Maid In Fantasy: Chapter XXX - Caenia's Return Part 6, Middle

Story Hub: [link]

\\~~~\\       VI       //~~~//

            Giles staggered through the Multiversal Power Station^tm until he reached the area near the master control room. Not that he knew where that was, but the explosion and the sound of fighting gave him a clear direction to move in. He would’ve gone faster, but the adrenaline had worn off, and healing magic could only do so much to relieve the pain of getting clocked in the back of the head with a wrench. Sure, he didn’t have a concussion anymore (hopefully), but much like medicine or surgery, healing magic can only repair so much of the damage. The rest must be healed on your own, and that lingering feeling of rawness from when you were injured will still hang with you for a while.

            ‘Those creepy puppet things have all gone inert, so what the heck could all the fighting be about?’ Giles wondered as he finally reached the source of the noise, and what he saw could only be described in terms best fit for a summer action flick or maybe a slasher movie. The top half of a giant mechanical man was attacking Medy, Jace, and Orion, and so was the bottom half, independently. Despite their technical three-to-two advantage, the workers were losing the fight. Their punches and kicks couldn’t even slow down the metal monstrosity. However, on a more personal note for Giles, someone else was nearby.

            “Well, well,” Giles leaned over the disabled body of Carus. The engineer wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. “I guess this is karma. I don’t know what your problem is, but whatever plans you had are up in smoke now. Haha…Ow, headache,” Giles cringed. ‘I guess there’s only one thing left to do,’ he affirmed to himself. Despite everything, his camera was still intact, and he wasn’t going to miss a second of what was happening.

\\~~~\\              //~~~//

            Orion, Medy, and Jace’s fight against Adaman (and his legs) was going very poorly. Even Medy’s ice spells just bounced off the robotic man’s hide. Orion tried punching Adaman in the face a few times but only managed to bruise his own hand. Dodging wild swipes from his hands and a flurry of kicks from the legs was growing difficult, and all three workers knew they couldn’t afford to take a blow from either.

            “Jace, I know you’ve learned some new spells recently. Use them!” Medy demanded.

            “If yours aren’t working, mine certainly won’t,” Jace pointed out.

            “Stop whining and just attack!” Medy screamed.

            “Fine, Ace High Beam,” Jace emitted a beam of yellow magical energy from his index finger that struck Adaman in his left eye. While the robot didn’t flinch, the red LED shattered, exposing more wires and a small glimpse into the interior of its metal skull.

            “Well, we can confirm he is indeed more machine than man, if at all,” Orion noted. “Medy, do you think you could get your ice magic inside him through that hole?”

            “No way, it’s too small, and he’s moving too much,” Medy snapped as she narrowly avoided Adaman, grabbing her ankles.

            “Understood,” Orion gathered magical energy in his hand. “Shining Bomber,” he unleashed a burst of magic from his open palm, which impacted Adaman’s face like a grenade. When the dust settled, the skin on Adaman’s face had peeled off to reveal a skull-like metal face beneath. The LED for the right eye was now cracked, and the hole in the left eye had doubled in size. Otherwise, the robot seemed unaffected.

            “Okay, I can work with that,” Medy proclaimed as she weaved a snowflake pattern in the air and released her Freezing Spray spell focused on Adaman’s left eye. The magic struck true, and a layer of frost formed along the metal man’s face, finally causing him to flinch as his circuits were clearly not designed to thrive in such cold temperatures. “Ha, got him!”

            “ExterMinAteeeee, KiiiiiillLl, Desdesdestroy! Ccccccaenia!!!!!!” Adaman began to glitch out, but despite his damaged electronics, he did not slow down and attacked in an even more frenzied state. “Caenia! Caenia! Caenia!” While he could not “see” in the traditional sense, as a machine, he did have visual receptors, and now they were damaged. All they could perceive was Caenia now. Everyone was Caenia, everything was Caenia, and Caenia was the person he had to destroy.

            “Nice going, now he’s even worse,” Jace exclaimed as he narrowly avoided a jump kick from Adaman’s legs, which cleaved through a metal fence and the wall behind him.

            “Yeah, what were you thinking, Jace?” Medy replied as she leaped over Adaman’s body, which crashed through a set of computer consoles behind her like a tissue paper, turned on a dime, and went after Orion instead.

            “This is not time to be pointing fingers,” Orion leaped back, only to realize that Jace was right behind him, being chased by the legs, leaving them both stuck in a pincer attack by Adaman’s two halves. “Crapbaskets.”

            “Princess Irene, stay away from there!” Serena’s voice could be heard above. Orion glanced up to see Serena snatching Irene in midair, parkouring off the scaffolding, and landing on the ground with a roll. Unfortunately, she landed not too far from Adaman’s torso, which flipped away from Orion and began chasing her.

            “CaEnnnnnia!!!!!” Adaman let out a metallic scream.

            “Oh, come on,” Serena shouted as she retreated with Irene deeper into the facility, Adaman dragging himself close behind.

            “Serena,” Orion wanted to go help her, but he had more immediate problems.

            “Here it comes,” Jace squealed as Adaman’s legs braced to pounce at them.

            “Yaaaah!” A familiar voice exclaimed as someone kicked Adaman’s legs right in the nads. Shockingly enough, this blow successfully stunned the metal bottom.

            “Penelo?” Orion said with his jaw dropped.

            “That’s me,” Penelo appeared from behind the legs. She was a bloody mess and could barely stand, but she was still as cheerful as ever.

\\~~~\\              //~~~//

            “You’ve got to be kidding me with this nonsense,” Caenia coughed, showing a little more weakness now that Serena was gone. “All they’ve managed to do is stun him at best or make him made at worst, and now Serena and the brat have gotten themselves in real trouble. And I’ve got no gas in the tank,” Caenia admitted as she began to slide down the railing to her knees. She fought to keep standing, but her last spell had completely drained her.

            “This is what you get for overdoing it, Caenia,” Atlanta sighed. “I guess that leaves it up to me,” the princess declared. Then the second princess came up and whispered something in her, but it was so quiet that even Caenia couldn’t hear what was said.

            “Oh really? Well, I’d love to see that, but I have a kid and brat to save,” Caenia stood up and recollected herself.

            “Not in your condition,” Atlanta commented. “Besides, I think Serena already has a plan, considering the direction she fled in.”

            “Huh?” Caenia gazed back. “Oh, I see what you mean.”

\\~~~\\              //~~~//

            Serena’s mind was filled with a string of expletives as she dashed along the station’s floor, Adaman’s torso hot on her heels. He was shockingly fast for being so far apart from his legs. Even with the maid running at full speed, Adaman still kept up. However, that was primarily due to the fact he didn’t care about obstacles.

            ‘Please be right on time, please be right on time,’ Serena pleaded as she hopped a short, flimsy fence.

            “CaaaaEnnnniiiaaaa!!!” Adaman screamed, his voice more of a garbled electronic screech than actual words. He plowed through the fence, which crumbled like tin foil under his weight.

            ‘I get the distinct impression he hates Caenia,’ Serena noted. ‘More importantly, he’s either completely blind or Medy’s attack fried his brain. Either way, he’s following me, or rather, the closest living entity, and not looking where he’s going.’ The maid slid down a short incline, jumped a hole in the ground, and leaped another short fence.

            “AnnihhhhhlAAAAAte!” Adaman threw himself forward, rolling down the incline and nearly falling right into the hole. He managed to catch the rim of the hole with his right hand, but that was only because of his wild flailing rather than any conscious intent. His weight finally betrayed him, and he struggled to pull himself up. The machine was more than strong enough to do so, but it would just take him some time.

            ‘Time that he doesn’t have,’ Serena quickly dashed to the side and set Irene down behind her. “I know you likely can’t hear me anymore,” Serena turned back to Adaman, “but it’s over.”

            “NnnnnnEEEEEEEEEvvvvv…Ovver!” Adaman defiantly shouted as he jabbed his left hand at Serena. At first, she thought he was pointlessly flailing, but then his left arm launched at her and grabbed her neck. Between them was a steel tow cable, connecting the loose arm, which had been cut off just above the elbow, back to the rest of the body. The wire began drawing back, dragging Serena away from Irene and towards the hole.

            “Serena!” Irene ran to grab her protector.

            “No, Princess,” Serena shook her head and dug her heels into the ground to stop, but her shoes quickly began to wear down from the friction.

            “TooooGettthhher! Caaaaaaeennnnnnn…!” Adaman screeched.

            “Not together,” Serena refuted. “You’re going alone, I told you it’s over. Five seconds to the hour.”

            “Caeennniiiaaa…Exxxxtterminaaateeee?” Adaman yelled back, only to be immediately consumed by a red flare of energy. Every hour on the hour, the power flare vents go off after all. It’s mostly aesthetic, but it supposedly serves some purpose. In this case, melting robots.

            “The only one being exterminated is you,” Serena quipped as Adaman’s grip loosened. It was hard to keep strangling someone while your body was being vaporized.

            “Caaaaaeniaaa!!!!” Adaman cried, almost as if the machine could feel pain. Images flashed through his circuits of a man, a proud and powerful man. He was the best at what he did, and what he did was nothing nice. He was unstoppable, at least until one day. It was a disastrous day for all involved, but he didn’t care about Aphros or Adonis’s little formal ball. However, he did care about destroying his targets. Alas, much like the formal, he too would go up in flames, and it was all because of that girl, that damn girl, it was all because of…“CCCCAAAAAAEEENIIIIIAAA!!!!”

            Adaman melted into molten sludge and disappeared into the power flare vent as the tow cable seared off, freeing Serena from her crash course with the vent. Adaman’s remaining arm went inert as it slid off Serena’s neck. But the maid took no chances and hurled the arm into the still-flaring vent, destroying it along with the rest of the mad machine.

            “I knew those vents would get someone killed,” Serena commented as she picked herself up, grabbed Irene’s hand, and led her away. The princess kept trying to watch the rest of Adaman’s final moments, but Serena pulled her away.

\\~~~\\              //~~~//

            Despite Penelo’s timely intervention, the four servants still couldn’t do any lasting damage to Adaman’s legs, which grew progressively more berserk and unhinged as time went on. Jace, Orion, and Medy’s magic only did surface-level damage to the bipedal half-monstrosity, and Penelo’s attacks could do no more than stun it. As the fight progressed, it became clear that even without a torso, Adaman would ultimately win the fight.

            “Medy, try freezing the feet to the floor!” Jace yelled.

            “I’ve been trying, but it’s not working,” Medy shouted, “Orion, can’t you hit it any harder?”

            “This is as hard as I hit. Whatever alloy it’s made from is either incredibly strong or magic-resistant,” Orion theorized. “Penelo, can you keep fighting?” He turned to their most injured teammate.

            “Huh? Yeah, I can take him, all three of him!” Penelo declared, still covered in her own blood. “When did you grow another head?”

            “Well, that doesn’t bode well,” Orion paused at the severity of Penelo’s injuries and the girl’s lack of concern for her own rapidly declining vitality.

            “Incoming!” Jace exclaimed as the legs kicked at him. The blonde avoided the flurry, which was then directed at Medy, who rolled away. This left Orion and Penelo the only two targets in Adaman’s path. Orion tried to backstep, but in its wild strikes, the legs made a lucky guess and managed to strike him as he retreaded. Orion was sent flying back into a pillar and landed with an unsettling crack.

            “Hey, stop that!” Penelo tried to avenge her companion, but despite the inexplicable strength still in her blows, she could do nothing more than delay Adaman’s advance. Eventually, she was kicked to the side as well.

            “It’s going back at Orion, that means we’re next,” Jace squealed. Despite his negative feelings towards Orion, he hoped to get through this day without someone dying. Mainly because if one of them died, they all likely would.

            “Take this and this!” Medy fired ice magic at the pair of legs. Even with their ‘attention’ focused squarely on the downed butler, Medy’s ice spells still couldn’t put anything more than a dent in them. “Come on, is this thing invincible?”

            ‘Crapbaskets, have…to…move,’ Orion thought as the world was spinning. He could see Adaman approaching him, but his body would not obey. One more hit from that thing, and he was done for. ‘I apologize, Princess.’ The blonde took a deep breath and steeled himself for whatever might come next.

            A bolt from the blue fired from above. It wasn’t a water spell like Caenia’s, an ice spell like Medy, a ball of fire like Serena’s, or pure colored energy like Jace or Orion. It was a shining, prismatic light as if a crystal beneath the sun’s light had been turned into a vibrant, controlled explosion. It came down so fast that Orion only became conscious of it when it first collided with Adaman’s legs. The following burst of energy blinded the four workers, and when the dust cleared, Adaman was gone. Not blown apart, not melted, but absolutely obliterated, leaving only dust and sand.

            “Where did…?” Orion mumbled as she looked up to see Princess Atlanta and the second princess standing on a catwalk above. The attack must have come from them, but he didn’t see how they cast it. Atlanta didn’t carry a catalyst with her. ‘No, what’s important is we’re safe. Now to…save…Serena…’ Orion fainted from the pain.

To be Continued…

>>>~~~~<<<

Any difficult problem can be overcome with teamwork and coordination, and if that fails, then your best chance is to find the exact right person to do the job in a snap.

Author's Note: We're nearing the end, the danger has passed but the story is not quite over yet. I'll have more to say next time, but for now I'm just happy to have finally brought this section of the story to life. I never expected this single section to become so big, but that's what happens when you squeeze to action climaxes together.

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.

Maid In Fantasy: Chapter XXX - Caenia's Return Part 6, Prior

Story Hub: [link]

\\~~~\\       I       //~~~//

Maia 29^th 758

            The Puppeteer was at wit’s end. Penelo had taken at least five stab wounds and was pumped up with enough poison to kill a water buffalo. The maid should have been dead thrice over, yet she hadn’t even slowed down. In fact, the silver-haired girl seemed stronger than ever, even though Karagiz had her completely bound.

            ‘Is she even human? Or is she some freakish experiment the palace has let loose on the world?’ The Puppeteer theorized. ‘Regardless, it is best I handled this my…self?’ The pale woman’s thought was interrupted by the sound of shattering wood. Penelo had given up on thrashing her way out of the puppet’s grasp and instead began biting at its many arms.

            “Get! Off! Of! Me!” Penelo roared as she ate through Karagiz like it was made of crackers. She freed her left arm before grabbing the puppet’s head and crashing it to the ground with a body slam. Karagiz’s grip loosened even further from the blow, giving Penelo enough room to start beating on the wooden doll.

            ‘Absolute insanity,’ the Puppeteer gaped at Penelo’s rampage.

            “Told you to get off me,” Penelo rose up and spat on the puppet. She was cut up and woozy but still stood strong. The fight wasn’t over yet.

\\~~~\\              //~~~//

            Time in the master control room marched on in slow motion. Serena’s danger sense saw only oblivion before her, and the princesses knew their barrier wouldn’t withstand Adaman’s attack. The only person in a state of calm was Caenia, who was eerily focused on the enemy charging at her. Adaman’s fury emanated from his fist as his punch literally warped the room around them with its sheer force. What little remained of the glass in the windows turned to dust in the wind as the metal of the walls and floors recoiled in fear of his strength. Then, in a single, perfect, fluid motion, Caenia ducked down, grabbed Adaman’s arm, and turned his momentum into fuel for a shoulder throw. Adaman was sent flying over Caenia’s head through the ceiling and plummeted like a stone back to the power station’s floor. He impacted the ground with an echoing smash that seemed to shake the foundations of the entire building, and then there was only silence.

            “Did you get him?” Irene asked, looking up through the hole in the ceiling.

            “Well, if I didn’t, I pissed him off, at least,” Caenia replied.

            “Please don’t joke about that. My heart can’t take anymore,” Serena requested. In a moment of clarity, she finally managed to switch which hand the detonator was in without letting go of the dead man’s switch and free her arm from the grate.

            “Whatever,” Atlanta sighed, “I’m going to find the bag of cellphones and see if anything survived. Then, I’m calling Aphros for immediate pickup. I never want to see this place again, I feel like I’ve been here for half a year.”

            “But we’ve only been here a couple of hours,” Irene commented.

            “It’s called hyperbole, little sister,” Atlanta rolled her eyes.

            “What do hyper-bowls have to do with this?” Irene asked with a quizzical look. Which earned her a glare from her elder sister.

            ‘I swear, she does this on purpose,’ Serena and Atlanta thought in unison. While the comedy routine went on beside her, Caenia stared off into the distance, where she threw Adaman. Deep in her gut, she knew the fight wasn’t over yet.

\\~~~\\       II       //~~~//

            Giles dreamed of failure, of being yelled at and thrown out of every kind of building. He remembered being ejected from that fancy restaurant for trying to sneak pictures of their recipes. An image of the time he was arrested for trespassing at a high noble’s manor flashed across his mind. He thought the old man was engaged in an affair, but the truth was he was spending time with his much younger sister. Then, the reporter was beset by visions of being chased out of a grocery store while trying to prove rumors they had wild pigs running freely inside their deli.

            Giles wondered if his life was flashing before his eyes. Maybe at the end of this little slideshow, he’d be hurtled into whatever afterlife awaited him. He hoped they could skip the part where he was thrown out of the house for exposing his father’s fraudulent activities. It had been so easy at the time, and it felt good to reveal the truth to the world at first. But it wasn’t long before Giles realized that his dad was just sloppy and never even entertained the idea of being caught. Yet, the intrepid reporter chased that feeling, hoping to expose some other great crime.

            Alas, just when he finally had the story he’d been looking for his whole life right in the palm of his hand, he had to go and get himself killed by trusting the wrong guy. Giles hoped the next life would treat him better, or at least not beat him up every other week. However, before he could dwell on his eternal rest, the world came zooming back.

            Giles awoke with a start and, surprisingly, no headache, but he did feel something soft touching his face. He looked up to see the Second Princess gently treating his injury. The reporter had heard rumors of the royal family’s healing powers, but he didn’t know what to make of them. Giles knew of magic and the broadest idea of its applications, but it wasn’t something he was versed in. Aside from the times the high nobles or workers used it to make him go away. Regardless, the magic worked wonders since he didn’t have a concussion anymore.

            “Thank you, um, Your Highness,” Giles sat up. What was the princess’s name again? He couldn’t recall. The eldest was Atlanta, and the youngest was Irie-something, but the second…Wait, forget about that. There’s a bomb. “Crap, the bomb,” Giles flipped around to see the device clearly active. Unfortunately, it didn’t have a timer or anything, so it could blow up in an hour or the next five seconds, for all he knew.

            “How am I going to disarm this?” Giles wondered. “We should probably just run. There’s no way-” He turned to the princess, who held up her hand in a ‘stop’ gesture.

            The Second Princess mimed out a sequence. Giles wasn’t sure exactly what she was saying at first until he noticed she was gesturing at the bomb. Then he watched her motions closely and realized they were in a pattern, a pattern that looked suspiciously like disarming a bomb.

            “Wait, you’re going to talk me through disarming it?” Giles asked. The princess replied with a nod. “Okay, won’t I need like wire cutters or something?” The reporter pointed out, but then the princess handed him a pair of cutters and a screwdriver (that she pulled from nowhere like a magician). “That works,” the black-haired man nodded and decided it was worth a shot. Something about Princess Whatshername filled him with confidence that he could do this, and it wouldn’t be that hard.

            “How much time do we even have? I heard something about it being on a timer,” Giles asked, but the princess just waved her hand and pointed back to the bomb. “Alright, I’ll focus,” he got back to the task at hand. Giles had never disarmed a bomb before or done much in the way of engineering, but with the princess talk…er, guiding him through it, the process was shockingly easy. His hands moved so fast, skillfully, and automatically; it was like he had done it a million times before. But it wasn’t like he couldn’t control himself. More like he had a guiding hand helping him every step of the way. After what felt like no time at all, Giles successfully disarmed the bomb.

            “That was easy. Maybe I’ve got a talent for this,” Giles beamed, “now what do…we do?” He looked back to see the princess had vanished. “You know, maybe I didn’t get over that concussion.”

\\~~~\\       III       //~~~//

            At this point, the Puppeteer was questioning reality. Penelo was barely standing, yet she was still fending off Karagiz. Nay, she was winning. This could not stand, the pale woman decided she’d have to slit Penelo’s throat herself just to be certain the girl was dead. The Puppeteer drew a dagger while commanding her puppet to grapple Penelo again. Which proved to be difficult as the maid ripped off another of its arms.

            “I’m through with you. Let me get at the crazy lady,” Penelo exclaimed as she shoved the Karagiz’s head to the floor. Her gaze snapped towards the Puppeteer.

            ‘She can’t be human,’ the Puppeteer determined as she looked into Penelo’s eyes and saw only the frenzied rage of a wild animal or perhaps something far worse. ‘If she wishes to act like a beast, then I shall tame her like one.’ The Puppeteer generated magical strings from her left hand’s fingertips, which wrapped around Penelo’s limps and neck. She channeled her magic through the strings, attempting to paralyze the shorter girl. It wasn’t easy; living beings were not puppets, they don’t take well to being commanded in such a direct way. While the Puppeteer couldn’t control Penelo, she could significantly restrict her movements.

            “What are you doing?” Penelo seemed more perplexed by the attack than anything. Still, that lapse in attention allowed the puppet to bind her again with its remaining two arms.

            “Finish it,” the Puppeteer commanded. The Karagiz’s face plate opened to reveal a retractable spike, which it aimed right at Penelo’s throat. The wooden monstrosity snapped its head down with no intention of stopping until it pierced bone. “Finally,” the Puppeteer let out a sigh of relief. A feeling which was quickly lost when she realized Penelo hadn’t fallen limp. The Puppeteer’s eyes widened as she circled around to see that Penelo had caught the spike in her mouth.

            “How?” The pale woman dropped her dagger in shock. However, just as before, a lapse in judgment allowed the tide of battle to swing.

            “For the last time. Get! Off! Me!” Penelo snapped the spike with her teeth before kicking the puppet off her, right into the Puppeteer. The tall woman and her creation crumbled to the floor in a heap. She didn’t even have time to come to her senses before Penelo bodyslammed them both. Shattering the puppet and several of the Puppeteer’s ribs. The pale woman fainted from shock.

            “Finally,” Penelo spat out a wad of blood before finally dragging herself over to the bomb she was really after. “No more dirty tricks,” she smashed the plastic explosives with her bare hands. “Now, what was I supposed to do next?” Penelo wondered before wandering off in a bloody daze.

\\~~~\\       IV       //~~~//

            Serena’s group finally had a moment to catch their collective breath. Most of them assumed – or rather hoped – that Adaman was dead or at least disabled for the time being. Atlanta had found the bag with their cell phones and began rooting through it for anything useful. Usurpingly, most of the phones were cracked, but the wrist communicators proved far sturdier.

            “Guess I’m getting a new phone…again,” Princess Atlanta rolled her eyes.

            “Where’s the phone Jasper took from the administrator? It’s the only one that works in this dang place,” Serena looked to the side, noting the wall-mounted phone destroyed in Adaman’s rampage.

            “In all the excitement, I nearly forgot,” Atlanta realized, “Jasper should still have it. I think he pocketed it.” She ran over to the unconscious extremist. “Backup, at last,” she snatched the phone out of his pocket and checked the screen, “ugh, ten minutes to the hour. Have we really been stuck in this mess for that long?”

            “Don’t get too excited,” Caenia hadn’t moved her gaze once since she threw Adaman. “He’s coming back around right now!”

            “What is this guy’s problem?” Serena exclaimed as she grabbed Irene and pulled the child behind her. “Your Highness, get behind me,” she turned to Atlanta.

            “I’m not running from this freak,” Atlanta scoffed as she dropped the phone into the bag.

            ‘Is this what Orion deals with?’ Serena lamented as a low stomping noise echoed from below.

            “Incoming!” Caenia drew her knife as Adaman leaped at them from below, tearing a new hole in the master control room’s floor. The force of the impact threw Jasper’s limp body into the air, landing behind Serena and Irene. “You’re mincemeat, musclehead!” Caenia channeled magic through her knife, turning the short blade into a much longer weapon of pure blue magic. She attacked Adaman with a fury of slashes, each of which drew deep cuts and lots of blood. Yet, Adaman did not slow down; he didn’t even flinch.

            “Your efforts are worthless, I expected better!” Adaman shouted as he slugged Caenia in the stomach. The maid was blown off her feet, ricochetted off the ceiling, and crashed into the remains of a desk.

            “Back off!” Atlanta threatened as she put up a thicker barrier than before. Instead of staying stationary, the wall of magic began to slide forward, pushing the man backward.

            “I will not be stopped!” Adaman screamed as he slammed his fist into the barrier, cracking it.

            “Caenia, get up!” Serena exclaimed as she drew her crossbow. Although, she doubted she’d do any real damage to the apparently invincible man.

            “Trying,” Caenia forced herself to her feet, clutching at her stomach, a little bit of blood dripping from her mouth. “A broken rib is a little distracting.”

            “Tell me you have something up your sleeve that can stop this guy,” Serena asked.

            “I got one thing, but I need all of you to clear out for me to use it,” Caenia declared. “That means you, Princess.”

            “Fine,” Atlanta snapped back, “I’ll reinforce the barrier, but then it’s all on you. Serena, grab Jasper, we’re leaving!” The eldest princess channeled more magic into her barrier before retreating faster than Serena expected.

            “Grab Jasper? Fine,” Serena decided not to question the order as she snatched up the extremist in one arm and Irene in another as she fled.

            “Alright, smart guy, just you and me,” Caenia declared as she stood before the monster of a man, separated only by the crumbling barrier. The maid braced herself as she drew her compact again, but this time, she held it out between both hands, which were joined at the base of her palms. A vast amount of magical energy began pouring out of Caenia into the mirror. At the same time, Adaman started forcing his way through the barrier.

            “I will demolish you down to the-!” Adaman began one of his usual threats.

            “Oh, shut up,” Caenia spat. “Deep Crash!” She named her spell as a titanic torrent of focused water magic was unleashed from her hands and hit Adaman like a round from an RPG. And much like a rocket-propelled explosive, the impact made a very big boom. Adaman was sent hurtling back down to the ground floor in two pieces as the master control room was obliterated.

\\~~~\\       V       //~~~//

            As the sound of Caenia’s struggle against Adaman echoed in the distance, Orion, Jace, and Medy reunited in an area between the catwalks where they were initially captured and the master control room. Jace was a little beat up, while Orion had come out of his fight mostly unscathed. Medy was putting on a strong front, but Orion and Jace could both tell that she was agitated and not in her usual way.

            “Alright, let’s finish this day by saving a princess,” Medy declared. “Huh, I thought the engineer said there wasn’t any direct route to the master control room from there, but that looks pretty direct to me.” She looked at the catwalks above them.

            “Never mind that. Where are Penelo, Carus, and the reporter?” Orion pointed out. “We should wait for them.”

            “Forget about them, I can hear some nasty things coming from the direction of the control room,” Jace spoke up. “Going there is going to get us run over by some freak of nature, I bet.”

            “Don’t be such a baby,” Medy huffed, “and don’t worry about the others. They’re probably fine, just taking a long route. All those puppets shut down, so I’m guessing Penelo took out that witch.” Unknown to them, Carus was much closer than they thought.

            ‘Just my luck, their definition of ‘near the master control room’ was stupidly flexible,’ Carus cursed his fortunes while hiding behind a metal structure. ‘Looks like taking the long way around was a mistake after all,’ the engineer grit his teeth. ‘That brunette is too observant. She won’t buy just any lie I feed them about that idiot with the camera. Maybe if I-?’ An explosion rocked the entire power station, nearly knocking all four of them off their feet.

            “What was that?” Orion jumped into a fighting stance.

            “I think that was the master control room exploding,” Medy felt the release of magical energy. “Why do I smell seawater?” She looked down to see a small wave of water lightly flooding the area.

            “Oh great, is somebody dead?” Jace wondered. Concerned about how poorly their fortunes might be turning.

            ‘We didn’t set up any explosives at the control room,’ Carus realized, ‘so then what-?’ He was crushed under a giant pair of legs.

            “The heck is-? Gah!” Jace jumped as Adaman’s torso slammed into the ground in front of the group. “Somebody really is dead!”

            “Oh, neat, a robot,” Medy noticed the sparks and wires coming out of the bottom of the torso, which had been severed at the waistline. As if a grenade went off inside its stomach.

            “Ah, I guess nobody died then,” Jace breathed a sigh of relief. Then the torso’s head snapped upward, revealing a pair of soul-piercing red LED eyes. “Aaaaaahhh!” The blonde squealed.

            “Behind us,” Orion announced as Adaman’s legs sprang from the shadows, moving as if they were still attached to their upper half. Meanwhile, Adaman’s torso began crawling towards them, trapping them in a pincer attack.

            “Kill, Destroy, Annihilate! Exterminate! Exterminate!” Adaman’s voice had become high-pitched, metallic, and scratchy.

           

\\~~~\\              //~~~//

            Serena stared blankly at the empty space where the master control room had once been. The scent of seawater hung in the air as the maid’s eyes glanced down at the now jagged end of the catwalk she ran across moments before. It was a stark demonstration of what Caenia was capable of. Although, the real question in Serena’s mind was, what happened to Caenia?

            “You going to keep gawking, or are you going to get up?” Caenia said from behind Serena, causing the raven-haired girl to jump.

            “How did you get behind me?” Serena exclaimed.

            “Wouldn’t you like to know?” The silver-haired girl laughed before turning to Atlanta. “I suppose that wraps things up?”

            “Hopefully,” Atlanta replied as she dug into the bag of cell phones. “Where is that stupid thing?”

            “Good,” Caenia leaned against the railing and let out a deep sigh. Serena finally noticed how ‘drained,’ for lack of a better term, her senior appeared to be. It seems that her last spell took a lot out of her.

            ‘Her eyes have lost focus, I think her head must be spinning,’ Serena noted. ‘Should she even be standing right now?’

            “Alright, I’m going below to make sure that Adaman guy is down for the count. I’m sure they’ll want to question him back at the palace,” Serena declared. “I’m also curious how he knew you were here.”

            “No need. The princesses are safe. Our job is done,” Caenia shook her head.

            “Well, first off, we don’t know where the second princess is right now,” Serena countered.

            “Yes, we do, she’s right behind you,” Caenia smirked.

            “What are you-? Gah,” Serena jumped as, indeed, the second princess was now magically behind her, smiling away with her eyes closed as usual. ‘I really need to learn that ‘appear out of nowhere’ trick,’ Serena resolved.

            “Where did you come from?” Atlanta asked her sister. “Shouldn’t Orion be with you?” The second princess just held up her hand in an ‘okay’ sign. “Oh, you went off to do your own thing? And the bombs are disarmed? That’s good.”

            ‘How did you get all that from a single gesture?’ Serena wondered and subsequently dropped the now useless detonator.

            “Hey, Serena,” Irene piped up while standing on Jasper’s unconscious body. “I hear fighting and screaming downstairs.” Sure enough, it seemed the battle was not over yet. Something thunderous was stomping around and yelling at the top of its lungs. And it sounded an awful lot like Adaman.

            “You’ve got to be kidding me, I blew that guy into pieces, and he’s still moving?” Caenia grumbled.

            “It sounds like Orion and the others down there,” Serena noted. “There’s no way they can take Adaman by themselves, I’m going to help them.”

            “No way, I’m not babysitting Irene by myself,” Caenia refused.

            “Don’t worry about that,” Atlanta pointed down. Irene had already begun descending down the catwalks (ignoring such frivolous luxuries like stairs) to see what was going on down below.

            “Princess Irene, for the love of the Lord, stop running towards danger,” Serena dived after her charge.

To be Continued…

>>>~~~~<<<

It is always great to finally see the end of a long and arduous day, but remember it ain't over till it's over.

Author's Note: Even with two extra weeks I cut this really close, but that little to do with the difficulty of the chapter itself and more to do with hectic real life stuff. Nothing bad, just a lot of extra responsibilities being piled on all at once. The long and short of it is, this (very long) chapter is being broken into three parts. On the bright side, they should all come out in a row.

As for the chapter itself, we're right in the middle of the climax and there's more to come. I've been staring at this section of my outline for over a year now, waiting for it to come to life and I'm excited to finally be here. It's probably the part I've rewritten and reorganized the most out of any chapter. I was considering changes until literally a week or so ago. I'm still happy with what came out in the end, and I'm even more excited to progress to the end of this chapter because I'd say the best has yet to come.

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.