The Simulacrum

~Chapter 140~ Part 3

"Judy? Are you there?"

I reflexively tapped my ear, even though it was pointless, but I got no answer. It wasn't that surprising though; she was probably busy coordinating with Duncan and Elly at the moment, and didn't have the leeway to connect to me. I really wanted to ask for a second opinion again, but she couldn't be at two places at once. Neither could I. At least not officially.

And that brings us back to the problem at hand: should I head to the Orange Zone as Bel, or as myself? There were pros and cons for both. If I went as myself, I could bring Cal and Teeny along, which would've levelled the playing field. That said, whether I chose to engage Percival or to crack down on the Colossi, I would've had to fight seriously, but at least I had a choice.

Acting as Bel gave me more freedom to use my Phasing ability though, and I could use my presence to relatively safely draw the attention of the Colossi while letting the others back up Morgana and Arnwald. It would also allow me to do the whole 'Phase Percival three hundred meters high into the air without a parachute' thing, if push came to shove. On the flip side, without a weapon, it was about as far as my offensive capabilities went as Bel, which was a bit of a problem.

The clock was ticking though, and after considering everything, I put my weapons back into the storage enchantment and shifted over to the Bel outfit. I wasn't sure it was the best choice, but if it didn't work out, I could just disengage and show up as Leonard later, something I couldn't do the other way around. I was also a bit afraid that someone would put together a timeline later and bring into question how I got to the other side of the city in just a few seconds, and it was always better to be safe than sorry. Or so my girlfriends always told me. I fixed up my mask and was just about to Phase out when I noticed something tugging on my trouser.

Pudding-kun was on the floor, and he was doing his best to pinch the fabric with his stubby tentacles, his one big eye staring intently at me.

"Do you want to come along?" The tiny eldritch horror nodded enthusiastically, but I had to disappoint it. "Sorry, pal, but I kind of need you here to serve as my anchor. I might have to change my outfits a few more times today."

The mini-shoggoth let out a disappointed snort, so I crouched down and lightly patted its fleshy back to make it feel better.

Anyhow, once prepared, I took a deep breath and shifted my mentality to the 'Bel of the Abyss' setting. Since I no longer had Cal doing the mana circulation, both my exhaustion and my headache were creeping back into my perception, but I forcefully pushed them aside and Phased over.

"I'm back!" I exclaimed as I appeared standing on top of the Colossus Dad-in-law was squaring up against, and then promptly jumped off just before he grabbed the surprised creature and suplexed it. Normally I would've made a big deal out of that, but I was steadily running out of my damns-to-give supply, so I just shrugged and added, "Sorry for being late; there was this other show that was just really, really fascinating and I got sidetracked. What did I miss?"

My nonchalant question was met by a series of roars as the Colossi, including the one still on the floor after getting its ass handed to it by Abram, focused all of their attention on me. This pretty much confirmed my previous theory about how I was their primary target, and it should've given my extended family and friends ample opportunity to strike… yet they seemed more worried about my presence than the big statue monsters they were fighting just seconds ago. Priorities, people. Priorities.

"You are…?" Dad-in-law tried to address me, but before he could finish his sentence, he was nearly knocked aside by two Colossi rushing in from the side. Based on the burn marks, these were the ones Sebastian had been toying with, which was perfect.

This meant that, with the old butler freed up, he could back up the struggling senior Knights. Or at least that's how it should've been.

"Stand back. I'll be his opponent." Sebastian declared out of the blue and started menacingly walking towards me while cracking his knuckles. "Clear the way. I'm afraid I'll have to get serious."

Staring blankly at him, I Phased out of the way of the Colossi charging at me and behind him.

"Wait? Why weren't you fighting those things seriously?"

My question was so genuine I nearly broke character, and so I hastily pointed a pair of irreverent finger guns at the disoriented statue creatures, but he brushed me off with a soft scoff.

"I had to preserve my stamina, knowing that you would return." He fully turned to me and assumed a boxing stance. "Don't think I forgot about how you stole my property!"

"Is this seriously—?" My danger sense blared, so I repeatedly Phased back to avoid his sudden rush and his straight jabs aimed at my head. "— still about—?" This time, he closed the distance and tried to sweep my legs before following it up with a short Dragon Fire burst. Of course, by the time it came, I was already elsewhere. "— that stupid spear?"

In the meantime, I tried to get a better look at the state of the Colossi. The ones Rinne and Naoren fought were in the worst shape. One was missing a leg, still in the process of growing a new one, while the other had its armour and helmet completely pummelled out of shape, with even a few fist-sized holes here and there, and barely being able to move. The one Snowy and Emese kited wasn't in much better shape either, and it was practically nailed in place, its back studded with so many ice-spikes it looked like a porcupine, while Dad-in-law's one was currently trapped in a choke-hold.

By the looks of it, these things had the same kind of tunnel vision as the first Chimera I met, and they were so focused on me, that it left them wide open to the combined attacks of my Draconian associates. As for Mountain Girl, I used the momentary lull in the hostilities (read: the moment between two of Sebastian's combos) to gesture at her, and for once, she was quick on the uptake. With some Japanese words I couldn't hear properly, she lunged at the two Colossi previously engaged with the butler and methodically hamstrung them while they were still focused on me.

Once again, I sincerely doubted that it would've done more than temporarily hinder these alabaster eyesores, but I was still busy with Sebastian, so getting them off my back for the moment was still nice. But speaking of which…

"Are you seriously doing this?" I hissed at the incognito dragon with undisguised indignation after Phasing away to the other side of the warehouse. "If you're really that hung up on that spear, why aren't you taking it up with—?"

It was at this point that I belatedly realized that I lost track of Sir Percival, and I glanced up at the roof, only for my danger sense to scream at me again. This time, I didn't need to dodge. I reflexively made a slapping motion with my right hand, closely mimicked by my phantom limbs, and then my vision was tinted red from a sudden burst of Dragon Fire enveloping the spot where I stood.

A blink of an eye later, before my sight even had time to clear up, I got another warning, and this time I Phased away just in time to avoid a tail strike. In the split-second, Sebastian partially transformed. Unlike my in-laws, he didn't get taller or buffer, but he grew large wings, a long, tapered tail, and six or eight pairs of twisted horns on his head. It was hard to make out the details, but from what I could see, besides his face, his entire body was now covered in shiny, obsidian-black scales. Even more impressively, his fingers now ended in talons that made the ones Elly had in her Draconian form look cute in comparison, and when he swept at me, the resulting wind blades coming off their tips positively shredded the metal gate of the warehouse, along with part of the walls.

"How the heck is this building still standing?"

The nonchalant question slipped out of my mouth before I knew it, and it made Sebastian literally growl at me.

"Don't you dare look away! I'm your opponent!"

"You're really not though," I tried to point out the obvious, only to get another burst of Dragon Fire in my face for my trouble.

"Hold on, elder! We'll support you!" Naoren suddenly yelled from the side, followed by a confused, "But what about the empyrean monsters?" from Mountain Girl and a groan coming right from the bottom of my soul.

"Time out!" I yelled and put my hands in the internationally recognized T-position before snappily pointing at the Feilong patriarch. "You stay right there, mister! You can get your dessert once you are finished with your meal! Understood?"

"… What?"

Ignoring his baffled response, I turned to Sebastian again. The old man was apparently still raring to go, so before he could get moving, I made a cross with my forearms in front of my chest.

"Stop! You're wasting everyone's time, and I won't stand for this!"

I would've continued, but my speech was rudely interrupted by the sound of an explosion coming from the roof, followed by a panicked, "Morgana! No!"

Once again, my body was moving ahead of my brain, and before I knew it, I was already Phasing into the air, where a certain Knight was currently in a free-fall. To my surprise, it turned out my famous girl-catching reflexes applied just as well to adult women, and once I grabbed her, I immediately Phased to the ground, before either of us could build too much momentum. I wasn't fast enough though, and with Morgana in my arms, I could absolutely feel the impact in my knees.

"Bloody hell! At this rate, I'll develop arthritis by the end of the day…"

My hissed exclamation made the normally cool and collected woman look at me funny for a moment, only to then get startled by the beams and other corrugated roof elements crashing down around us. Then, just as things finally grew quiet, our Sir Eagle yelled at us for good measure.

"Let her go, you fiend!"

Looking up, I found him on the roof, looking through the same hole she fell through, and…

"Holy hell, another hole? Seriously, how is this building still standing?" Shaking my head, I loudly declared, "They really knew how to build them in the past, didn't they?"

"Look out! He has a hostage!" Sebastian shouted, and this was the point where my patience reached its absolute theoretical limit.

"Your… I mean… What are you—?" Morgana tried to ask, uncertain about how to address me, but before she could finish, I already Phased over to Lord Barnabas's side and unceremoniously put her down next to Raven Boy.

"Auntie? Are you all right?"

I didn't hear her answer, because by that point I already Phased next to Sebastian. The context-insensitive old man probably thought I was finally going on the offensive, as he braced himself, only to look completely flabbergasted when I Phased him up to the roof, right next to the equally startled Arnwald.

It was only when I got there that I finally realized why I hadn't been seeing Snowy in a while now; during the time the Draconians (and Rinne), were playing whack-a-mole with the battered Colossi to keep them down and out of the fight, and Sebastian was pinpoint-focused on me over an old grudge, she had been up here and helping the senior Knights suppressing Percival. Speaking of which…

"Come down, little missy! Isn't fighting like this unfair?" Percival exclaimed with an odd mixture of annoyance and excitement as he swept a couple of icicles out of the air with his spear, with the rest of them embedding themselves into the thick corrugated metal of the roof around him.

"You don't care about fairness, so neither do I," Snowy responded with a snarl and made a couple of gestures, causing the ice spears around him to explode into a cold mist.

The old man immediately jumped back, but he still got parts of his armour covered in a thin layer of frost. It only lasted for a second though, as his gear let out a high-pitched noise, and all the rime flaked off him. All in all, he didn't seem to receive any damage, but Snowy being able to keep him busy like that was still impressive.

"What are you doing here—?!" Arnwald started as he reached for his bow, but by then I already wrapped a phantom limb around him, and we appeared next to the increasingly more baffled arch-mage and the two Knights. "… fiend?"

"Yes, yes. Much evil, such wow," I said whatever came to my exhausted mind, and lazily wriggled my fingers at him.

Sufficiently bamboozled, I left Arnwald behind and returned to the rooftop. As things stood, this arrangement should've been sufficient to take down the old man. As powerful as his gear was, between Snowy, and a serious Sebastian, I doubted he could've done much, but just to be safe, I Phased over to announce my departure, lest the old dragon would start wasting time looking for me again.

"This should do it!" I exclaimed with all the faux enthusiasm I could squeeze out of me. "A Black Knight with Celestial technology against a Black Draconian backed by Abyssal magic! This should be fun!"

"Was this your goal all along?"

Sebastian was still on guard against me, but before I could respond, my sister landed next to him.

"M-Mister von Fraenir? Shouldn't we focus on Sir Percival first?"

"He might be only waiting for us to exhaust ourselves so that he could steal the spear again."

Oh, for the love of…! Why was this stubborn old man so obsessed with the bloody dragon-slaying spear?! It was seriously getting on my nerves.

"No, you…!"

I was just about to chew him out, telling him I didn't want the spear at all, but the words were stuck in my throat.

Why?

Why did I suddenly feel like I was overlooking something? That I was about to make one of those stupid mistakes for which I'd curse hindsight after-the-fact? It was on the tip of my tongue; something obvious, that I couldn't grasp… until I laid my eyes on the glowing spear in Percival's hands.

… What the hell? How did I miss this until now?

Sure, it wasn't the original dragon-slaying spear, but outside of the anti-draconic curse on it, I reproduced all the other enchantments in order to fool Sebastian. He treated it as the real deal, Percival treated it as the real deal, and infinitely more importantly, the Narrative treated it as the real deal. The original was even a plot device, meaning it was always meant to play a pivotal role in the plot.

Now, what role was a freaking dragon-slaying weapon best suited for? Slaying dragons, of course. Oh, and what a coincidence! We had an actual, genuine dragon right over here; one of the only two known ones in existence! And this is an extremely dramatic, dare I say, climactic moment, with high stakes and everything. Sure, my intervention had already caused it to go waaay off the rails, but I could still see the fundamental scaffolding in place.

Raise the stakes with the Colossi to have Sebastian come out, let him have a big, dramatic fight to show off his power, and then let Percival give him the stabby-stab, establishing himself as a genuine threat. It's pretty much 'How to build up your villains 101'; have him take down one of the strongest allies of the good guys, to show that they mean business, and light the fire under the protagonist(s) asses to get stronger. Classic shounen battle formula, a veritable timeless trope if there ever was one… and I would sooner jump off a bridge than be on the receiving end of it.

"You know what? Hold that thought," I spoke softly, slipping back into my usual Bel mannerism as I raised a finger in the direction of Sebastian. "Stay put please while I check something. I'll be right back."

"Oh?" Percival let out an impressed sound, slightly distorted by his armour's voice modulator (why it even needed something like that, I had no idea), but he still assumed a defensive stance. As he shifted his posture, the metal roofing panels under his feet groaned, but remained stable, which once again made me think that whoever originally built this warehouse had overengineered the heck out of it. More importantly, the old bastard pointed the spear at me, and asked, "Have you finally decided to come at me? Good. I just warmed up."

"Shut up, snake. You no longer interest me," I told him in a level voice and Phased right next to him.

I grabbed onto the spear, but considering the levels of our physical enhancements, I had a bat's chance in hell trying to wrestle it out of his gasp. Fortunately, I didn't have to do that; while Phasing items out of other people's hands was tricky, I could do it if I used all of my phantom limbs. I did just that, but then my sixth sense screamed at me about danger. It told me to let go and Phase away, but I wasn't ready yet, and a second later, I felt an enormous impact on my abdomen.

Fortunately, I managed to anchor the spear to myself just in time, and as I Phased back, stumbling a little due to the hit I tanked, I still had the weapon in my hands, while Percival obviously didn't anymore. On closer look, he must've kicked me just then, and the impact was strong enough to break half of the wards of my Leoformer. Still, the gamble was worth it, and ignoring the sore spot on my belly, I straightened my back and looked at the spear in my hand.

"Hmm…? Yes, this certainly looks like the spear in question, but we better make sure," I spoke softly, ignoring the armoured man frozen mid-motion, still grasping at thin air where his weapon used to be. "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice…!"

Without further ado, I activated a different set of enchantments on my Bel suit. It was a legacy feature I never bothered to remove, and one that I specifically developed and installed onto it back during the tournament arc. Back then, if not for the fully transformed Xiao's true Dragon Fire serving as a convenient tool in-the-moment, this was the slightly less dramatic, but just as effective way I devised to get rid of the stupid spear. I never thought I would have the opportunity to use it, but for once, I was thankful for the occasional procrastination streak that stopped me from removing the feature.

As such, I flourished the weapon over my head with a bit of a theatrical flair before grabbing it with both hands, and then brought it down on my knee. The impact triggered the enchantment, and with a blinding flash of light, the fake Ascalon was cleaved in half, shorting out the arrays on it and returning it to its original, unadorned form.

"No!"

Funnily enough, the one letting out a soul-crushing cry wasn't the man who lost the means by which to defend himself, but Sebastian. He looked like I just killed his lover or something. He was really attached to this bloody spear, wasn't he? Anyhow, it was time to deliver the coup-de-grace, so I raised the two halves of the spear and let out a thoughtful hum.

"Huh. Shame on me again, I suppose? I think I might've put a bit too much force into it." I paused for effect and then casually flung the two pieces over my shoulders and down to the warehouse floor. "Oh well, at least now we know it was the original. We all learned something from this. That's how science progresses, or so I've been told."

With that potential threat resolved, I dusted my palms and got ready to vacate the area, before Sebastian would fully transform and start chasing me around while crying bloody vengeance, or something. As such, I gave a cocky wave and a wink before promptly disappearing from the Orange Zone, and then reappearing in the reception room of the underground base. Since Judy's communication artifact had an one-way connection, I couldn't contact her on my own, so this was the quickest way to ask for an update, and maybe some advice on how to proceed.

"Ah, Chief. I was just about to call you," my lovely girlfriend told me in her categorically not-so-lovely star-shaped party glasses, but before she could get into it, I raised a palm and flopped down onto one of the benches.

"Please give me five seconds to catch my breath."

She nodded, and after exactly five seconds, she asked, "Can I start?"

I was just about to remove my mask, so I used the hand I already raised to make a vague gesture, and she tapped the communication artifact on her nose.

"There's a big development at Site B. Angeline broke out of the Restricted Space, and there may already be casualties."

"Casualties," I flatly repeated after her, and she nodded. "… I hate this climax. It's literally the worst."

"Hang in there."

Tried as I might, I couldn't muster a snappy response, so I just stood up, and then immediately Phased away, unaware that I was just about to trigger the biggest change ever; not only in our lives, or in the plot, but in the Simulacrum as a whole. Also…

"Bel of the Tenebrous Flames!"

Oh shit… I forgot to switch outfits, didn't I?