole Polemos mess. Was this thematic, or was the Simulacrum just reusing set pieces, I wondered.

I didn't have the time to do so for long, as my attention was drawn to loudly cursing Agrawain bursting through a large automatic door and then doing his whole 'momentarily fade into Purple Zone space' trick to avoid a sweeping spear strike coming his way. Its light was so bright it momentarily disoriented me, and only after it subsided did I get a good look at the one wielding it.

"I've told you in the past, but that only works on people who haven't seen your ability yet," the sickeningly genial voice of Sir Percival explained before stabbing his spear forward, nearly skewering Raven Boy as he popped into realspace.

"Shit!"

He pulled a short sword from his faux-inventory enchantment and parried the incoming strike, but the backlash still sent him flying, while the old man's stance, and even the spear itself, remained rock solid.

Conclusion: Agrawain definitely didn't 'got this'.

While I was slightly worried about Snowy, she was strong, and I was sure she could deal with a group of mooks. Considering that, my time would be better spent saving the young Knight's skin, stopping the old bastard, and figuring out where the mooks came from. And the armour. And the spear. Especially the spear.

As such, I Phased closer and waited for Percival to get moving again before I started clapping, startling everyone present.

"Bravo! Great show! Encore!"

Percival turned to me, his eyes visibly shaken behind the slits of his otherwise featureless black helmet. He pointed the tip of his spear at me, and remained stock still and silent, save for the soft humming of his pitch-black suit of armour. It was shockingly streamlined, more reminiscent of a lean sci-fi power armour than the stylish but still firmly old-school suits of the Brotherhood.

In other words, he not only got his Oaths, including the broken ones, replaced by the Celestials (my money was on Mensah's Unorthodox faction), but he also had new-generation equipment delivered to him. That was… actually a bit of a problem. Over the past couple of months, I've been focusing on replacing our Knights' armours with more versatile Uniformers, but while they had good performance, they were focused mainly on compatibility, and serving as test-beds for future improvements. In terms of raw physical enhancement power output, they lagged behind their original gear, so Percival, a veteran Knight, with a full set of Oaths to fuel a souped-up, Celestial-designed armour was kind of bad news.

Honestly, while I didn't explain that part to Judy, it was half the reason I wanted to come here as Bel. If it came to battle, which was more-or-less guaranteed at this point, I could bullshit my way out of it way easier by relying on Bel being a magical black box. Plus copious amounts of refuge in audacity, of course. Trying to fight him head-on as myself-slash-Polemos would've been… considerably more dicey.

Anyhow, I stopped clapping, and Phased between him and Raven Boy to let him catch his breath.

"Oh, did I interrupt you? My deepest apologies. My excitement got the better of me. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Bel of the Abyss!" Percival's greeting was altogether too loud. Was he trying to warn the Celestials of my presence, I wondered. "It took you longer than expected to show up."

"I was expected? What a strange thing to happen." I folded my arms and slowly shook my head. "Can you see the future too?"

He ignored my comment, and with a hiss, the front of his helmet split in two and opened, revealing his face, which was really neat, but, I had to ask…

"How does your beard go back under the face plate?"

I was once again ignored, and he held his spear horizontally in front of him.

"{Chief, status update. Reinforcements should be there in five minutes. Stall him till then.}/"You've made a mistake by letting me live."

Judy and Percival spoke at the same time, and it took me a while to untangle the two sentences and only respond to the latter.

"Oooh, someone's getting full of themselves, just because they broke out of jail," I spoke in a mocking tone and wriggled my fingers at him. I had no script for this encounter, so I had to wing it, though buying five minutes didn't seem too hard. I reckoned I'd need about as much time to check out his gear anyway, so it worked for me. Anyhow, it was time to get him monologuing, so I cocked my head to the side. "Speaking of which, how did you get away? Last I saw you, weren't you making a close, manly friendship with a bunch of naughty, naughty Fauns?"

That commend made his eyes twitch, and he let down his weapon. In the meantime, Raven Boy got back on his feet again, so I put a hand behind my back and covertly gestured for him to get lost and back up Snowy.

Meanwhile, Percival put a hand on his forehead and let out a low chuckle.

"Deceiving those simple-minded animals was as easy as stealing candy from a child. Afterwards, I only had to safely reach one of the safe houses I set up in Timaeus in advance, and contact my allies."

"Oh, how forthcoming of you," I quipped and leaned back before Phasing to the top of a nearby industrial machine at the end of a conveyor belt, right next to Percival, and landed on my butt. By this point, I've used this move so many times, I could do it with my eyes closed. Crossing my legs, I rested my chin on my fist, and remained completely motionless, even as he took a step back and readied his spear. "Let's chat, shall we? For example, I'm terribly curious about what you're planning here. Since you already made contact, I'm shocked you didn't just run to your master's side with your tail between your legs."

"It wouldn't solve anything," he answered with a shake of his head. "Elysium isn't safe either. At most, it would be delaying the inevitable."

"Well, sure. I bet the kid's not thrilled with any of this, and if the Celestials took you in… Oh boy, I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of those guys!"

Honestly, I almost wished he escaped to the Elysium. I was already kind of planning to deport him there anyway, but for some unfathomable reason, he decided to stand and fight. Even more importantly, while we talked, I extended my phantom limbs and checked his equipment, and sure enough, all of it was a mass of plot devices. Well, most of them, at the very least.

Meanwhile, he continued to talk, seemingly ignoring the battle between his Celestial reinforcements and the duo of Snowy and Agrawain unfolding at the other end of the factory floor. I didn't mind that part, as while I wasn't sure what kind of reinforcements I was waiting for (my money was on Rinne and Naoren), it worked out for me.

"It is an old truth, but sometimes, when something absolutely has to be done, a man has no choice but to do it himself. Fortunately, the plans I'd put into motions before my capture have borne fruit."

"A plan? I love those!" I exclaimed in mock jubilee and crossed my legs the other way. "So? What is yours after this? I mean, you can't expect that I would let you walk out of here on your own feet, do you?"

"Hubris, is the greatest enemy of man," Percival waxed poetically. "Last time, I was caught off-guard. Did you think that I didn't anticipate your appearance this time around?"

"Did you now?" I leaned forward, to the point I was teetering on the edge of losing my balance on top of the big machine. "And what's going to stop me from doing the same thing as the last time we had a cordial chat?"

"This!" He reached behind his back and showed off a small, brown glass bottle. The kind that usually had cough syrup in it. Percival's lips parted into a wolfish grin, and he declared, "I'm sure you know what this is, don't you, Bel?"

"Blood Amalgam?" I guessed, and his grin only widened, making me slightly confused. "Wait, haven't we been here before? I think we've been here before. Didn't we already establish that it doesn't work on me? Or was it another timeline?"

"Maybe not on you, but you aren't the only 'Abyssal' here, are you?"

That made me reel back a little, but before I could contact Judy, she was already on the line.

"{I'll tell Neige to keep her distance and vacate the area as soon as she can.}" I let out a soft breath, during which she added, "{Your backup is on the way, and they joined up with Lord Barnabas. ETA is any time now. Also, the Celestial reinforcements arrived at Site B. I'll update you if there are any new developments. Mission Control, out.}"

Honestly, I was a bit worried about what was going on at Site B, aka with Angie and the arch-mages, but I couldn't leave this place until someone was ready to tag me out. Especially when this bastard was threatening to poison my sister. For the second time.

…

Maybe I should just bite the bullet and make him an exception to the no-killing rule?

My dangerous thoughts must've shown in my body language, as he aggressively shook the bottle in his hand,

"Easy there. This is the real deal. Already processed. Aerosolizes in seconds. Even if I drop it here, the missy over there would have a bad time, you know? So, why don't we discuss this situation like reasonable adults?"

He wanted to have a discussion? At this stage? Was he still labouring under the impression that he could make a deal? Or maybe this was a big ruse, and he was buying time for extraction? In any case, it took some effort for me to remain calm and collected.

"… I don't know. I'm finding the idea of just grabbing you and dropping you into the Mariana Trench more and more appealing by the second," I admitted, without the need to channel my Bel persona at all. "It would need to be a truly riveting topic to hold my interest when that's an alternative. I mean, have you seen what happens to someone in one of those old-timey diving suits when they lose their air and the water pressure crushes the rest of their body into their helmet? I wonder if the same thing would happen to you…"

"Oh, I'm sure we can find something you'll be more interested in," Percival answered genially, though I could see him getting at least a little bit nervous.

Anyhow, I've been still for too long, and some of the Celestials in the back were trying to take pot-shots at me, if my danger sense was to be believed, so I hopped off the top of the machinery and Phased in front of Percival with a disinterested, "Such as?"

"Such as this!" he heaved and pointed the tip of his spear at my face faster than a blink of an eye, making a high-pitched whistling sound in the process. This time, my sixth sense remained silent, but it was still hard to stop myself from flinching. In any case, if that wasn't meant to be an attack, then it could've only meant…

"Actually, this is as good a time as any to ask," I mused calmly as I put a finger on the flat of the spear's head and pushed it a bit, causing Percival to immediately pull it back in a move that was as impossibly fast as his previous feint. I straightened my back and crossed my arm. "Where did you get that?"

"You're curious, aren't you?" Percival taunted me and flourished his weapon. "I can see that you didn't expect to see Ascalon in my hands."

"You are not incorrect," I noted with a mixture of annoyance and genuine interest.

It was currently glowing like a Christmas tree, and its shape changed to look more 'fantasy-ish', for lack of better terms. I now had a bigger, serrated blade at the top and an elaborate vine motif running down the shaft, yet my earlier phantom limb poking had already determined that this spear had the familiar enchantments of Ascalon. The fabled dragon-slaying spear of the Brotherhood, which caused Mom-in-law's unhealable wound (which I healed) and which was held in Sebastian's office for safekeeping (until I took it) and one of the most powerful, legendary, nigh-indestructible magical armaments in existence (until I destroyed it).

Yeah, that last part was a bit of a pickle. I'd jumped through quite a few loopholes to destroy the original via Xiao's dragon breath and replace it with a replica. Which was now in Percival's hands. Which meant…

"Did you get your Celestial allies to steal it for you?" I inquired, and Percival once again grinned at me. "When?"

"Right after Leonard left for Elysium. It wasn't hard to create the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the mansion while I was 'recuperating' there, and then replace the spear in the steward's room with an exact reproduction. No one even suspected a thing."

Okay, so let's recap this: The Knights (as in, Roland and Duncan) tried to steal Ascalon, but I took it before they had the chance to put their hands on it, and I blamed it on Bel. Then I made a fake Ascalon, without the anti-dragon parts of the enchantment, and put it up for auction during the tournament arc to serve as a reason for Bel's involvement. Then, I pretended to destroy the fake one during the battle in the arena, but it was actually the original, and then I handed the fake over to Sebastian, who thought it was the real one, only for Percival to help the Celestials infiltrate the Dracis mansion during the chaos of my disappearance to steal it. Then, the Celestials replaced the fake one, which they thought was the real one, with another fake one, meaning… now there were two fake Ascalons out there.

All I could say to this was 'holy shit'. Why was the Simulacrum so bloody fixated on this damn spear? Was it always supposed to be carried by Sir Percival, I wondered. It would've explained why it used to be a plot device, at the very least. Of course, not this fake one, but I guessed the Narrative was working with whatever it had on hand.

"You tried so hard to keep Ascalon out of our possession, but you still failed," Percival continued to taunt me, and I had to wonder why. I mean, maybe he got over-confident because of his new gear, or because he still thought he was indirectly holding Snowy hostage through the Udug Blood Amalgam, even though she had already retreated out of sight and imminent danger, but neither option really fit his MO.

Didn't he realize that the only reason why he was alive was because I really, really didn't want to kill him? After all, while the thing about the Mariana Trench was a taunt of my own, it wasn't entirely inaccurate. Sure, subduing him non-lethally was going to be a pain-in-the-neck, thanks to his armour and the poison and everything, but if I really, really wanted him dead? I could just Phase behind them, grab him with a phantom limb, and just rapidly Phase a couple hundred meters high into the sky and let terminal velocity sort him out.

My Bel outfit had a ward specifically designed to break my fall. His suit probably didn't, but even if he did, I just had to drop him over the island's volcanic centre. Or Phase a couple of kilometers off the coast and drop him in the sea. Seriously, he was damn fortunate I had to make sure he wouldn't become our literal Knight of Cerebus. Otherwise, I would've already toasted his ass three times over, however little sense that made.

More importantly though, there was something I absolutely had to ask now, while I had the chance.

"Why did you want that spear, anyway?" When I looked at me like I was a hypocrite, I told him, "I wanted it because I'm a collector, but what good does it to you?"

"Could it be that the almighty Bel of the Abyss doesn't know?" He let out a supremely grating chuckle that would've made me irritated even if I wasn't baseline annoyed by his presence. "Then let's make it a surprise! That's the…"

"{Reinforcements on site. Chief, get ready for a dynamic entry.}"

Before I could ask what she meant by that, my attention was captured by the sound of a rapidly approaching combustion engine. Then, without further warning, the corrugated metal wall of the factory building, along with the insulation and the windows, exploded into a thousand little pieces. Through the hole, I could see the headlight of a motorcycle, and on it, two people: the driver, his head pulled in like a turtle's. His passenger, one foot set on the seat behind him and the other on his shoulder, was swinging a large flamberge like a weed-whacker to bat off the flying debris and to widen the hole in the wall even further.

"Agrawain!" the passenger yelled as she leapt off the motorcycle.

"Auntie!" Raven Boy yelled back, and if that didn't make it abundantly clear, let's spell it out: that was Morgana, wielding her signature two-handed sword. Which meant that the other person on the bike was…

"Sister Morgana, duck!"

While still on the rapidly slowing motorcycle, Arnwald pulled out his bow from the storage compartment on the side, and fired a couple of energy arrows at the remaining Celestials circling near the tall ceiling of the factory floor.

"Kids! Come here, quick!" Morgana exclaimed, and I reflexively shouted at her.

"No! Don't tell them to come closer!"

Unfortunately, Snowy and Agrawain were already on the way, while my exclamation only drew Arnwald's attention, who jumped off his bike and nocked another energy-arrow, aimed right at me.

"We meet again, Bel of the Abyss!" I was afraid that he would shoot at me, but then his eyes opened even wider. "And you! Brother Percival! What's truly going on here?!"

"Dear! Leave the talks for later!" Morgana urged him, and that caused Agrawain to lurch to a stop and frown.

"Dear? What?"

"What are you idiots doing up there!?" Percival yelled at his Celestial backup, but by the looks of it, they weren't eager to come down and engage the four of them. Not surprising, considering Snowy already took out a third of them, without being any worse for wear.

Anyhow, with those two here, I figured they would be able to keep Percival occupied, and I really had to check out the situation on the Angie-side. I've done my part by stalling for time, so I figured I'd let the others have some of the action as well. However, just as I was about to bow out, the whole world flashed in inverse colours.

That, I was familiar with. If anything, I was completely flummoxed by the fact nobody had the time or foresight to erect a Purple Zone until now. However, what I didn't expect was that the colours didn't shift into purple, but a bright shade of orange. That was already weird enough, but then I also felt a strong pushing force, and I was nearly knocked off my feet as a pile of broken debris materialized where I was standing, displacing me in the process.

"Well, I'll be damned…" Percival muttered, and for once, I shared his sentiment.

We were definitely in a Purple… Orange… Whatever Zone, but it wasn't the factory. Oh no. It was the bloody dockyard hideout, complete with the warehouse and the broken wall plus roof. And through that broken spot, I could see Lord Barnabas, holding his magitech staff over his head and winding down from channelling a big spell.

Did… Did he just bring the Purple Zone from there to over here? Why? Why didn't he make a new one? Was this more convenient, more economical, or was he just showing off?

All of these questions, and many more swirled through my head as I absently beheld a few more things. First off, since the ceiling of the warehouse was lower than the factory's, the flying Celestials were now outside. Secondly, there were more Celestials present, behind Percival. They used to be in the room behind the door he and Raven Boy came through just as I arrived, and one of the three men had a familiar instrument hanging from his neck.

"How much longer is this going to take?!" Percival bellowed at them, and since the man with the multi-musical-magic-instrument was too busy playing Levan Polka or something, one of his companions answered while readying his sword.

"Any second now!"

"Bollocks!" Percival cursed and, after glancing at me, and then the three Knights and my sister, he swung his hand without hesitation and threw the glass bottle in his hand at them.

My body moved ahead of my mind, and before I knew it, I Phased in the way… only to realize I had no idea what to do next. Percival chucked that bloody thing as hard as he could, meaning it had the power of his armour-enhanced strength behind it. Time came to a crawl as my brain redlined, trying to figure out a solution.

Can I catch it? No, chances are, the impact would be strong enough to trigger the wards and break the bottle. Can I Phase it away? That was a more reasonable idea, and I hurriedly extended my phantom limbs, but the bottle was too fast and I couldn't get a 'grasp' on it, so to speak. I wasted too much time on that, so there was only one option left: retcon. The temporary kind. I would just stab it with my phantom limb, and then make it so that the contents are frozen, or something, so even if the bottle were to break, Snowy would have enough time to get away.

It was my last-ditch effort, so I didn't hesitate. I pierced the thing flying right at my face with one of my ethereal tendrils, plunging me into a fractal of brown medicinal bottles, and then…

And then I came out of it, and time resumed to move at the usual pace, meaning the bottle whistled through the air, hit me squarely in the chest, triggering one of the many wards, blasting its fragments back where they came from, and its contents… Well, what contents? The bloody thing was empty!

"Son of a bitch," I whispered as I watched Percival high-tail it to the side of the three Celestials.

He was just stalling for time! He was waiting for the guy in the middle to open a portal to Elysium, and escape! That's why he was so chatty, and did everything to keep my attention without moving away from the door; he wanted to make sure I wouldn't mess with those three and cut off his escape route. The wily, infuriating son of a…

…

Wait. Hold on. I was still missing something.

I ignored Arnwald's shouts from behind my back, and Morgana's attempts to calm him, as well as Lord Barnabas declaring that he would make me answer for my crimes or whatever. None of that was important. What was I missing? I had to figure it out, and it didn't take long. After all, it was something staring me in the face.

There was no portal behind them. Or in front of them. Or anywhere near them. Even before one of those opened, I could see where it would spawn, and I had a vague understanding of their timing as well, but there wasn't anything like that around the group. But Percival still stood in front of them, fake Ascalon raised to defend them, so they had to be doing something. Something important. But what was it?

My question was soon answered, and in a way I really wished it remained a rhetorical one.

"Coordinates locked in," the man in the middle, stopped blowing his harmonica-balalaika-trumpet-theremin thingie for a second to declare that, and then solemnly added, "Deep Strike team, inbound."

All of a sudden, half a dozen blindingly bright pinpricks of light blazed into existence high above the ground, near the roof beams of the warehouse. Then, each one of those opened into rings, about three meters wide, and there were a series of deep, rumbling booms, followed by impacts that shook the concrete floor under our feet.

The rings of light, some sort of short-lived, one-way portals by the looks of it, immediately closed. Under them, on the ground, six enormous figures of pure white rose to their feet. Their alabaster muscles moved with audible creaks and their golden armours and weapons glimmered faintly in the twilight of the Orange Zone.

Colossi. Bloody six of them.

"Now, we are ready to tango!" Percival declared with a wild grin, and his face plate closed up, somehow perfectly tucking his bushy beard in before fully sealing his face. Even though it didn't make any sense.

But then again, I kind of had bigger problems than that, didn't I?