Aclysia kept up with her cat-eared mistress. Although the white-haired maid was over two dozen levels higher, the different weighing of their Stats turned the Lightbearer into the faster of the two of them. To her side sprinted a small golden cat with copper stripes in his fur, Copernicus having manifested sometime on the way.

“Not like ya to come out on your own, Cappy,” Rave let her elemental know.

“I won’t fight unless you really need me,” the sun cat answered, while jumping off a moss covered rock and right onto the thin branch of a young tree. “But I haven’t slept in canopies for a while. This is what I am here for. You can fight your war, for all I care. Just do it quietly.”

“You’re such a tsundere,” the Lightbearer giggled. “Ya can say that you’re worried about me.”

“All I am is concerned about my food source,” Copernicus insisted.

“Yeah, yeah, just be ready when I switch fighting styles.”

Aclysia found the relationship between Rave and her summon somewhat odd. The two of them didn’t hang out a lot; entire days went by with Copernicus at best seen rolled up in some equal parts comfortably and isolated area of the yacht or apartment. Comparing that to the near constant interactions between John and the elemental girls or even John and Stirwin, steadily out for attention and snacks, didn’t quite measure up.

Nevertheless, it seemed like those two had a functioning friendship, just one based on a respectful distance, Rave going into occasional petting frenzies aside. ‘Copernicus is much more a cat than Stirwin is a crocodile,’ the weaponized maid thought and continued to follow the two of them. She did not know where they were heading, but she trusted her mistress’ superior ears.

Rave turned her head slightly, suddenly jumping off the ground and against the thick trunk of a nearby tree. A moment later, Aclysia felt a bunch of small projectiles bounce off her skin, some kind of bullet, in all due likelihood. Nothing short of Baelementium would have even been a threat to her reinforced body from that very same metal. Worthless attacks, whose sources the white-haired servant spied quickly, only to see both of them get hit by a straight beam of light before her mistress landed on her feet again.

“No time for you guys and gals,” the Lightbearer shouted and continued running. Down a slope, Rave took a shot at some distant fighter, identifiable as an enemy thanks to the lack of uniform. Abraham had more than just the governmental guard and his nephew’s branch of the military around; mercenaries had also taken to the field on his side. She hit, saving an ally from an untimely demise, but the brawl itself still continued. Solving that would have taken a few moments longer than Rave seemed willing to give.

The sound of an intense battle now also reached Aclysia’s ears. Although explosions, shattering and all manners of magical and physical noises could be heard all around, the area they were heading towards echoed with greater density. Metal was screeching, shouts of pain and the squelching of a body that exploded inside its armour.

They broke into a clearing in the forest. Not a natural one, it had to be said, that all of the trees that would have covered this space had only recently been toppled. The fresh colour of splintered wood and smell of sap mingling with the gore made this quite clear.

Greeted by the sight of somebody’s life fluids exploding out of the gaps in their armour, Aclysia was relieved to find the person known for that sort of magic standing amongst a group of subordinates. “COME ON, YOU COCKSUCKERS!” Chemilia shouted, breathing heavily and covered in multiple wounds, many of them deep.

Her entire body was covered in blood, turning her pretty pink hair into a clumpy mess. Most of it wasn’t her own, of that much Aclysia was certain as her internally exploded enemy broke down to the floor, his shining white armour useless against the goat-eyed general. She and her entourage were battered and bruised, many of them barely holding up on one leg.

“I will show you medieval cosplayers what for,” she growled, pointing one fist at the two dozen knights still surrounding her. The governmental guard, a formation known for having armour as white as the house they were protecting, they were clenching swords, maces and shields, staying careful in sight of Chemilia’s fists. If they got hit often enough, their armour would mean very little.

There was another person to whom armour was a smaller concern. Rave lost no time, storming right into the battlefield at breakneck speed. Jumping, she was noticed at the very last moment, a heavy mace coming in her direction but missing when its wielder had a spinning kick delivered to the side of their head. Her martial arts caused a portion of the force to travel through the helmet unhindered. A quiet crack could be heard as the knight’s temple broke. The remaining impact threw his body to the side.

Aclysia was right on the follow-up, seeing several of the guards point their shields at Rave in something that didn’t seem to qualify for a defensive motion. When the silver rim of the white surfaces began to glow with purple light, the weaponized maid knew for certain that they were about to use some sort of ranged attack.

From where she stood, a circle of white light expanded immediately. Each knight around her hit with it found the glow to stick underneath their feet and a sudden knowledge within their mind: attack the combat maid or be prepared to suffer the consequences. That took care of those immediately around her, but Rave had barely landed on her feet again and there were still several attacks about to come for her from multiple directions.

Aclysia’s dagger appeared in her hand, a cherished Christmas gift just as well used as a salver as it was as a weapon to support her loved ones. Her body suddenly sped up, Cutting Flurry boosting her Agility immensely as the three-hit combo propelled her body with each step. One, the dagger sliced through a man’s armour from shoulder to waist like it was a piece of high-grade meat she was about to present to her master, the attack boosted further by Servant’s Strike. Two, the long katana that was Eclys appeared, a long-armed thrust penetrating another knight’s wrist, forcing him to drop the shield as his hand was crippled. Three, the massive Marath appeared and Aclysia fed it with her own lifeforce. Red energy burst painfully out of her forearms, seeping into the blade as she twisted her body, pulling the blade up in a long arc that ended above her left shoulder.

It had been a long road to give her enough Strength to wield this thing properly, but the result could not be argued with as a wave of crimson energy cut through the air, creating a diagonal dent inside the shield of a third knight. Despite all of those efforts, numerous beams of light still came for Rave.

However, the Lightbearer was very aware of her position, quickly lowering her entire body to the floor by stretching one leg out and resting her behind on the heel of the other, her pink bodysuit covered torso touching the dirt on the back. The attacks flew past her uselessly, hitting other knights instead. Rather than this being a mistake on the governmental guards’ part, it was a deliberate part of their strategy, however, the white light getting absorbed back into their comrades’ shields, who charged much quicker now.

Aclysia was attempting her best to intercede this second attempt as well, but came face to face with a guard equipped slightly differently. His armour was ornate with red and blue stripes and his shield had a surface shining like a mirror. Without as much as a thought, the weaponized maid moved in to immediately dispose of this hindrance.

The shield was raised to meet her overhead strike with the cleaver, larger than her entire body. Aclysia’s own reflection stared back at her, green eyes, white hair, a maid uniform her master had designed just for her and her sisters in creation. A part of her body, stained with blood. She didn’t mind, just as long as she was useful to him. Time slowed to a crawl and her attack stopped.

Her will, more concretely, her connection with her master felt under assault. The distance between them became a weak spot, a fragile part for something else, something false, inserting itself. Suddenly, the connection to her master was gone and there was only this thing. Her mind struggled for just a few moments. Her lack of Mental Stats, normally not a problem for her fighting style whatsoever, suddenly became a problem. Her mind simply lacked the fortitude to resist this. For all the hardness of her body, her psyche was cracked open like an egg.

“For how much I serve him, I should be his favourite,” Aclysia saw her reflection say. “Not Jane and her whims. What does she even provide? Love? Shelter? Nothing I cannot give him more of!” The weaponized maid felt her arms slightly lower, holding the weapon limply. “If only she wasn’t there…” Aclysia felt as if her conscious mind was split, all but this poisonous envy was exorcised and sucked into the mirror surface.

“NO!” she shouted, uselessly, as her own body turned around and suddenly went to face her mistress. Rave’s eyes went wide when Aclysia suddenly assaulted her from behind. The heavy weapon that should have split this captain now caused a massive explosion of dirt, the Lightbearer dodging narrowly by pressing herself off the floor.

Relief and a despicable inkling of annoyance filled the maid’s mind upon this narrow miss. “I would just have to slaughter everyone around and Master would never have to know,” she heard herself say. “I can keep this secret from him, shelter my mind with the excuse that I don’t want him to live through the trauma of seeing her die. Maybe it will break him, make him a broken shell. I could keep care of him forever then. He would need nobody but me.”

“I don’t want any of that! Stop this!” the real Aclysia, she hoped she was the real one anyway, shouted against her double, still in control of her body. Powerless, she banged against the inside of the mirror, as a dull eyed Artificial Spirit dismissed Marath in favour of Eclys, a weapon better at dealing with nimble opponents such as this pink-haired obstacle between her and John, HER John.

“Shit, and here I was about to thank you for the assist,” Chemilia growled as Rave came to a halt next to her. The fight stopped for a few moments, as the knight’s waited for Master’s Shield to run out and allow them to concentrate their attacks again. The glowing shields were aimed and ready for a unified barrage. “You took out four, but I get the feeling she is more dangerous than four.”

“It’s Aclysia, she is more dangerous than most of them combined.” The Lightbearer looked actually nervous and quickly put on her headphones as the knights took formation around their new, forced ally. “We won’t even be able to hurt her with most attacks; she is a walking tank. What is even happening? That girl would never backstab any of us!”

“That girl is a golem, right?” Chemilia asked, hissing in pain when one of her wounds was ripped open again with a shift of her upper body. “Little easier to mind control those, given the right tools.”

Aclysia felt a lot of things in that short exchange. Pride for being acknowledged as a difficult opponent, trust in her loyalty and a sudden cursing of her own nature. Did this happen just because she wasn’t a real person? Her ghostly fists continued to hammer against the ephemeral glass that kept her confined inside this shield. “No, this is all wrong! I don’t want to be against Jane!”

“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be in here,” her envy spoke, and her body began moving again. So quickly and surprisingly that her forced allies missed their beat to sync their barrage up with her attack. Chemilia barely managed to dodge and would have died guaranteed right there if it wasn’t for the controlled maid focusing entirely on the pink-haired woman next to her. Rave dodged with accurate movements, already well-versed in Aclysia’s fighting style. The many sparring matches they had with each other suddenly became a lot more important. “This is all because she is around. Would you not love to be Master’s favourite, instead of the eternal number two?”

Yes, she would love that. She would love nothing more than that. To be with John, forever and always, paying attention to his every movement as he did for her. Minds intertwined and near inseparable. Lifelessly, she sat there and watched the fight unfold.

Their fight took place at a speed nobody around them could hope to mingle in. Despite that, Rave and Aclysia were the focus of this battlefield, as much as standing in the vicinity of this blur of flying fists, blades and light was a certain sentence of death. Dodging by nimbly throwing her head backwards, the Lightbearer curved away under Aclysia’s sword. Strands of her pink hair were separated by the silver-white katana.

“Come on, Clysia, pull yourself together!” Rave caught her backwards fall on her hands, then her sneakers suddenly collided with the maid’s chin. The attack and the subsequent ripple of golden light summoned by Copernicus’ blessing sent visible shockwaves out on the opposite side of Aclysia’s head, wavering like the air above a fire. The attack would certainly have sent a weaker opponent’s brain and body flying; the Artificial Spirit instead pressed the foot down with the strength of her neck. Green eyes filled with envy stared. “…So the good old ‘beat her back to consciousness with the power of friendship’ shtick isn’t working?” Rave joked before trying her best to dodge the counterattack.

Her awkward position, almost doing a handstand in front of Aclysia, turned this into a difficult endeavour. Too difficult to dodge completely, as the weaponized maid quickly exchanged her weapon for her dagger, catching Rave’s lower leg with the attack and cutting deep into the muscle. That was the entire wound, but it was a start at crippling the maid’s loved enemy’s superior mobility.

“Girl, I can’t just grow back together like you do!” Rave complained with a slightly nervous smile, her bodysuit closing back above the wound, keeping it pressurized and the blood loss at a minimum. “…This is no fun if ya don’t banter back!” the Lightbearer took her eyes off Aclysia for just one second, which was all the controlled spirit needed as an opening.

Cutting Flurry activated once more. Rave was unprepared for that sudden burst of speed, the weaponized maid now faster than her. The very first strike was successful, Rave having to block the attack by letting the dagger sink through her palm. A sacrifice of one hand to protect herself. Through clenched teeth and pained groans, she used this bleeding grip on the weapon to guide Aclysia’s arm away, carried by the maid’s own momentum.

“Sorry that I have to do this to your pretty face,” Rave apologized, pushing her other hand right up to Aclysia face, the fingers stretched out. Incredible heat and blinding light hit her. Although resistant to fire, an excess of energy directly applied to her skin would still do damage. A point-blank burst of intense sunlight, such as this, was enough to turn her visage into a half-molten nightmare scene. Blind, deaf and unable to smell, Aclysia was in no position to capitalize on the other two swings of Cutting Flurry. Instead, Rave quickly moved on from this fight and charged the knight with the glass shield.

It didn’t take a genius to guess that the tool Chemilia had mentioned was found in that object. Rave was already three metres away from Aclysia when her stride suddenly stuttered. A white light had appeared under her feet, one compelling her to turn around and keep fighting the maid. Planting her foot on the ground yet again, the Lightbearer kept her charge and lunged towards the captain.

Rather than use his shield for what it was intended, the ornate knight moved his defensive tool away from the Lightbearer, giving Rave all the confirmation she needed. She continued her charge, even as the sweeping blade of the captain travelled in her direction. It was about to cleave into the side of her face. Then the Lightbearer suddenly vanished.

She appeared again on the opposite side. Chaining one Ankle technique to the other, Rave went from the successful Shift into a Drift, spinning her punching movement without a single move of her feet. Her gloved fist crashed into the mirror, spreading cracks through the entire surface. Not shattering it, however.

Taking a deep breath in, Rave regenerated as much of her mana as she could, but that was useless against the weaponized maid now coming for her again. Only her eyes restored inside her distorted face, Aclysia was about to deliver a strike with Eclys that would see the bonus damage of Master’s Shield cleaving apart that same master’s girlfriend.

Despite this, Rave smiled at the mirror, “Oy, I smashed this thing, so how about you meet me halfway?”

“What a useless request, I won’t stop now, I almost have what I want,” the envious Aclysia stated.

Yes, she almost had what she wanted. She would be Master’s favourite when Rave was gone.

“Not for this price,” the real Aclysia whispered, seeing before her what grim future would await her. A depressed John, who would refuse to rise from bed most days, a kitchen filled with silent guilt, the hole in every day as the whimsical leader of the harem was no longer there to laugh with them. “Not on the life of the other people I love!” Movement returned to her astral form and she pressed against the cracks.

The spirit of a lesser golem, even a broken shield might have been able to keep inside, but when the Artificial Spirit known as Aclysia refused to wear her damaged shackles anymore, the mirror shattered completely. As the silvered glass tumbled to the floor, the weaponized maid regained control over her body.

Her attack missed Rave by a hair’s width, Eclys sending out a silver slash that cut through several trees. Creaking wood, tumbling to the forest floor accompanied Aclysia’s words as she turned to the captain. “How dare you twist my love for John into a weapon against my mistress?” she asked in cold anger, striding towards the captain.

Knowing full well that he was entirely outmatched, the knight ceded ground step by step. “Where do you think you are going?” Chemilia asked with a wild grin from behind him. The battle hadn’t turned into their favour yet, but the rebel leader stood in a very fortunate position at that moment. A simple punch into the man’s open back sent him tumbling forwards. A desperate strike at Aclysia was easily reflected by the same, the knight’s one-handed sword flying away, his head soon doing the same in the opposite direction.

“Just so we are clear!” Rave announced, clenching her hurt hand, wrapped under her body suit like her other injury, “I was holding back!”

“I understand, Jane, and I am very thankful,” Aclysia took a small bow. “You have earned yourself whatever I can give to you. Deeply sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Can you two keep the flirting for the afterparty?!” Chemilia growled. “We need to beat these assholes and find Ted. If I lose my husband a few hours after Imerella, I will murder everyone.”

Aclysia agreed with a nod, “Certainly,” and pointed Eclys at the remaining knights. Once the elite trio of women engaged, the tactics of the governmental guards changed drastically. Rather than continue their fight, they all attempted to leave the barrier. Arms were raised to the sky, ten of them fleeing successfully with that simple motion. The others were stopped in their attempts by the gathered forces of Chemilia, Rave and Aclysia.

“Tsk,” the goat-eyed general let out the sound of annoyance, “Fateweaver advantage, great.”

“Hey, at least we won this front,” Rave looked at it positively.

There was an odd tug out of a sudden. Not on Aclysia’s sleeve or anywhere on her body in detail. It was just… there, a constant pull on her very soul. She and everyone else around her all looked in the same direction. They felt that tug as well.