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  After the enchanting, the trip, and the fight, he leaned heavily on her as they started to move, with Hobie taking point with his makeshift spear. For the first leg of the journey, Noriko helped Nils along to quicken the pace.

  Eventually, they stopped to rest and eat. While they did, Celeste sat by him and prayed, her free hand alternating between his back and the stiffest parts of his leg. He didn't bother objecting. She was only able to soothe the pain and fatigue some—his body would certainly never be normal—but he was past the days of fearing that the metaphysical light of her saints would burn his leg, hand, or eye like it would an actual daemon.

  Once they were ready to move again, Nils was able to mostly keep up on his own, freeing Noriko up to help keep watch as they walked. Even so, she checked on him regularly. He nearly objected a couple of times, but ultimately decided that worrying about him was probably better than any of the myriad other things she could fret over.

  Hobie promptly brought one of those up. “Are we headed for what's left of the tower?” he asked. Noriko shook her head.

  They had to make a lot of detours as they traveled. While there were no signs of actual invasion by the supernatural—at least not yet—the first towns they passed were obviously on high alert. The latest Otherrealm incursions thanks to Xharomor's victory hadn't arrived, but news had. Traffic jams, distant sirens, and other demonstrations of panic were all signs that the world had finally been informed: not only did daemons exist, but they were invading.

  Eventually, as they got closer and closer to population centers, Nils called another break. Once he'd caught his breath, hissing through the metal, he cast a few charms to hide them from detection. The spells wouldn't do a great deal against those used to looking for the supernatural, but they'd keep most people from noticing the small group, and hopefully prevent any stops by defense forces or police, and the awkward questions that might arise.

  With everything to deal with, 'ignore the freaks' was the best he could do.

  Under that cover, the rest of the trip was long, but uneventful. By the end, despite the healing magics, Nils occasionally needed a little help from either Celeste or Noriko again. Noriko took the lead when they were close enough to see high, wooden walls, with thatched roofs of a few central buildings towering over them.

  "What is this place, exactly?" Hobie asked.

  "Ise Grand Shrine," Noriko explained. "This is the furthest south any of the treasures are held. My sisters should be here, or be here soon, or have been here."

  "All of them? Why not split up, if there's several treasures?" Hobie asked.

  "The Storm's Light aren't fans of splitting up,” Noriko said, and Nils didn't want to judge her tone. “Amaterasu's Mirror is here, and she's the most important to us. They'll want to provide security for it. The Capital might come under attack first, but this is pretty much guaranteed to be an eventual target."

  "They can't just move it? Consolidate all the targets? It'd be more efficient," Hobie said.

  Nils sighed enough that it possibly qualified as dangerous emissions through the mask. He started to step up to get Hobie to cut it out, but Noriko held up a hand. "Move Amaterasu's Mirror out of the shrine to Amaterasu, and put more pressure on the forces at the capital?" she asked Hobie. "Plenty of whom aren't well versed in these things. If the Capital comes under attack, the last thing most people are going to think to do is go defend a mirror, a jewel, and an ancient sword. It's just the residents of the tow... the former residents of the Hikari Tower that will think of them as significant right now.”

  “I'm almost surprised, at this point, that you did,” said a voice.

  Nils turned quickly, almost unbalancing himself, but Noriko helped steady him. The speaker turned out to be a tall Japanese girl, with a similar build to Noriko's powered form. Her outfit was likewise similar to Noriko's onna-bugeisha outfit, but in mostly black instead of green. She had a katana in hand, at the ready, but not poised to strike, instead gesturing at them with it. She wore a smaller sword at her side. Only one of the Storm's Light figured much in swordfighting accounts Nils had heard—so this was Ishiko.

  Three others stood with her, in various stages of readiness.

  Immediately to the tallest girl's left, a slender girl in red stood with a war-fan in each hand, the tessen opened to reveal stylized sunrises painted on them. That had to be Aki.

  The second-smallest one wore white and silver robes and a hat that Nils had to mentally call 'distinctly tall' because as an occultist, he knew he had no business calling any such thing ridiculous. That was definitely Emi, the onmyoji. She'd be the one with whom, in better circumstances, Nils would want to sit down and talk cross-cultural shop. Syncretic Taoist-Shinto rituals would be some interesting nerdery. But supporting Noriko in this situation took precedence, and unfortunately, the end of the world took precedence over that.

  The smallest of the girls wore blue and yellow, with a conical straw hat, and had the chain of a meteor hammer wrapped around her waist once, while the girl idly twirled one weighted end of the weapon. Nils couldn't remember her name, which was strangely embarrassing amidst everything else.

  "Ishiko," Noriko said. "We're here to help."

  "A little late," Ishiko said, tensing. "I can only assume the current situation means your school has fallen. What happened, and where is Marshall?"

  "He's dead, Ishiko. Xharomor killed him."

  Emi sighed dejectedly, then scrambled to steady her hat, while Aki lowered her fans a bit, and cast a more sympathetic glance in Noriko's direction.

  Ishiko, in particular, remained stone-faced. "And for that, you turned your back on us, and Japan?"

  "We had everything right," Noriko said, tone more defensive now. Nils figured it was his turn to put a hand on her shoulder. Her posture eased, but she remained tense. "One of our teachers betrayed everyone to Xharomor and sabotaged the whole thing."

  “Betrayal is quite a thing,” Ishiko said blankly. “You think you know someone, and they surprise you.” Emi stepped a little closer to Ishiko. The girl in blue and yellow looked back and forth, like she was watching a tennis match. Aki, on the other hand, hung back, her face panning a bit slower and wider.

  "Come on; we're all on the same side here," Nils said, trying to calm the obvious tension, as Noriko and Ishiko kept their eyes locked on one another.

  "I'm not entirely sure about that," Ishiko replied. "We were on the same side. And then she left."

  While Noriko and Ishiko glared at one another, Nils tried a different tactic, going on what his girlfriend had told him. His eyes settled on Aki. "At the very least, we have the same enemy, and the same goals. Everyone is going to need help right now."

  "Listen to my brother," Hobie said, narrowing his eyes. He kept his makeshift spear pointed upward, but with Hobie, it sounded like a challenge anyway.

  The girl in blue and yellow certainly seemed to take it that way. Her hand closed on the chain at her belt, and she stepped forward, suddenly less neutral-looking. "Or what? We have our mission here, and it doesn't involve you."

  Nils observed this new wing of the stand-off and vaguely remembered that he'd heard the girl went by her surname because she found her given name embarrassingly delicate.

  Aki spoke up. “Emi? Xharomor's going to be sending someone soon?”

  Emi nodded hesitantly.

  “Maybe we should talk about that,” Aki said, looking to Ishiko.

  Ishiko's glare remained. "And trust them? Ask for their help? Noriko will run off and take her friends with her as soon as she thinks she sees a better opportunity. That will leave us worse off and more vulnerable than if we just don't trust her in the first place."

  "I'm right here," Noriko said. "And we're not going anywhere. We have some ideas—"

  Ishiko interjected again. "We're doing just fine without you and your ideas."

  "Like you did fine at Hikari Tower?" Noriko said. Nils winced, seeing the stung reactions from the three girls standing with Ishiko.
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  "At least as well there as you did for your school," Ishiko said. "Plus we kept the Seal intact.” Nils had to admit that was a point. The returning Otherrealm forces would have to cross distance or trickle through complex invocations instead of come flooding. However, Noriko's attempt at 'the best defense,' had clearly backfired enough that Ishiko couldn't even rest on that point. She stared coldly as she continued. “At least we can say we were a man down."

  Nils could almost hear it, the escalation she was about to add, the 'oh, wait, now you are, too.' He cut that off as much for Celeste's sake as Noriko's. "At least listen to what we have to say."

  “Can you give us a reason?” Aki asked, a hint of more strain in her voice now.

  Nils was about to answer, when Celeste did it for him. "Because we need your help."

  Everyone looked at her, with the Storm's Light girls mostly looking slightly confused. Celeste continued. "We have an idea to try to save the world, but we've lost everyone who could have helped us. I know Noriko's leaving caused you a lot of problems... but don't we all have an even bigger one right now?"

  Aki was the first with an answer, even as she stepped up and carefully met Ishiko's eyes for a moment. "We should at least listen. We don't have to trust them. But our forces are kind of worn thin, and the JSDF isn't prepared for daemons or witchcraft."

  Ishiko bristled, but didn't immediately reject the suggestions this time. After a short pause, looking at Celeste, then Noriko, she pulled the Storm's Light back to talk among themselves.

  While they were at it, Noriko pulled her own group back as well. "I don't know if they're going to go for it, but at least they're thinking about it. Do we have a plan if they say get lost?"

  "You really think they might still turn us down?" Celeste said.

  "I know my sisters," Noriko said. "I hurt them a lot when I followed Marshall back to the Academy. But I really thought it was the best chance."

  Nils put his hand on her shoulder again. "And it was. We had it right. Hikari Tower would have fallen either way.”

  As to how much that helped, he would have only Noriko's slight relaxation under his hand to judge, because that was when the other Storm's Light girls turned to face them again.

  “Are we done dithering? Think we can fight some real bad guys now?" Hobie asked, mostly in Noriko and Nils's general direction, but apparently happy enough to let anyone assume he was talking to them.

  The tiny little supergirl—Nils would remember her name—now looked like she wanted to give Hobie the cultural equivalent of a high-five. That impression was somewhat reinforced by the fact that Ishiko's first stern look was for the small girl with the chain weapon, instead of Hobie. The girl—Noriko sometimes called her the Little Mountain, but that was some kind of I Ching thing, so he couldn't use etymology to figure out her name—schooled her expression, managing to look chastened, and then serious. Hobie didn't bother, just grinning, even when Ishiko turned the disapproving glare first on him, then towards Noriko, as if she could do anything about him.

  Nils pulled his brother aside to help cover for his girlfriend and look like he was doing something, while Noriko and Ishiko resumed talking. "Hobie," Nils said and immediately recognized Hobie's sighing-through-a-lecture face. "Nice job.” That got a slightly surprised look out of his brother, and Nils continued. “I'm sure you weren't planning to give them something to agree on besides Xharomor, but it might even help. Can you have the decency, meanwhile, to look like you've been scolded, and wait for your cue to mutter some insincere apology?"

  Noriko and Ishiko were talking in rapid Japanese, and it didn't seem quite as contentious as only a few minutes before. To his credit, Hobie managed to avoid a grin and hang his head a bit. Eventually, Nils gave him the cue to shamble over and mutter an apology, soon followed by a much more sincere, "So, what's the plan?"

  Ishiko glanced at Aki, then Noriko, before addressing the overall group. "After Hikari, we've had to divide forces. There's others guarding the capital and the other relics. We were sent to the shrine here to protect Amaterasu's Mirror. We can call for some reinforcements, but the options are limited if Xharomor attacks multiple places at once. This wasn't exactly given highest priority by the defense forces."

  "Which might be for the best," Emi said. "I don't really want to be trying to teach occultism 101 to a bunch of soldiers while trying to ward the place. People who don't know what they're doing are equally likely to help or hurt right now."

  The Little Mountain shook her head. "My money would be getting in the way. The Capital is in serious trouble if Xharomor's people head there."

  "Xharomor's people?" Celeste said. "You don't think he's going to be here himself?"

  “He'll probably consolidate his power base and start giving people things to do,” Nils said.

  Ishiko raised a brow, giving Nils an assessing look, before nodding. "That seems likely. He has a lot of targets and enemies he needs to hit, now that they're through."

  "That's only going to last so long, though," Hobie said.

  "Which is why we need to hold out here long enough to complete the ritual," Emi said.

  "Ritual?" Celeste asked.

  "A ritual of renewal and rebirth. They take the shrine down and lay the foundation for the new one. We're hoping that, between the rite, and the mirror, we can renew Amaterasu's protection and buy some time."

  "That sounds like exactly what we're here for. We'll help any way we can," Noriko said.

  Ishiko looked like she was about to comment on just what sort of ways Noriko could help, but cut herself off. Aki spoke instead. "Let's all get something to eat, and we can start discussing our options." Nils noted that she didn't go so far as to thank them, at least yet, but it was progress.

  Hobie walked over to the Little Mountain with a grin that almost made Nils want to remind his brother the girl was too old for him. He knew better, though. The only Romantic bones in Hobie's body were the capital-R kind, about things like the fun-terror of the Sublime, the poetry of life, and the importance of great causes. If their WWIII Battlefield Ace had intent with the Little Mountain, it was for combat talk.

  “Kaida, right?” said Hobie. “I've heard good things.”

  Nils sighed internally.

  7

  How Many

  Hrobjart Bjornsson

  He did his best, at the others' insistence, but Hobie barely slept. Every unfamiliar sound outside their little camp had him awake and armed, joining whoever was on guard duty until he'd confirmed it was nothing important. By the time morning actually dawned, he was up and moving, doing a patrol before breakfast, just to be certain.

  He wasn't terribly surprised when Kaida joined him. Her combat height was definitely shorter than Noriko's, but he didn't doubt this was her combat height.

  "Couldn't sleep either?" he asked.

  "Never can when a fight is coming up," she answered.

  They fell into step quietly for a while, checking the perimeter not only for signs anyone was nearby that shouldn't be, but tracks or other disturbances suggesting someone had been last night. He finally spoke up again. "Fight coming up? You think they'll be here today?"

  "Hard to say. We've been steadily losing news feeds from the States and Europe. But they're coming, and we still have a lot to do for the ritual."

  "I'm sure I already know the answer, but is there anything we can do to hurry it along?" Every time Nils or Celeste had a ritual to do, it always meant hours, if not days, of guard duty and holding off horrible things for 'just a little bit longer.'

  Kaida grinned. "If only. Emi has been working with the monks and the high priestess, doing everything she can to make sure everyone is prepared. It all has to go just right."

  "We haven't had a lot of just right," Hobie said.

  "No one has.”

  “Have you got any pathstones left to get the monks and priestesses out of here?”

  “We managed to salvage one last set of stones to the T'ila Tower in Ethiopia, but they
volunteered to stay and do this. Whatever happens, at least they can say they tried to do right by the temple.”

  They really weren't into leaving. Hobie nodded as he listened. “Your noncombatants are badass,” he acknowledged.

  “They are.” There was a slight pause. “Your magic folks ought to be able to make Emi's job a lot easier. Don't tell Ishiko I said it, but I'm glad you guys are here."

  "Doesn't seem like everyone shares your opinion."

  Kaida shrugged. "Don't get me wrong. I'm still pissed off at Noriko. We could really have used her... well, a bunch of times, but most recently, at Hikari. But...I get it.”

  "For what it's worth, she's second-guessed it a lot and missed you guys.”

  Kaida raised a brow. "She said that?"

  "Not exactly. She's not super-talkative about stuff that's bugging her, but she's my brother's girl. And we spar a lot. Your names have come up."

  “Oh. Well... I do get it. She was doing what she thought was best to protect the world, which kind of fits in with our oath."

  “You've got an oath, too? Did you take it here?”

  “Yes. I assume you took one, too.”

  “Yeah, at the walls.”

  “Of the Gisting Tower, right?”

  “No, the Academy.”

  “...why?”

  “Mom wanted us transferred.”

  “Are you worried about Gisting and the King of Monsters?”

  “I don't know if worry is the right word.”

  "I'm not seeing any signs of trouble. Think we should get back?"

  Hobie looked around one more time. "I guess so. They'll need our help with the fortifications."

  "Fortifications, right. After the towers weren't enough, and all," Kaida said, hesitating, "Do you really think we have a chance?"

  Hobie started back towards the shrine. "No," he said. Then he smiled. "But if we don't, we can make sure it's one Hel of an ending."