Civilians shouldn’t have even been running into the Celmothian embassy, but now we had to deal with it. I had to deal with it. I couldn’t blame the ones who were confused and afraid, but the ones who weren’t? They were a problem. I was already scanning the crowd for problematic elements. There were a number of people with powers, and they should have been better able to resist Gloom. That also meant they should have had a level enough head to listen to Madame Multitude and get somewhere safe instead of the location that was under attack.

  People had only just started settling into the secondary lobby when complaints began. “Where are all the soldiers? Why aren’t we being protected?”

  The woman who complained was annoying. She had absolutely been that type before she got her powers. Portal powers, if I was reading things correctly- being the local expert on such things, I liked to think I was.

  “None of you are the target,” I began to explain slowly. I wanted to pick out as many people as I could before there was more trouble. “So we will provide sufficient aid to-”

  “They’re terrorists!” she shouted over me. “They want to kill us all! You have to-”

  “Ma’am,” I raised my voice. I couldn’t compete with her magical enhancement, but I didn’t need to. “You need to calm down. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

  “I’m not going to pass out! What’s wrong with you, I’m-”

  I tried to catch her as she toppled forward. Not very hard, but I tried. She hit the marble floor face first. It was a good thing I’d juiced up the Sleep spell enough that even that didn’t wake her.

  “You two-” I pointed to ‘random’ people. “Pick her up and get her onto that couch,” I pointed at the furthest one. It was one of the human sized ones, but that was a coincidence. The two people hesitated upon being called out. “Now! I have to watch out for villains, or don’t you want that?”

  Sometimes, you just had to act. In different circumstances, I would have knocked the woman unconscious by other means, but nobody knew she was a villain yet. Then again, I didn’t have any definitive proof that she was. But random people with portal powers that slid in with the civilians sure indicated that some of them were part of Darkstargirl’s fanatic minions.

  A mixed force of Celmothian soldiers and extra agents was watching over the lobby. With people settled down for a moment, I consulted with the captain, a Celmothian with a very shiny adaptive suit. “Make sure to carefully watch over these people.” I meant that in two ways. I indicated a few specific people in the crowd. “If that woman shows signs of waking up… blast her. She was using powers to try to rile people up.”

  She wasn’t the best at it, but the effect would have built up over time if I hadn’t dealt with her. Fortunately, I knew my foes here. I also knew they weren’t patient. I had to get out to the front to deal with the real villains. On the way, I met up with Midnight.

  “How were the VIPs?” I asked.

  “Understanding but unhelpful,” Midnight commented. “We could probably solve this entire incident in a few seconds if some of the super guards aided us. But I can’t exactly tell the president that she should leave herself vulnerable. At least the Celmothian delegation is cooperative. The current plan is to get that group to the teleporter. It will take a few minutes to properly activate it, though.”

  “Right,” I said. “We’ll have to be quick because there’s potential trouble among the civilians. I don’t suppose the defenses here can do anything against that?”

  Midnight shook his head. “The building will hold, but there’s no way the automated turrets will do anything to prevent an incident. Though they can help settle it.” I looked vaguely outside. “Darkstargirl has disengaged from that flying guy. I’ll handle her if you can deal with Gloom.”

  Obviously we also had some soldiers, but they’d have to counter the Bunvorixians that were landing. How did they actually get into New Bay without being shot down in high atmosphere? Well, despite their looks they were one of the highest tech groups I’d seen so it wasn’t entirely crazy. We hadn’t been expecting an attack of this magnitude, and I just hoped we could hold out until reinforcements arrived. I’d take heroes, mercs, or even Rodentia. I wondered if I could inform the latter that Bunvorixians had wiped out their squirrel population.

  “I can handle Gloom for a bit,” Midnight commented. “But are you sure about your part?”

  I tapped my staff on the ground, leaving a patch of frost behind. “Absolutely. I’m like a million times better at Energy Ward than before.”

  That was an exaggeration. It probably wasn’t even double. But with the right energy type on my quarterstaff, I should be able to manage. At the very least, I could draw her attention and hold her off for a bit.

  As we arrived, Bunvorixian weapons fire blasted against one of the outer doors. The other one had a weakening energy barrier. Madame Multitude was just coming inside, three of her carrying one woman that presumably couldn’t walk on her own. “This is the last of the civilians!” she said. “The rest have properly retreated!”

  “Take her to the secondary lobby,” Midnight ordered one Celmothian soldier. Then he turned to her. “Please be cautious.”

  “Oh, I’ve learned about what situations I can handle,” Madame Multitude said. “Trust me, I won’t be participating in any fights.” She frowned behind her. “Seriously, who shoots at an old lady?”

  Midnight had an answer for that. “Brainwashed soldiers ordered around by tiny evil canines.”

  She grunted. I did hope she stayed safe. Ceira would be mad if we got her secretary re-injured.

  Just as the doors shut, they trembled. Then they bent, black flames swirling everywhere. Shining stars filled the form of a woman standing in front of a swarm of Bunvorixians and one spooky outline of a person.

  “Darkstargirl!” I pointed my quarterstaff at her as I prepared to provoke her, but before I could she was already flying at my face and screaming.

  I had intended to smack her in the face, but the timing was bad so I had to pull back and block. Dark flames licked against the staff currently set to cold. She followed up with a kick, and I planted my staff while reaching up with one hand to block her leg.

  She didn’t stop her attack… so I caught her with a boosted Energy Ward. Specifically, a reverse energy ward. Suddenly, she wasn’t a sparkling night sky, but just a woman. But she twisted out of my grip and suddenly flipped backwards. Or was it a hand spring? Far too acrobatic for a proper fight… but I suppose that was what she knew. And if it worked… it worked.

  With her retreating, I had to spring for cover. Most of the Bunvorixian fire was concentrated near leg level because they were aiming for Celmothians, and I turned a table over for cover. It probably would have resisted bullets, as it seemed to be of fine make. It wouldn’t last long against high tech guns, though. I was already gathering more mana. A nice Blizzard should cover most of our foes.

  Midnight was… pretty calm, all things considered. He had been prepared with a second casting of Mental Freedom as Gloom arrived, and now he was clawing at her legs, making use of an empowered Shocking Grasp. Meanwhile, his suit was shooting at Gloom and forcing her to block. Whatever supervillain tailor she went was clearly a decent rival for Francois, or she would already be filled with holes- ghostly powers or not.

  The balance wasn’t great for us though. We really needed something more. Fortunately, she showed up.

  “Vein! Let’s take care of these dogs!” That was probably racist, but I wasn’t going to call someone out in an active warzone. Especially not since I appreciated Thiziri. I wasn’t up on what her current moniker was, though.

  Walls appeared throughout the entry way, some bright and some dark. They provided cover against the Bunvorixian fire… but only in one direction? I could barely even see them from my side. Clearly, she hadn’t spent the last month or so sitting around but properly trained her new magical girl powers.

  Vein was either fearless or reckless as the Humurun skunk-shaped individual ran right past Midnight and Gloom’s battle and into the line of fire. Though only briefly, as the glossy creature disappeared into one of the barriers Thiziri had set up… and out of another.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Even when Vein wasn’t in cover, half of the time shots went through them and most of the rest bounced off. I couldn’t tell what was illusion and what was not. It didn’t seem the pair was providing a whole lot of offensive power at the moment, but merely handling the chaos was great.

  I had to angle my Blizzard to avoid both Midnight and Vein, but it wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately, even in the few moments it took me Darkstargirl had managed to burn through all of the Energy Ward. Now she was melting the floor beneath her, her eyes white points of hatred in the darkness of her starry form.

  “You’re the one responsible for your own stupidity,” I commented as I filled the hallway with ice.

  I had kind of expected most of the Bunvorixians to be statues, but they had some sort of barrier that protected them. Not Bunvorixian tech, but likely some sort of magic.

  They were still frosty, though. Just not solid.

  “Retreat!” one of them barked.

  Darkstargirl lobbed a few balls of flame at me, but I smacked them with my staff. I prepared myself for her to charge me again, but she actually backed out instead. Gloom too.

  The barrier covering the front doors activated again behind them.

  I could just let them go… but they would probably just strike again the moment I turned my back. I already had a bunch of mana gathered for another Energy Ward. I really hoped Madame Multitude was right about the whole civilian thing.

  “Sorry about your plaza,” I commented to Midnight.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “Something like this can be repaired eas-” He side eyed me as he could tell I was still gathering mana. “Is that really necessary?”

  “Absolutely.”

  There were a bunch of Bunvorixians saucers just sitting there- some preparing to take off. And my other targets were in the area.

  “Is what-” Thiziri barely managed to start asking her question when my spell finished. She might not be great at sensing mana use, but active attacks seemed to be within her capabilities. “Oh.”

  Darkstargirl was the first to react to the Meteor Swarm, kicking off Gloom and streaking into the sky. She was only clipped by the edge of the various explosions. Gloom was out of direct line of sight, but I felt her powers falter. Most of the Bunvorixians were in cover, and conventional explosions were something their shields were prepared to deal with. However, that didn’t mean they were fine.

  A couple of them had taken off, and the concussive blasts sent them reeling into others or crashing into the ground. Landing gear twisted beneath ones that were more directly beneath the blasts, likely crushing some Bunvorixians. I felt bad for their soldiers, but this wasn’t a situation where I could nicely hold back. I wondered if they knew how much trouble they were in. They could barely handle the Celmothians, but now they had invaded New Bay. Also the United States and Earth, I guess. The Martians also had a mutual defense pact. The previous incidents were outside city borders and somewhat ignorable, but this was something that would get a significant response.

  And they weren’t even going to accomplish anything. We’d successfully stopped them and-

  “We need to get to the Teleporter,” I said, grabbing Midnight. “Come!” I threw Haste on us and Thiziri, or Anima or whatever. Not the most efficient, but I didn’t even want to spare the extra cost for three random additional people.

  “What is it?” Midnight asked. “I should warn them!”

  “Don’t use comms,” I warned. “You know who is still missing?”

  “Spot.”

  “Exactly.”

  I was worried about the civilians, but there was only so much I could do.

  A voice sounded in my ear. Power Brigade dispatcher. “First reinforcements arriving in thirty seconds.”

  … Had I missed a previous update? That wasn’t really a warning.

  “Yo!” A familiar voice rang out on the radio. It sounded pretty normal speed. “Open the front doors!”

  “Darkstargirl already smashed them,” I replied to Shockwave. “Front’s open. Watch out for shrapnel and fire. Can you handle some civilians?”

  “Like… punch ‘em?”

  “Protect them from Darkstargirl fanatics who are mixed in.”

  “... It’s not my problem if someone goes deaf in the process,” Shockwave said.

  Eh. Someone could fix that if it happened. And we couldn’t linger behind for Physical Freedom. But at least I was ninety-nine percent sure that none of the embassy windows would shatter.

  -----

  We had about half of Haste left when we rushed into the Teleporter room. That was the only reason I didn’t get hit in the face but just barely managed to duck under a kick. Or at least I thought I did, but the attacker’s leg hooked around and got me in the back. Then I was caught by the elbow just before I crashed into the floor… though I was already redirecting my fall so I would have been fine.

  “Why didn’t you message ahead?” the guard said. In one hand he had a gun that probably would have been used to shoot me in the head and/or back if he hadn’t recognized me. Had he been with the president? He looked so… normal. Which was probably part of his job.

  “Because,” I said as I steadied myself on my feet, “Of this.”

  I’d had to think about how to deal with the problem that before I entered the room I only presumed was there. Fire and lightning were too generally destructive. I’d just seen cold be resisted. Acid wasn’t any better. Energy wasn’t elemental, but it also wasn’t not elemental. For example, Stoneskin had been included when I reached Advanced Energy Magic. Ignis could carry a rock.

  So that was what I used. I created dozens of individual pillars of stone. Very weak pillars. They weren’t neatly distributed, because I had no time to think about that even with Haste active. I just filled the area. In some places the pillars crumbled as they impacted heavier individuals, while others were pushed all the way to the ceiling. Merely brushing up against some of the pillars of chalk left people with a powdery residue on themselves.

  Our magical girl wasted no time at all filling the area with a blanket of sparkles. I found it to be a similar effect to the Glitterdust spell… which I would have learned if I had been thinking about invisible people before.

  I hadn’t had time to communicate there were invisible people to Midnight, but he’d been preparing his own spell. Or rather, anti-spell. Spot’s position was the most obvious among the bunch because even though he was trying to hide his magical signature, he wasn’t perfect. When he was suddenly hit in the chin with a powdery pillar, he lost some of that control- and Midnight targeted him specifically.

  It probably didn’t need to be mentioned, but the teleporter room was full of expensive machinery. The Celmothians didn’t exactly have a great number of interstellar teleporters. From what I understood it mixed the knowledge of several high tech groups. It still might be less useful than Midnight or I casting Gate, and might have also relied on some of the artificer type Celmothians who got class powers.

  Beam weapons shot out in both directions… only to be directly suppressed by a field filling the room. Not individual barriers but a continuous dampening effect everywhere. It stopped both Bunvorixians and Celmothians, but that honestly gave our side a bit of an advantage.

  The guy who had kicked me was far less polite to the first Bunvorixian he reached- and it had to be noted that he got to them almost before I could have, and I was Hasted. Not a speedster, though. More of an agility type. Though, there was a lot of overlap between the two. Either way, his kicks seemed to pack enough punch to overcome the protections of the Bunvorixians. That was a surprise, but I wasn’t going to question it at the moment.

  Spot was a big canine. He would reach an average human’s chest height while he was on all fours. He stood tall and proud for all of two seconds before Extra figured out which of their weapons worked and got good angles around the center of the room.

  “We’ve been found out! Retreat!” he ordered. I felt him draw upon a whole lot of mana. I readied Energy Ward to try to contain the blast of power, trying to match him. Nearly twenty mana was involved in the attack.

  Nothing happened. Or rather, I felt a small disturbance in the structure of space.

  I was already running into the melee, and my staff came down on Spot’s head. “Yeah, we warded against that kind of crap for a reason.”

  He’d wasted both his mana and time on a Gate spell. I lost a little bit of my 20 mana reorienting from Energy Ward to a Sleep spell, but I managed to knock out about half of the dozen or so Bunvorixian agents with that. And I whacked Spot upside the head a few more times.

  It wasn’t nice to hit animals. Bunvorixians weren’t animals, and of all of them Spot especially knew what he was doing.

  Two minutes later, we had him cuffed with Celmothian restraints and some power-suppressing handcuffs attached to those. They were ready for the body shape, but the powers weren’t something they frequently dealt with yet.

  I was glad the wards got put to use. Midnight and I would probably have to do some maintenance right away, but at least they worked. It was also probably a good thing that no Bunvorixians were able to sneak onto Celmoth. That would have been bad. I was going to have to check Spot for extradimensional storage, because they’d probably want to sneak some sort of devices there.

  I didn’t envy the engineers who would have to triple check the teleporter before anyone could use it. The Bunvorixians might have gotten in before all the chaos started.

  Nobody got any lasting hearing damage from Shockwave. Well, maybe the annoying lady or some of the others. A couple of them had warrants out for their arrest, and Shockwave had managed to cuff some of them while people were trying to cover their ears from the sudden noise.

  All in all a successful event. I just hoped we didn’t have to start that boring ceremonial stuff over.