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The Council of Thirteen

Book Fourteen: Invasion

Chapter 3: Battling the Gods

Beta:

"Young team, be on alert! Incoming hostiles!"

"Gun-Ru division, shift artillery fire onto enemy formation at 39.118221113681° N 149.984626475282° W." (1)

"Third Division rotate forward and replace Sixth Division. Sixth, head to rally point four to regroup and rearm."

Legion issued these and hundreds such orders as he commanded Sanctuary's forces in the Southern portion of the Council's counterattack against the invading Sapphic Circle alongside Helena and Eriol's forces.

"What? Dom has split off from the rest of the forces?" Legion heard Eriol shout incredulously into his earpiece comms unit from one of the combat drones he had escorting the Eleventh Lord alongside the man's two Guardians.

"What did you just say?" Legion had his closest droid turn to the Lord of the Celestial Mages to ask. "What did Mother do?"

"The Witch's House was sighted and she took her family and went to investigate." Eriol informed him with a frown, even as Legion himself hurried to verify the matter only to find that his fellow Lord of the Thirteen was correct. His Mother had recklessly run off to investigate the infamous Witch's House with naught but their family to escort her.

"I know what you're thinking." Helena said as she suddenly materialized out of a shadow next to Eriol, whilst casually pulling a fresh blood bag out from under the jacket she was wearing even as she summoned a batch of her familiars that she threw into the fray to replace her absence from the frontlines. "But you can't redeploy forces to assist her. Not only are we on the entirely opposite side of the battlefield from her position making it infeasible but your troops are needed here."

"Helena's right, Legion." Eriol said as he raised his staff and absently cast a spell the Diviner Lord recognised as Starfall and caused a dozen or so bolts of energy with a semblance to falling stars to hurtle down from the sky to smash into the ranks of undead that seemed to make up the bulk of the enemy forces in the area. "I know it's hard. But we need you here."

Legion could see the logic in their words and as an AI, a being that by all accounts should be governed by logic, that should have been enough to convince him. However, the logic warred with his desire to assist his Mother. In the end, it was the understanding that his Mother would be deeply disappointed in him if he let his emotions get the better of him and compromise their battlelines just to rush to her aid when she probably didn't need it that won the argument.

He didn't have to like it though.

So metaphorically gritting his teeth, he redoubled his efforts on winning the fight before him. The sooner he defeated the undead hordes before him, the more quickly he could go help Mother.

"Uh, should I do anything?" Yumi asked aloud as she surveyed the chaotic battle before her from the vantage of a small hill she'd created with her earth magic to get a better view. On one side were the eclectic collection of forces nominally under her command and facing them was a horde of monstrous spiders and treants.

"Dom-sama mainly just let the commanders of the individual units take charge, right? Should I follow her lead?" The Third Lord fretted. "Or should I give them orders?"

"I believe the decision is up to you, Yumi-sama." Her adjutant and commander of the squad of Imperial mages that had been assigned to protect her, and whose men were maintaining the perimeter around their position that was allowing them to peacefully have their conversation, informed her with a respectful bow.

And that's not helpful at all. Yumi thought with a frown. Maybe I can ask Yuki-sama or Bella-san.

Looking over the battlefield for her fellow Lords, Yumi found her hopes dashed as she saw them engaged in heavy fighting. Yuki-sama and Yori-san were bogged down in the middle of a swarm of monsters that were a disgusting cross between plant and zombie. Whilst not far away, Bella-san and Jane-san were facing off against a battalion of golems animated by necromantic energy. It seemed that the Outsiders or whatever lieutenants of theirs were commanding their troops had chosen to send hordes of their more powerful forces to tie them down.

I can't distract them. Yumi realised, her frown deepening. If I do…

The slightest distraction in a pitched battle could be fatal.

But then what should I do!?

Perhaps sensing her distraction, the enemy chose this moment to send one of its heavy hitters at her. As out of nowhere, a stream of sickly looking green liquid shot out of the obscuring mist that covered the entire battlefield directly at her and her men.

"Kaze toppū (風突風/Wind Gust)!" Yumi cast more out of instinct than anything else, creating a powerful gust that redirected the stream of liquid away from her position and onto the front ranks of the enemy army, causing the pack of hound like treants it fell upon to howl in agony as the acid that it revealed itself to be melted them into mush within seconds.

Not waiting for the source of the acid stream to reveal itself, the Third Lord counterattacked immediately.

"Ryūja no mai (竜蛇の舞, Dance of the Dragon and Serpent)!" She cast with a wave of her tessen Mystic Codes, sending a trio of drill-like horizontal tornadoes shooting in the direction the acid spray had come from.

If they did her target any harm, it didn't show it as the massive serpentine dragon made of various plant matter charged out of the fog on its legs made out of thick twisted roots at her.

It was honestly a very impressive looking creature and if it wasn't trying to kill her, Yumi would have been awed by its appearance. That said, it was and so she set aside her feelings and got down to the business of killing it before it could do the same to her.

"Honōryū no mai (炎竜の舞, Dance of the Flame Dragon)!" Yumi cast, sending a single tongue of flame shaped into the form of a roaring Eastern dragon shooting through the air at its woody counterpart.

The Outsider construct tried to smother the fire dragon with its acid breath but the flames of Yumi's spell burned too hot and easily evaporated the acid before it made contact, and proceeded to coil around the wooden creature unimpeded. The floral dragon roared in pain as it struggled in vain to fight free but despite its efforts, it was soon consumed by the fire and reduced to ash.

"Well done, Third Lord." A voice said from behind Yumi.

Her guards prepared to issue a belated challenge but Yumi just raised a hand as she turned to face the new arrival and his entourage of guards.

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty." Yumi said as she offered the King of the Kuranians a curtsy. "What brings you here? Shouldn't you be leading your men?"

"I was on my way to assist you with that wood dragon actually, though it seems that was unnecessary. As for leading my men, I leave that to my generals." Yuki-sama's incredibly handsome brother said with a smirk that made Yumi's stomach flip-flop. Yes, Yumi was a lesbian and in a committed relationship but that did not mean she could not admire beauty. And Kaname-sama was truly physical perfection. Her reaction was only natural damnit! "I have mastered many things in my long life, but military strategy is sadly not one of them. At least not well. As such, I defer to the professionals."

"I see," Yumi nodded.

Guess that answers my question on what to do.

"But then what do you do? As their nominal leader?" Yumi pressed with a frown.

"What you just did," Kaname-sama offered with a smile. "Be a figurehead and source of inspiration to my forces by carrying out grand displays. That this allows us to eliminate some of the greater threats to them also helps."

Yumi nodded, even as she absently sent a Deiryū ryū no mai (泥流竜の舞, Dance of the Mudflow Dragon) at a mob of pygmy treants that were about to break through their lines. The dragon of mud she spell created killed dozens of them whilst the quagmire it left behind ensnared the remainder allowing friendly troops to finish them off.

"Thank you for the advice, Kaname-sama." She told him honestly. "Let's both do our part then."

"Indeed." The absurdly handsome Kuranian monarch said with a smile before nodding off to the distance where a giant treant that was at least ten stories tall stalked out of the fog. "Might I take that one?"

"Go right ahead," Yumi said with a giggle.

She was barely finished speaking before Kaname-sama and his entourage disappeared. They reappeared a moment later atop of the colossal treant's head whereupon the Pureblood unleashed a torrent of flame that burned a hole through the creature's scalp and consumed it from within.

Yumi took a moment to admire the sight of the hollowed out giant treant toppling to the ground dead before turning to an opponent of her own in the form of a massive white spider the size of a whole city block that was striding out of the fog towards her.

"Time to play exterminator." She said with a giggle as she tightened the grip on her Mystic Codes and primed her magic.

"Honōryū no mai!"

"Do they have infinite reserves or something?" Dante couldn't help but gripe as he shot a salvo of Disintegration Bullets into ranks of the monstrous horde in front of him and Ri as they fought their way towards the Northern Front of the battlefield, reducing hundreds of the myriad of demons, slime abominations and undead waylaying them to ash.

"Probably," Rose said distractedly as with a wave of Ivory she sent hundreds of Brilliance Arrows into the enemy hordes, destroying scores of them in explosions of cleansing light.

"They do control multiple universes from which to draw troops from." Iris added as she wordlessly cast Dark Nova and unleashed a shockwave of shadow energy that wiped out any foolish monster reckless enough to attempt to close into melee with them.

All whilst above her, her summon Elegant Wrath cast Opposing Forces by summoning small spheres of darkness and light into its right and left hands respectively before it clapped, slamming the collected opposing forces together in the process and firing a beam of mixed light and dark energy that it swept in a circle around them, thinning the enemy army's ranks substantially.

The display left Dante feeling a little intimidated by just how much more powerful his girlfriend was in comparison to him despite them both being Lords of the Thirteen. However, it was an old feeling and one he'd long come to terms with. Ri had always been more powerful than him. So it was with the ease of long practice that he shoved the feeling aside and focusing on the task at hand, he fired a brace of Exorcism Bullets to take out a unit of spectral knights that had been charging towards them.

No sooner had the heavily armed ghosts and their equally ethereal steeds been banished back to the afterlife when the enemy hordes began retreating.

"What is going on?" Rose Iris asked in one voice whilst eyeing the retreating monsters and the perfect circle they made around Dante and her as they did so.

"I'm thinking it has something to do with them?" Dante said warily as he pointed Anna and Maria at an edge of the widening empty space where a pair of teenage girls were stepping forward.

The taller of the two had blue eyes and long black hair with a small, white flower hair clip on the left side of her hair, whilst her shorter counterpart was a blue eyed blonde. They looked normal enough but the wide, respectful berth that the monsters were giving them said otherwise. Whoever these two were, they were far from normal.

Ri seemed to agree with his assessment as even as the two stepped clear of the encircling ranks of the enemy horde, she had Elegant Wrath hit them with an Opposing Forces beam. In response, the blonde simply summoned a wicked looking scythe brimming with hellish power into her hands and casually deflected the beam with a swing of the weapon.

That was Ri's most powerful spell. To so effortlessly deflect it… Who are these women!? Dante thought as his hands tightened around the grips of his Mystic Codes.

"Greetings, Fourth and Sixth of Thirteen." The taller of the two mysterious women said as Ri's attack cut off. "I am-"

"Azathoth, the Atomic Sultan." The blonde said, cutting the other women off. "And I'm her consort, the Reaper. And it's time to rumble!"

Outsiders! They're both Outsiders! Dante realised with horror, as he took a fearful step back.

A quick glance at Ri and her pale face told him she was just as terrified with the prospect of facing two Outsiders. They might be Lords of the Thirteen but Outsiders were beings even gods feared. If they had the whole Council with them, or at least some of the more experienced and powerful members, then maybe things would be different. But with just the two of them? Simply surviving this fight would be a herculean task.

Seeing their fear, a smirk spread across the blonde Outsider's face and her outline began to blur, as if she was preparing to burst forward through some high-speed movement technique, but Azathoth put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Ruiko, what gives!?" The blonde whined as she turned to face her wife.

"You always do the fighting-"

"Because I'm better at it!" The Reaper said with a pout.

Ignoring her consort, Azathoth just kept talking. "But I want to have some fun too. So this time let me."

The blonde blinked at this statement in surprise for a moment before a happy smile spread across her face.

"If that's the case," she said as she dramatically gestured for her wife to go ahead. "Have fun, love."

"I will," Azathoth assured her as she stepped in front of her wife and her right eye began to glow with an ominous rainbow light. "Are you ready, Fourth and Sixth of Thirteen?"

Dante chanced a glance at Ri and saw that like him, she'd used the short time the two Outsiders had been talking to fortify their armor wards and refresh the various enhancement spells she'd cast on herself. They were as ready as they could be to face this challenge head on. Despite that, they said nothing. The more time they could buy, the better they prepared they would be and the more likely help could reach them.

"I see that you are," Azathoth said, looking them over with her right eye and nodding. "That being the case, why don't you make the first move? Consider it a freebie."

When neither Dante or Ri made a move after a full minute, Azathoth sighed.

"A pity." She said with a shake of her head as a rather plain looking baseball bat materialised in her right hand. "Then I suppose I will have to instead. Worm burner!"

Along with her incantation, she'd swung her bat at the ground in Dante and Ri's general direction and at the culmination of her swing, a large multicolored fireball shot forth from the tip of the bat and barreled along the ground towards them.

"Walls of Light and Dark!" Ri cast, conjuring a wall of an indescribable mix of light and dark to shield them from the incoming fireball.

Neither of them were willing to put their full trust in the strength of her defense though, despite it being her most powerful defensive spell, and they both teleported away even as the barrier snapped into place. It was a wise precaution to take as Azathoth's spell effortlessly shattered the barrier and consumed the spot where they had been standing in a sea of many colored flames. Not that Dante or Ri paid that much attention.

Sparing the effect of their opponent's spell only a quick glance, they both went on the offensive almost as soon as they finished rematerialising from their hasty teleports.

"Giga Cannon!" Dante cast, firing twin beams of raw magical power from Anna and Maria's barrels that snaked around each other and merged into a single spiraling lance of destruction. It joined the hundreds of Brilliance Arrows and Shadow Bolts that Ri and Elegant Wrath rained down at Azathoth.

"You'll have to do better than that children," Azathoth said with a chuckle as a sickly red spectral arm that ended in a malformed bird's talon, that seemingly grew out of her right shoulder manifested and swung itself in the general direction of the incoming attacks.

In response, an energy beam intercepted Dante's Giga Cannon and a multitude of magical bullets did the same for Ri's various projectiles. All matching the strength of their attacks exactly and thus negating them in a series of explosions.

"Like it?" Azathoth asked with a smile as she flexed the talon-like hand of her third arm. "My Third Arm has the power to counter any attack with a force of equal strength. It's the perfect defense. Think you can beat me, children?"

How in the world are we going to beat an ability like that? Dante couldn't help but think as a cold sweat broke out his forehead. Admittedly such an ability was probably limited by how much power its user had at their disposal. The Third Arm couldn't generate a countering force that its user simply did not have the energy for which to create. That meant that the most straightforward way to beat it was simply to use overwhelming force and brute force their way through the absurd ability. However, since the user in this case was an Outsider… That simply wasn't an option.

"We will!" Ri shouted defiantly as she jabbed Ebony and Ivory at Azathoth, sending a Shadow Lance and Purifying Lance at the Outsider whilst having Elegant Wrath cover her with another salvo of Brilliance Arrows and Shadow Bolts.

"I like your determination." Azathoth said with a pleased grin even as she swung her Third Arm once more and sent a barrage of her own energy attacks to counter Ri's spells.

As it did, Dante finally managed to shake himself out of his fearful stupor and he sent his own barrage of Disintegration Bullets at the extradimensional god.

If overpowering it won't work then maybe we can overwhelm the Arm with quantity.

Sadly, his attack failed to test his hypothesis as instead of using her Third Arm to intercept his spell, Azathoth instead chose to do so with one of her own.

"Yakker." She cast with a grin and a swing of her baseball bat, conjuring hundreds of baseball shaped magic bullets that proceeded to home in on Dante's Disintegration Bullets and negated them well before they hit their target.

Why didn't she use her Third Arm? Maybe she can't use it in quick succession? Does she need to physically swing it at incoming attacks to activate its ability?

"Dante!" Ri shouted, clearly having reached a similar hypothesis as he had.

"Gotcha!" Dante shouted back as he leapt back, wary of Azathoth's likely counterattack.

It was this caution that saved him from having his head caved in as the Outsider teleported to where he had been standing and swung her baseball bat in a powerful swing that created a shockwave strong enough to crater the ground.

"You won't get away so easily." The bat wielding invader said with a smirk as she cast a spell, whilst swinging her Third Arm to intercept the latest barrage Ri and Elegant Wrath sent her way. "Pea."

The Outsider's spell sent hundreds of high-speed versions of her baseball shaped bullets screaming through the air at Dante who was forced to abandon his counterattack and teleport away.

What's with the obsession with baseball? Not only are all her spell names baseball slang terms, her magic bullets are even shaped like baseballs! A distracted part of Dante's mind thought as he rematerialised and fired off a quick Giga Cannon at Azathoth.

It hit empty air as she simply teleported out of the beam's way to reappear directly in front of Ri.

Dante opened his mouth to shout out a belated warning but it proved unnecessary when Azathoth's powerful swing shattered not his girlfriend's body but an illusionary double that exploded, consuming the Outsider in a blast of shadow and light energy. Ri added to the trap as she dropped the illusion keeping herself hidden and along with Elegant Wrath rained Shadow Lances and Purifying Lances upon the Outsider.

Dante was just about to add his own firepower to the assault when there was an explosion of rainbow light that sent both him and Ri, and much of the spectating crowd of monsters that surrounded them, staggering back.

As they steadied themselves, Dante was unsurprised to find Azathoth standing mostly unharmed despite the firepower that Ri had unleashed upon her. It had been enough to level a mountain, and the massive crater the Outsider now stood in was proof of that, but yet the teenager looked unaffected save from her clothes looking a little singed.

"Huh, so you can damage me after all." Azathoth said, sounding pleased for some reason even as she dismissively used her Third Arm to intercept the barrage of Disintegration Bullets Dante sent her way. "That being the case-"

"Opposing Forces!" Ri shouted, firing off her most powerful spell and interrupting the Outsider's ramblings.

"Beanball." Azathoth cast even as she conjured a blazing rainbow colored aura around herself that blocked the destructive beam Ri had fired her way.

The spell conjured one of the Atomic Sultan's signature baseball shaped magic bullets directly in front of both Dante and Ri's heads, hitting them before either of them could even hope to react and shattering their protective wards in the process, interrupting any and all spellcasting they were attempting.

"There," Azathoth said with a grin as both of the Lords of the Thirteen staggered from the blows and their armor wards repaired themselves. "Now that you can't interrupt me for the moment, let me lay down the terms for our little duel. If you two can actually injure me, and not just singe my clothes, Frenda and I will withdraw. Is that good with you?"

Dante's response was to fire a Giga Cannon at the Outsider that she simply countered with a swing of her Third Arm. This created an opening however that Ri ruthlessly exploited to shoot another Opposing Forces at Azathoth. One that the Outsider was forced to deflect with a swing of her bat.

Looks like our assumption about her Third Arm has merit. Dante thought as he kept up the pressure with a barrage of Disintegration Bullets at the Outsider. We just need to figure out a way to exploit it. And without Azathoth using that rainbow aura barrier of hers. All we need to do is wound her…

Not that it would be easy. Not with his magical reserves starting to run dangerously low. The Disintegration Bullets and Giga Cannon spells that had been his mainstays throughout this fight were some of his most powerful spells. Using them was a necessity when facing an opponent as powerful as an Outsider but using them so much was rapidly depleting his reserves. And unlike powerhouses like Master and Ri, his connection to the magic of the Compact that empowered the Thirteen wasn't deep enough that he could just tap directly into that to keep him going.

We'll need to win this before I run dry. He thought with determination as Azathoth materialised in front of him and thrust her bat towards his gut. Something he narrowly avoided by teleporting away just in time.

As he rematerialised, he let loose the Giga Cannon he had been building up earlier just seconds after the Opposing Forces beam that Ri sent. Azathoth countered the latter with a swing of her Third Arm but chose to respond to his own attack by slamming her bat into the ground hard enough to cause a jagged chunk of earth to flip itself out of the ground to serve as an impromptu barrier.

She's onto us. Dante cursed as he teleported into midair and even as he used Fly to keep himself from falling, he fired a fresh Giga Cannon at Azathoth just as the Outsider materialised in front of Ri, her bat already mid swing.

His girlfriend thankfully managed to finish her casting of Shadow Step before the Outsider's weapon could make contact, escaping the area entirely even as the blow shattered the ground she had been standing on. As for Azathoth, she just used her Third Arm to counter his spell.

Said Third Arm was still mid motion when Ri rematerialised. She wasn't some distance away like Dante had expected though. Instead, catching both him, and by her widening eyes Azathoth as well, by surprise she did so directly behind the Outsider.

"Spellblade!" Ri incanted, causing rapier-like blades of magical energy that corresponded with the colour of their respective sources to form at the tips of Ivory and Ebony as she swung her Mystic Codes forward to scissor the Outsider.

Perhaps due to her surprise, Azathoth failed to teleport away in time to completely avoid the attack and Ri's Spellblades made contact with her sides even as she dematerialised.

"Pea Yakker!" The Outsider shouted as she rematerialised some distance away, sending hundreds of high-speed magic bullets swerving through the air towards Dante and Ri.

Elegant Wrath reacted faster than either human did, and promptly conjured Light Screens and Umbral Barriers to block the incoming barrage. Hundreds of Azathoth's magical missiles detonated with powerful explosions against its barriers. However, clearly acting without direction from Ri its hasty defense was full of holes that the remainder of the Outsider's projectiles flew through.

"Gatling Shot!" Dante countered, using the spell with ability to create the most magic bullets per casting that he had in his arsenal and conjured thousands of relatively weak projectiles that he used as best as he was able to intercept Azathoth's spellfire. Soon joined by Brilliance Arrows and Shadow Bolts from Ri as well.

"Oh, you two actually did it." Azathoth's voice cut through the explosions as Dante and Ri finished intercepting her spell, sounding both disbelievingly and impressed.

Turning towards the Outsider, Dante found her gingerly touching one of two thin cuts along her side that weeped rainbow colored blood, staining her blouse.

"Well done, you two." Azathoth said as she looked up from examining her wounds, which were already visibly healing. "As per my promise, Frenda and I will withdraw now. Have fun playing with the others! Ta-ta!"

With an exaggerated wave goodbye, Azathoth and the slime portions of the monstrous army vanished.

"Oi! Ruiko! Did you just have to just up and leave like that!?" The Reaper shouted in dismay at empty air. "At least give me a head's up next time will ya!?"

"Opposing Forces!" "Giga Cannon!"

If the Reaper was perturbed by Dante and Ri cutting into her ranting, she gave no indication as with a casual swing of her scythe she deflected both of their spells.

"You two don't know how to stop when you're ahead huh?" The blonde said through narrowed eyes that were ablaze with white hot flames, though those disappeared a moment later as she sighed.

"I guess Ruiko has gotten tired of our little game. She's never had much of a stomach for fighting an actual war. And since she's left, I guess I should go too." She said as she spun her scythe around her and deflected the rain of projectiles Dante and Ri was firing her way.

"Game?" Dante hissed in disbelief as he gathered enough magic for another Giga Cannon.

The Reaper just shrugged as her skirt lifted slightly as hundreds of rockets shot out from underneath it and flew up into the sky to intercept the Shadow Lances and Purifying Lances that Ri threw her way.

"What else did you think this whole thing was to us? I mean if we and the other members of the Sapphic Circle saw this as anything more than that, this little 'war' would've been over long ago."

Even as he unleashed his Giga Cannon Dante growled in impotent anger at the truth of that statement. Even just one Outsider was an apocalyptic threat. Yet the Circle was composed of an unknown number of such monsters! If they had been serious about their invasion, their world would have fallen ages ago.

"Glad you two understand the situation," the Reaper said with a smug grin that Dante longed to shoot off her face, as she deflected his Giga Cannon and Ri's accompanying Opposing Forces with another contemptuously casual swing of her scythe. "Well, since Ruiko has decided it's game over for her. I guess I should too. Toodles, aspects of Thirteen."

With that the Outsider and the demons under her command disappeared, leaving behind two furious and confused Lords of the Thirteen. A fury they happily unleashed on the remaining undead hordes.

Whilst her peers were facing the Outsiders leading the invasion of their world across the negotiation table or in a spar, Helena was herself at the the head of her army as they cut a swathe through the hordes of undead that had seemingly replaced the abominations in their particular section of the battlefield.

Much to her chagrin, she and her forces had been cut off from Legion and Eriol's by the enemy earlier in the battle when the enemy had charged them with a battalion's worth of twisted hill sized giant treants. By the time they had taken the oversized treemen down, Helena and her men had been thoroughly separated from the others by a sea of enemy bodies.

They had accounted for this possibility thankfully and as per their plans for this situation, Helena was pushing further into the enemy's territory. The only way to end this invasion was to defeat the Outsiders. However, with them seemingly hiding behind their armies, the Council's only option was to dive deep into the land they'd claimed in the hopes that it would lure them out where they could be faced and hopefully defeated. Thus instead of attempting to regroup with the others, she'd pressed on alone. Her forces were still a coherent and effective fighting force, as such there was no need for their assistance. Not yet anyways.

She was pulled from her thoughts, and the messy disemboweling of a bloated zombie creature made of a number of stitched together corpses, as she spotted Bella, Jane, Yuki and Yori's forces in the distance. Their armies of chimeras created by Bella, Kuranian and Volterran vampires seemed to be heavily engaged with elements of the same unending tide of undead as she and her own Midians were.

All UPC forces. Push towards nearby allied forces. Helena ordered her men with a quick Mass Message spell as she sent a shockwave of raw shadow energy to clear the area around her as she wheeled around to face the direction of her fellow Lords of the Thirteen.

Her order was met with a chorus of affirmative acknowledgements, even from the recalcitrant group of Hunters that the Winchesters had brought with them though theirs was admittedly more grudging than the others', and as one relatively unified block, the forces of the United Pack and Clans and allies turned and pushed towards the nearby forces of the Second and Ninth Lords.

Faced with the fury of thousands of Midians and Hunters, the skeletons and zombies armed largely with medieval weapons and a handful of more advanced equipment crumbled quickly. Even the more powerful spellcasting wights and liches in their midst failed to slow the UPC army down when faced with the determined efforts of its own spellcasters. Thus, although it took some time due to the sheer number of enemy undead in their way, the two groups of Council aligned forces were joined.

"Ōgon Bat," Helena said as she turned from unleashing a salvo of her Harkonnen Mark II into the enemy ranks to face the commander of her elite bodyguards. He was an eccentric lich of Japanese origin with a golden skull-shaped head, dressed in a green and white swashbuckler outfit with a high-collared red cape, and was armed with a rapier that served both as blade and magical focus.

"I am going to confer with the Second and Ninth." She informed him. "I'll leave overall command of our forces to you in the meantime."

"You honour me, my lady." The lich said with an exaggerated bow. "I hear and obey."

Smiling in amusement at just how over the top her subordinate always was, Helena offered him a nod and stepped into the shadows to teleport to the side of her fellow Lords. Yuki and Bella had taken the slight reprieve provided by the arrival fresh reinforcements to disengage from the fighting as well and seemingly leaving command of their troops in the hands of their spouses, had met up. So as Helena returned to the material plane from her jaunt through the shadows, she conveniently found them together already.

"Yuki, Bella," she greeted as she walked the short distance over to the two younger women. Both of whom were looking just a little ragged from what Helena imagined was hours of non-stop fighting. She didn't know if she herself looked it, her shapeshifting tended to unconsciously return her to a perfect state after a while, but she certainly felt as drained as they looked.

"Helena," both young women returned offering her tired smiles.

The three Lords of the Thirteen would have said more but before they could, a pillar of sickly white flame appeared next to them prompting them to jump back and fall into defensive stances. A wariness that proved warranted as a pale-skinned young woman with pale blue eyes with a scar running vertically down her left eye and face dressed in plate armor decorated with an overabundance of skull designs and accented by a billowing white cape stepped out of it. Strangely enough she was accompanied by a drooling zombie of a fair-skinned young girl with silver eyes and neck-length black hair with red tips dressed in an impractical looking dress and a fluttering red cape of her own.

"Greetings, Second, Fifth and Ninth aspects of Thirteen." The armored woman said with a courtly bow. "I am the Outsider known as the White Queen and I would like to test your worthiness to hold the lofty mantles with which you have been bestowed."

With that challenge, she drew an elaborate gun blade even as a sealed space that contained only herself, Helena, Yuki and Bella formed around them.

"Trapping us in a sealed space this easily?" Yuki hissed, a fearful tinge to her voice, as she joined Helena and Bella in eyeing the pure white emptiness that surrounded them warily.

At least the ground feels solid. Helena thought with a frown as she grew tendrils out of her shadow to stab at what they were standing on, visually indiscernible from the rest of the white void they'd been trapped in, to test its firmness. Even if I can't see it.

Smirking amusedly as the three Lords of the Thirteen acclimated themselves to their new surroundings, the Outsider casually planted her weapon blade first into what passed for the ground in the space she'd created and waited.

"Alright, I think that is enough prep time." The extradimensional invader said with a condescending clap of her hands after a few seconds. "Let us get this test started shall we? Attack me with everything you have, aspects of Thirteen, and prove yourselves worthy of being called such."

Yuki and Bella exchanged a look but Helena needed no more prompting and gathered her strength together for the most powerful attack she could muster. If the arrogant Outsider was presenting such a huge opening it would simply be foolish of her not to exploit it.

Her shadows warped and shaped itself into a massive cannon. Modeled after the Schwerer Gustav from World War II, the largest-caliber rifled weapon ever used in combat. It was a single massive rifled barrel that could shoot out immense 800-mm shells of over 7.5 tons in weight. Add in the power of her magic that Helena could put behind the shells of her version of the weapon and you had a weapon of truly awe inspiring destructive potential.

Potential that she was all too happy to unleash upon the so-called White Queen.

"Eat this!" Helena shouted as her shadows chambered a shell and her magic built up inside the long barrel of her newly constructed weapon. "Harkonnen Mark III! Fire!"

With the ear splitting roar of a sonic boom, the Fifth Lord's Harkonnen Mark III fired and with a muzzle flash worthy of a bomb blast, a magically charged 800-mm shell flew at supersonic speeds at veritable point blank range at the White Queen.

Said Outsider did not even so much at blink in surprise at the incoming attack, much less make a move to evade. She simply stoically met it head on even as it struck true and detonated in a titanic explosion that rivaled some of the biggest explosions in recorded history.

However, as the flash of the blast and the smoke it threw up cleared, the source of her nonchalance revealed itself. For surrounding the unscathed White Queen was a set glyphs formed into a protective dome. A barrier that had kept her safe from the awesome power of Helena's Harkonnen Mark III.

"Impressive power," the White Queen complimented even as Helena hissed in agitation at her most powerful attack having achieved nothing. "But it takes far too long to set up. That is not a concern in the current situation where I am willing to give you the time to do so, but it would be a liability in many other situations. So keep that in mind."

"What are you? Our critic?" Yuki asked angrily as she fired off a barrage of her Disintegration Lances in a bid to test out the strength of the Outsider's barrier, an attack that it blocked without the slightest bit of strain.

"That is what I intend to be, yes." The White Queen confirmed condescendingly.

"Well, critique this!" Helena shot back as dismissing her Harkonnen Mark III, she summoned dozens of her Harkonnen Mark II and added their firepower to Yuki's continued barrage.

"Quantity will not avail you where quality failed, aspects of Thirteen."

"No, but it can keep you distracted." Yuki countered as her scythe Mystic Code warped as she put the finishing touches to the spell she'd been casting on the side. It had entirely been covered in an inky black aura and its blade had elongated massively.

Swinging her changed weapon at the White Queen, Yuki let loose the power of her spell. "Entropic Reaper!"

With her final incantation and the movement of her swing, the power she'd gathered into her scythe shot out from it and cut through the air, transforming as it did into a crescent shaped bullet of darkness that proceeded to slam into the White Queen's barriers and create just as massive an explosion as Helena's own Harkonnen Mark III had.

Sadly, it was just as effective.

Thus as the smoke cleared once more, the White Queen once more emerged unscathed within the confines of her barrier.

"Being able to pool your magic for that spell whilst casting others to suppress your enemy and provide cover is definitely a good thing." The White Queen critiqued, ignoring Yuki's disappointed frown just as much as the continued ineffectual battering of her barriers by Helena and Yuki's spellfire. "And the power behind it though slightly less than that of the Fifth's was certainly admirable as well. Overall, quite a good showing there, Second."

"Why thank you," Yuki shot back sarcastically as she teleported behind the Outsider and tested the strength of the rear of her barrier with a single overpowered Matter Reaper.

However, much like Helena feared, the barrier was no weaker there and the wave of disintegrating energy that Yuki unleashed just fizzled out helplessly against it.

Can nothing break through it!? Helena thought with a growl as she upped the intensity of the barrage she was unloading upon the barrier with her Harkonnen Mark IIs.

"Now then, Ninth, I believe it is your turn to test your mettle against my defenses."

"Yes, it is." Bella agreed, surprisingly easily. "And thanks Helena, Yuki, for buying me time. Have a taste of the power of Life itself, White Queen! Life Bomb!"

At her incantation, a veil of obscuring magic that Helena recognised as Yuki's work fell away from a spot directly above the White Queen and revealed a massive mass of green life energy. A mass that by its sheer size was something that Bella must have spent the whole fight so far gathering.

"Helena!" Yuki hissed urgently as she used Shadow Step to teleport next to Helena and with a swing of her scythe conjured a barrier of hardy material around them, one that the Fifth quickly added to with her own shadow barriers.

They had barely finished building their hasty shelter when the bomb that Bella had built went off. In a burst of emerald light that turned the entirety of the sealed space they were fighting within into a sea of green for a moment, a massive amount of life energy flooded it with the White Queen at the very epicenter of the blast and subject to its full fury. Even if they were not the target and were a reasonable distance away from the immediate blast zone, Helena and Yuki's barriers only just barely held against the power unleashed by Bella's Life Bomb as the majority of the material Yuki had conjured was completely disintegrated by its fury and all but a handful of Helena's own barriers collapsed.

"Good. Very good!" The insane Outsider, looking as unscathed as ever much to the three Lords of the Thirteen's dismay, said with a pleased giggle as the effects of the Life Bomb faded. "Capitalising on your opponent's preoccupation with your peers to build up your attack? Very smart. And what an attack as well. Truly impressive. You three have more than exceeded my expectations when it comes to your attack power. Now, it is time to taste your defensive strength."

"Oh shit!" Helena cursed even as she grabbed Yuki and pulled her through the shadows back to Bella's side. "Combine our efforts!"

It was frankly the only way they would be able to survive whatever the Outsider had in store for them. She had already proven just how insanely powerful she was defensively speaking, having taken on the most powerful attacks the three of them could muster in succession without so much as a scratch. The thought of having to face whatever attack she could bring to bear in turn was terrifying! And not something they could hope to do alone. Especially when none of them were particularly talented when it came to the defensive department. Helena and Yuki typically relied on their speed and regeneration to weather attacks and Bella usually kept herself far enough away from the frontlines to never have need to make it a priority.

Neither of the other women bothered to answer verbally. Instead they both began pouring their magic into a single dome shaped energy barrier that surrounded them. A task that Helena hastily added her own magic to.

I pray that this holds.

Smiling at their efforts, the White Queen casually pulled her gun sword from the ground and leveled it at them.

"Wrath of the White Queen." The Outsider incanted as she made a lazy thrust of her weapon in the direction of the three Lords of the Thirteen, sending a single massive beam of energy that was somehow even whiter than the white of the sealed space they were trapped in flying at them.

The beam hit them and their hasty barrier with force unlike anything that Helena had ever felt before. Their barrier held it at bay for a precious few seconds, just enough time for Helena and Yuki to throw themselves at Bella and wrap themselves around the less sturdy human before it consumed them. The pain was incredible! Like that one time Helena had had the misfortune of taking a dip in a vat of acid but a thousand, no, a million times worse. It was like every particle of her being was being melted away. Like every single part of her existence was being violently torn apart at the same time.

Blissfully, the pain lasted only for a brief moment but even as it faded, Helena found her regeneration struggling to repair the damage that had been done to her. It seemed that however the attack worked, it had somehow damaged Helena's regeneration itself. Which was problematic as her whole back had been disintegrated by the Outsider's attack. And she doubted she was the only one in that predicament as judging by the pained hiss Yuki made beside her, she too was having trouble recovering.

"Yuki! Helena! Are you two alright!?" Bella cried out worriedly as she squirmed out from under the both of them. Shielded by their bodies, she'd survived the Outsider's attack with only light burns that her magic was already quickly healing.

"Oh my god!" The Ninth cried out in alarm as she saw the extent of Helena and Yuki's injuries. "Here! Let me help!"

With that she fell to her knees between the two wounded vampires and began casting a series of spells over them both to assist their regeneration, even as she summoned a horde of treants and chimeras to guard them from another attack. Not that Helena thought they could do anything if the White Queen chose to take advantage of the situation.

Fortunately, she seemed content to simply nod at them approvingly.

"Working together to try to cover for an area of mutual weakness. Shielding a particularly vulnerable but more valuable member of your team even at the expense of one's well being. Seeking to assist your comrades rather than succumbing to rage and launching a reckless counterattack. Truly, you three are worthy of the mantle you wear. I am satisfied."

With that last statement, the White Queen vanished, taking the sealed space she'd created and as they returned to the battlefield from which they'd previously been plucked, seemingly her undead legions as well with her.

Did she just leave!? Bella couldn't help but think, her mouth falling open in incredulous shock as she surveyed the battlefield she, Yuki and Helena had found themselves upon once more. One that was now completely devoid of the seemingly endless legions of undead that previously opposed them.

"Bella!" "My lady!" "Yuki-sama!" Bella heard dozens of voices shout in alarm as their loved ones rushed towards them.

Yuki and Helena were both healing, their regeneration was also picking up, but they were still far from fighting fit and Bella was still casting healing spell after healing spell on them to assist their recovery. But as a Biomancer, that was second nature to her, so it was her confusion that dominated her thoughts.

"Seriously! What just happened!?" Bella all but shouted, ignoring Jane's incoherent concerned queries as her mate pulled her into a hug.

"I would like to know that too." Helena said as she unsteadily pushed herself to her feet, stumbling and getting caught by one of her bodyguards who helped her steady herself.

"As would I." Yuki added as Yori helped her to stand. "But let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. One of the Circle has retreated. Let's take heart in that and move on. There's still other Outsiders out there we need to deal with."

Bella just nodded alongside Helena. Yuki was right. They still had a war to win. They could figure out what the hell was going on after they'd saved the world.

"We're here, Master." Ruby Moon said with a grin as she floated down to Eriol's side after firing off a barrage of energy arrows at the enemy ranks.

"Indeed," Spinel Sun agreed as he cut off the beam he had been breathing out and using to thin out the enemy.

"The reduction in the enemy's numbers with the retreat of a number of their contingents have greatly assisted in that." Legion said from the particular drone that he was using as his primary avatar. An intimidating black, humanoid machine with a right arm equipped with a heavy energy weapon.

"Yes, on both counts." Eriol agreed as he surveyed the pillar of energy that shot into the sky from the ritual circle in what had been the centre of the village of Shinokawa. It was bordered by a ring of trees whose boughs and trunks had been twisted together into a single wall. "If we destroy that we might just might be to sever the Circle's anchor to our world and send the remainder of their members back to whence they come."

"If not at the very least it might force the last two Outsiders still fighting to show themselves and give us a chance to defeat them." Legion said as he had his drones, the vanguard of their army, advance the short remaining distance to the ritual circle.

"I think not. Vermilion Sea." A lyrical, feminine voice said as a flood of blood suddenly materialized from nowhere and proceeded to smother and crush the entirety of Legion's advancing drones, even as the caustic substance burned away at them.

Even as Eriol recoiled in shock at that, Ruby Moon tackled him and dragged him into the sky even as Spinel Sun breathed purple fire at a peerless beauty, with extremely pale-white skin and blood-red eyes wielding a massive great sword that she had swung in a arc that had almost cut him in half.

Where did she come from!? Eriol couldn't help but think in shock even as the beautiful attacker teleported away before Spinel's flames could consume her. She hadn't fully escaped retribution though as the moment she rematerialised, she came under fire from Legion's avatar. But in a display of remarkable swordsmanship she swung her massive sword, it was as long as she was tall, and deflected the plasma bolts his fellow Lord shot at her.

"Vermillion Bullet." The woman said, sending hundreds of bullets made out of the same caustic blood that she'd used to destroy Legion's vanguard flying at the Tenth Lord. "I am Sophia Keren, adopted daughter and apprentice of Sophia Evileyes and I will not allow you to hinder my Master's plans."

"Celestial Wall!" Eriol cast hastily, conjuring a wall of golden light that shielded Legion's avatar and the troops standing around it from the blood bullets. "All forces retreat! Create a cordon and keep the rest of the enemy from interfering but leave this woman to us Lords."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that." The white haired swordswoman said as she teleported above him and Ruby Moon, her sword poised to run him through as she fell towards them. "Master and Midori-sama's troops will not interfere in our fight. They know better."

"Apologies but I don't believe you." Eriol shot back as Ruby jerked them out of the way and he retaliated. "Solar Flare."

Growing a pair of membranous wings made out of blood from her shoulders, the woman flew out of the way of the beam of solar energy that Eriol shot her way. She tried to close again but a barrage of energy bullets shot at her from below by Spinel and Legion forced her back.

"Yeah, I wouldn't believe me if I was in your position either." The woman said with a smirk. "Shining Blood Mist."

At her incantation, a beautiful mist that shone white billowed in from all sides smothering the entire area and began to freeze everything that it touched.

"Stellar Burst!" Eriol cast, unleashing a blast of heat that burned away a large chunk of the icy mist.

"Tsch. You beat my Shining Blood Mist so easily?" The Outsider servant said with a disappointed frown even as she evaded the continuing barrage from Spinel and Legion's avatar. "Well, it's basic function isn't the only way to use that spell."

With that ominous statement, she smirked and the remaining mist reshaped itself into a snake-like construct and shot itself at Eriol and Ruby. In response, Ruby let Eriol go and threw himself in front of him, spreading her arms to her sides as she poured her energy into a marble shaped barrier that the construct proceeded to bite down on the barrier.

"Stellar Burst!" Eriol cast again after quickly using Fly to catch himself in the air, using the second casting of his spell to burn away the last of the freezing mist.

As the construct was finally dealt with, Eriol was honestly a little surprised that his opponent wasn't following up. Though considering she was busy being engaged by Spinel and Legion's avatar, which was flying on a combination of a jetpack and a Fly spell, in an aerial dogfight. Bullets of energy and caustic blood flying at each other as the three of them jinked and swerved around each other in a deadly dance.

"Ruby, go help them." Eriol ordered. "I'll play support."

"Yes, Master." Ruby said with a nod as with a single beat of her butterfly wings, his Guardian shot towards the dogfight like a bullet, adding shards of pink crystals to the bullet hell that was filling the sky as she did.

"Blessing of the Sun and Moon. Celestial Armor."

There that should do the trick for now. Eriol thought as he watched his allies glow as his spells took hold and boosted their abilities and sheathed them in an additional layer of defensive magical armor, before he switched gears to go on the offensive.

"Burning Comets." Eriol cast, conjuring hundreds of fireballs imbued with celestial energy and sending them streaking through the air in chaotic patterns as they zeroed in on the Outsider servant, adding even further to the storm of projectiles both sides were exchanging.

With three against four, it was honestly only a matter of time before the white haired woman got hit. It was pure chance that it was one of Eriol's Burning Comets that did the deed, hitting her in the back as she evaded a particular thick brace of Ruby's crystal shards and Spinel's energy bullets. It wasn't quite powerful enough to shatter her magical defensives, which flashed a brilliant crimson all over her body in response, but it did stagger her and left her open to being hit by hundreds more projectiles as Eriol and the rest of his allies directed all their projectiles at her, consuming her in a series of powerful explosions.

"Impure Shockwave Shield!" The woman said as a reddish-black wave of force burst from the centre of the explosions clearing the sky of the projectiles that were still streaming in towards her.

It had also cleared the clouds of smoke that the explosions had created, revealing just how much damage they had done to her. It seemed under the assault, her magical defenses had completely failed and it had literally tore her body to pieces. Whole chunks of it were literally missing and the remainder was covered in burns.

"Argh! Damn, I screwed up." The woman cursed as her body regenerated right in front of their eyes.

Between the use of blood and regeneration, I think it is safe to assume this woman is a vampire of some type.

"Shining Blood Mist."

Conjuring more of her freezing mist the woman used it to hold Eriol, his Guardians and Legion back as she finished her regeneration and prepared whatever counterattack she was planning.

"Stellar Burst!" Eriol cast once again, clearing the sky of the mist.

As it did, Eriol's eyes widened as he found the vampire feet from Legion's avatar and flying at high speed at him to close the little remaining distance. Eriol and his Guardians turned to intervene, but they were too slow.

"Life Drain!" The white haired vampire said as she slammed her hands into the robot's body, tearing through its armor, both energy based and physical, like a hot knife through butter. Even as she did, the sizable amount of magical energy that Legion had poured into his avatar was drained away by the vampire and it quickly went limp whilst the last of the vampire's injuries healed and its damaged clothes were repaired by using the drained magic as fuel.

Tearing the inert robot apart, the vampire tossed the wreckage to the ground below and let out a victorious howl. That was sadly a mistake on its part though, as it left it open to a retaliatory barrage from Eriol and his Guardians.

"Impure Shockwave Shield!" The vampire cast, once more using the reddish-black wave of force her spell created to deflect the incoming attacks before blurring towards Eriol in a burst of speed.

Eriol's eyes widened and he hastily began casting a spell even as he knew he would be too late. His Guardians moved to intervene as well, but like him they would not be able to do anything in time.

Thus he was beyond surprised when a sliver blur slammed into the vampire literal moments before she made contact with him. A blur that turned out to be a large silver bolt mounted atop a rocket engine that had impaled the vampire and sent her flying away from him.

Glancing down quickly, even as his Guardians began attacking the impaled vampire as she fell back to Earth, Eriol saw the source of the silver bolt was one of the shoulder mounted missile launchers built into the spider-like drone which through his magical senses he could tell was Legion's new avatar.

"Do not take your eyes off the vampire, Eleventh." Legion shouted up at him as he unleashed a storm of plasma bolts from the twin energy cannons that served as his latest avatar's arms.

"Apologies!" Eriol replied as he raised his staff. "Solar Flare!"

Firing a focused beam of burning solar energy at the vampire as the rocket directed silver bolt slammed her into the ground, literally staking her to it. Even as his spell burned her, Legion fired off the rest of his missiles, all of which turned out to be more silver stakes and further secured her to the ground. Burned by Eriol's spell and the effects of silver, the vampire howled in agony as her regeneration was overwhelmed and she began to fade away, even as Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun added their weight of their spellfire to her agony.

"M-Mas-Mama, I'm sorry, I failed." The Keren girl said as under the onslaught she was subjected to, she faded from their world.

"Master!" Ruby Moon shouted in urgent concern as she and Spinel Sun flew over to his side. "Are you alright? Did that vampire hurt you?"

"No, Legion shot her before she could." Eriol assured her as he and his Guardians floated down to regroup with the Tenth. "Thank you for that, Legion."

"No need for thanks, Eleventh. I am merely doing my part." The artificial intelligence said with a shrug of his avatar's shoulders. "Now, with its guardian defeated, let us destroy the ritual circle."

Eriol nodded and raised his staff.

"Supernova." He cast, unleashing a massive burst of celestial energy that burned away the wall of trees that surrounded the ritual circle.

His spell was not the only attack that was unleashed on the circle. Ruby and Spinel had added their firepower as well, firing a pink and blue beam of destructive energy respectively that they swept across the wall of trees, setting it alight. Legion too joined in firing twin lasers of crimson energy from his avatar's arms. Under such intense firepower, the trees were quickly reduced to ash and the pillars of light that they surrounded faded away as the plants died.

Sadly, even as it did, nothing seemed to change about the battlefield. The seemingly endless hordes of monstrous spiders and arboreal monsters remained. In fact, a quick glance told Eriol that the destruction of the ritual circle that had originally summoned their masters into this world seemed to anger them and they were fighting with increased intensity.

"This proved pointless." Legion said, somehow sounding disappointed despite the monotone of his voice.

"We didn't know that was the case when we sought to destroy the circle." Eriol countered. "Let us not dwell on it. For now, let's move on and just focus on continuing the fight."

"Agreed." Legion said as he fired off a salvo of missiles into a mass of monster spiders skittering towards them.

Whilst their fellow Lords were busy leading their allied forces into the sealed space they had created with the Twelfth's help, Sakura and Tomoyo had remained at the base camp the Council set up to coordinate their operations and helplessly watched the whole battle unfold. News coming from the frontlines being sporadic at best due to chaos of battle, the two Lords had been forced to mainly focus on working to ensure that the flow of supplies and reinforcements to their men on the frontlines were maintained, that the medical units in the rear were ready and able to receive the seemingly unending stream of wounded and most importantly on maintaining their portions of the barriers that kept the Outsiders contained.

It was the last task that they were struggling with most.

"Sakura, is maintaining the barriers really worth it?" A pale and tired looking Tomoyo asked Sakura as the two took a break from helping to supervise their rear lines to have a round of coffee. "I mean, they're not proving very effective are they? What with multiple additional Outsiders we hadn't even accounted for apparently having shown up inside without our knowledge."

"I know." Sakura said with a sigh. "At least they seemed to have left or have at least been engaged by the others. And none of them escaped the sealed space so they must have some degree of effectiveness, right?"

"Or they're toying with us again." Tomoyo countered. "You're heard what the others have been saying, the Circle is treating this as a game. And whilst in a way it is comforting to know they aren't serious, I'm worried about what might happen if the game doesn't turn out the way they want it to."

"I think Tomoyo has a point there, Sakura." Kero-chan said with a thoughtful hum from Sakura's right where he'd been playing her shadow since they'd arrived. "A lot of gamers can be sore losers."

"Perhaps," Yue-san agreed from her left. "But we will just have to deal with that situation if it comes to pass but for now we should just take whatever victories we can get."

"Yes, we should just take things as they co-"

Sakura's sentence was cut off when frantic cries of alarm suddenly filled the air. Acting quickly, Sakura tossed her mostly empty cup of coffee to the ground and with Tomoyo and her Guardians trailing behind her she ran towards the source of the commotion. It was a prudent thing to do as standing in an open space just outside of the field cafetaria where they had been having their break were none other than the Outsiders Shiro Evileyes and Midori, the former of which was casually snacking on a peach.

"Why do you look so surprised to see us First of Thirteen?" The blonde Outsider said with an infuriating teasing smirk. "Did you think your little sealing barrier really managed to contain us? It didn't. We just chose to stay inside of our own accord."

Sakura frowned at the revelation but did not dwell on it. What was done was done. She had to focus on the present. As such she signalled to the others in the area to evacuate immediately even as she cut the connection to her portion of the barriers maintaining the sealed space even as Tomoyo did the same and they and Sakura's Guardians tensed for the fight ahead. All the while, the Outsiders in an act of surprising graciousness or perhaps simple arrogance, stood idle and allowed them. Doing nothing even as Sakura summoned her staff and enhanced herself with the strength of the Power, the Dash, and the Jump and Tomoyo summoned her own Mystic Code and began casting spells to buff herself.

As the men fled and the two opposing group of combatants squared off, a tense quiet settled over the area.

As the last of the Council's men left the area, the blonde Outsider finally broke the silence. "Okay, the bystanders are gone. It's time to get this fight sta-"

Before she could finish the sentence, her wife suddenly started and paused in her nibbling of the fruit she'd been eating the whole time, she turned to look in the direction of the sealed space that was now kept enclosed by only the Twelfth's barrier.

"Vampy just got defeated." Shiro said with a pout. "Midori, remind me to comfort her when we get home."

"Aww~! Sophia-chan got defeated?" Midori said with a pout. "Yeah, we'll need to cheer her up when we get back."

Shiro nodded. "Yes, we will. But we need to focus on what we need to do right in front of us for now."

"Um." Midori agreed with a nod. "Let's finally get this show started!"

Despite her enthusiastic declaration, it was not the blonde who started the battle but rather her spouse. In a burst of white light, Evileys transformed into an arachne as a pure white spider body replaced her entire lower body and swallowing the fruit in her hands in one inhumanly large mouthful, she stripped it of its flesh and spat out its pit at the Lords and Sakura's Guardians like a bullet.

"Shield!" Sakura shouted urgently even as the Sakura Card, acting on her intent, was already wrapping her and the others in its protective barrier.

It barely formed in time and only just weathered the attack, shattering from the impact but it had served its purpose. Mentally sending the Card her thanks, Sakura prepared to counterattack but was beaten to the punch when the arachnid Outsider followed up with another attack.

"Thousand Evil Eyes." The spider woman said in an ominous whisper as a myriad of eyes formed all over her body and glowed with a malicious light.

Thankfully, whilst Sakura had been caught flat footed by the enemy, Tomoyo had not and a shimmering bubble surrounded the arachne even as she was still midcast and the spell seemingly had no effect.

Sakura, I'll keep Evileyes-sama occupied. Tomoyo sent Sakura telepathically as she too shimmered out of visibility. You deal with Midori-sama.

Alright. Stay safe Tomoyo. Sakura sent back as she used Sword to transform her staff into her trusty blade and prepared to engage the blonde Outsider.

You too Sakura. Her wife sent back as she withdrew a little from their bond to focus on the fight in front of her even as Sakura herself channeled the power of Dash and Jump to launch herself at her own opponent.

"Thousand Evil Eyes." Shiro said in a relieved whisper.

Whilst she had opened up considerably over the eons and had learnt to be able to converse like a normal person without the crippling anxiety that used to consume her when she was younger, it still tired her out. Especially when speaking to strangers. So resorting to whispering really was something of a reprieve. It wasn't the silent non-verbal communication that she'd have preferred but it was still an improvement and she appreciated it.

That her spell finally marked the start of the fight at last also played a part in her sense of relief. Patience was one of her strong suits, yes, but that didn't mean she didn't dislike having to wait. It just meant she was better at managing her impatience.

That said, the start of the fight was shaping up to be somewhat annoying as her Thousand Evil Eyes was immediately countered by a bubble of shimmering air that surrounded her and absorbed the multitude of curses and other status effects her spell had tried to cast on her opponents.

"You know, using corporeal illusions to soak up the effects of my spell is just cheating." She observed with a frown.

"All's fair in love and war." The Seventh of Thirteen declared as she materialised in front of Shiro, only for the arachne to conjure a wicked looking scythe and cut her in two revealing that it was an illusionary clone that faded out of existence at the attack.

The White Spider sighed before shooting lasers out of her eyes that cut through the shimmering air. The sound of shattering glass resounded all round her as whole sections and layers of the hardlight constructs that created the shimmer were destroyed but there were still more of them, far too many of them.

"Let's have our wives have their fight whilst we have a private one of our own." The illusionist said, her voice coming from all around her as she continued to hide behind her illusions.

"If that's what you want." Shiro said, brandishing her scythe intimidatingly. "Then so be it. I hope you're prepared for that."

"I'll do my best." The other woman said in a peppy voice that was clearly a sarcastic tease.

Shiro smiled. It seemed the Seventh of Thirteen was someone who could at least pretend to have fun even in a fight and that was just the type of opponent that she enjoyed fighting. A fight was deadly serious, yes, but that did not mean one couldn't at least try to at least inject some humor into it to make it more palatable.

If she's going to hide behind infinite illusions, then I might as well enlist some help to clear them out a little. Shiro thought as she waved her scythe in front of her in a wide arc causing four summoning circles to form.

"Come and help me Puppet Taratect Sisters." The White Spider commanded calling her aunts into this world to assist her against her opponent.

At her invocation, all four summoning circles glowed brightly as the bursts of light faded, they had faded and left in their wake four humanoid dolls.

On the extreme left was Ael, who had the appearance of a young girl with slightly spoofed short blonde hair with a high bow on her head that was reminiscent of bunny-ears. She was dressed in a white top that looked like a mix between a shrine maiden and sailor fuku that had extra wide sleeves and a pleated skirt that ended just above her knees.

To her right was Sael, whose puppet body was the shortest of the four sisters. She sported blonde hair, dark blue eyes, and was dressed in a frilly, open-long sleeved outfit with frills and a red hood. Her hood was up and served to partially shield her expressionless face from view.

Next was the sister with the tallest puppet body, Riel. Her outfit consisted of a long green dress and white overcoat that was topped up by a green bow tied into her blonde hair. She radiated a calm and happy demeanor, but Shiro was not fooled. She knew her Aunt well enough to know that this was merely a front to hide just how extremely air-headed Riel truly was.

Lastly came Fiel, her unique animal ears and a tail twitching excitedly at the prospect of a fight. In another departure from her sisters, she had black hair which she paired with a wide one-piece dress with large frills and an overcoat that covered most of the dress.

"Ael, Sael, Riel, Fiel, help me teach this woman a lesson."

Her Aunts acknowledged her order with nods even as they each revealed their four hidden arms and swords materialised in their hands.

"You're not the only one who can call reinforcements you know, Evileyes-sama." The Seventh of Thirteen said with a chuckle even as dozens of hardlight constructs in the shape of various monsters formed around Shiro and her Aunts.

"Perhaps but I assure you that my Aunts have the advantage in quality." Shiro boasted even as the Puppet Taratect Sisters blitzed through the ranks of the army of constructs the illusionist had created seemingly working hard to prove her point.

"Yes, but quantity is a quality all its own." The other woman retorted as she created more constructs, easily replacing those she'd lost to the Puppet Taratects.

"We shall see which is better then." Shiro said as she swung her scythe in a wide arc sending a barrage bullets of white bullets flying from the blade in the process, thinning the numbers of the construct army and assisting her Aunts.

Outside the shimmering field of distorted space that was created by Tomoyo's illusions, Sakura's high speed attack was thwarted when in a burst of her own blinding speed, the Outsider blurred out of the way. Sakura made to pursue but a rain of green energy bullets fell down on her, forcing her to use a Jump enhanced leap under a protective shield that Kero-chan and Yue-san had raised.

"Are you sure you want to fight me, First of Thirteen?" The blonde asked, looking genuine curiosity. "Isn't your wife something of a backliner? You sure you want to leave her alone to fight Shiro? If you, I'm totally willing to let you, you know. Help her I mean. I can have my turn if you two survive Shiro."

"I have faith in Tomoyo." Sakura retorted even as she used Shot to fire a barrage of her own magical bullets at the Outsider who whilst ceasing her own attack, casually swatted Sakura's own aside.

"I see. Then I guess it's time for us to rumble." The blonde said with a smirk as two pairs of translucent wings akin to dragonfly wings grew out of her back. At the same time, her legs glowed green as they transformed into a set of long vine-like tendrils some of which ended in venus flytraps, others still were tipped by various flowers whose centres were filled by a maw lined with razor sharp looking teeth and yet more ended in wicked blade-like looking thorns.

Kero-chan, Yue-san cover me. Sakura ordered her Guardians as once more tapping into the power of Dash and Jump, she again launched herself at the so-called Woodland God, hoping that the fireballs and crystal shards that her Guardians were shooting as suppressive fire would allow her to successfully close with her opponent.

To her surprise, instead of blurring away like she had before or launching her own counterattack, said extradimensional invader chose to conjure a barrier even as she remained where she was and summoned a slim grimoire that was clearly her Mystic Code.

"Why do you look surprised?" The Outsider asked with a frown as she used a wave of energy to force Sakura back. "Don't you know that my adopted mother is Alice Margatroid, the Seven-Colored Puppeteer, Master of the Library of Infinite Library and leader of the Shin Daiyōkai? Of course I'd be a magician!"

Lost as to the meaning of the Outsider's words and unconcerned about them regardless, Sakura chose to go on the offensive and combining the strength of Power with Shot, she fired a powerful beam that shattered the blonde's barrier. By this time she was just steps away from being in striking distance of her opponent, however the unfazed alien just smirked and was suddenly surrounded by hundreds of magical circles of various sizes from which spat out a storm of various magical bullets. It was only with Fly quickly manifesting her wings and a quick beat of them that sent her soaring into the sky that saved her from being blasted to pieces by the barrage.

Kero-chan and Yue-san both tried to assist by intensifying their suppressive fire at the Outsider but the alien just absently conjured a series of translucent barriers that easily blocked the beam of raw heat and the arrow of moonlight that they respectively shot her way. All the while, the majority of her attention remained focused on Sakura as she redirected the still incoming storm of magical projectiles in her direction, forcing the First Lord into desperate evasive maneuvers.

"This is getting boring." Shiro whined in a quiet whisper as she used her scythe to decapitate a dragon and the hardlight construct shattered into a million shards before fading out of existence.

Around her, her aunts nodded even as they too continued to massacre the Seventh of Thirteen's monstrous creations. Ael disemboweling a troll, Sael horizontally bisecting a giant centipede, Riel stabbing a chimera through its heart and Fiel dicing a slime into itty bitty pieces. Not that their efforts or Shiro's own made an appreciable dent in the amount of enemies arrayed against them as the illusionists just replaced anything they killed with two more constructs.

"Are you tempting me to up the ante?" Shiro asked honestly as with a swing of her scythe she sent a wave of her white energy cutting deep into the enemy ranks and destroying hundreds of the endless constructs. "Because if you are, I will and you will not like it."

"Not really," the Seventh of Thirteen said as she appeared sitting on a divan inside a howdah mounted atop some kind of massive elephantine creature. "I was just buying time actually."

"Buying time for what exactly?" Shiro asked curiously as she cut the dozens of goblins that had tried to swarm her into ribbons with swings of her scythe and some of her webbing.

"Haven't you noticed yet?" The illusionist asked, honestly sounding surprised. "I mean it's effects on you have been growing since we started this fight."

Shiro frowned and mentally called her aunts back to form a defensive circle around herself so she wouldn't be interrupted as she did so, she dove into her being. Or more precisely the being of the avatar she was using to interact with this world. And to her shock, found that its perceptions had been shackled by a powerful illusion. One that had by the looks of it insidiously spread its influence throughout the course of this fight just like the illusionist had said.

You sneaky little girl. Shiro thought with no small amount of respect even as she moved to purge her avatar of the illusionist's influence.

Not that the Seventh of Thirteen was about to let her.

"Mind Crash!" The cunning woman cast and Shiro's senses failed her as her avatar's ability to perceive the world was destroyed by a powerful psychic surge and its body fell limp. Her aunts were no better as it seemed she was not the only one who the illusionist had subtly infected with her illusion and they too collapsed.

They were thus utterly helpless as the human's constructs swarmed them and tore them to pieces.

I have to make it through this bullet hell. Sakura decided as she swerved, jinxed and otherwise dodged the massive volume of magical projectiles of fireballs, energy bolts, beams and various elemental attacks that the Woodland God was firing at her. It was only thanks to Fly's skill in the air that she had managed to avoid being blasted out of the air and even then there had been a few close calls.

"Shield!" Sakura shouted urgently as her trusty Card quickly sheathed her in its protective power as she was herded into the path of a brace of energy bolts thanks to a beam that had swept across the sky. The blow was thankfully minor and Shield's barrier held and did not hamper her flight, allowing her to fly away from the many projectiles that tried to zero in her position.

Down below Kero-chan and Yue-san was desperately attacking the Outsider in a bid to somehow distract her and force her to at least slacken off on her relentless barrage. However, they were having little effect as safely ensconced behind layers of barriers, the blonde was practically ignoring their efforts. Only occasionally deigning to acknowledge their presence by replacing any barriers they managed to destroy.

And I and the Cards will need to do it on our own. Sakura concluded as she assessed the situation. She could come up with a plan that included her Guardians, but that would require them to let up on the Outsider and as ineffective as their efforts were, Sakura wasn't willing to risk taking away the distraction they were causing the blonde, minimal though it was. It was likely one of the reasons the Outsider hadn't managed to shoot her out of the sky yet.

With that conclusion made, Sakura began planning. A quick mental query to Fly let her know that it was not confident of being able to weave its way through the storm of projectiles the Outsider was unleashing. Shield similarly vetoed any ideas of just barreling through it using his protection. Even with Power and the other Cards enhancing its strength, it doubted it could create a barrier that was strong enough to weather the sheer firepower that was at play.

That leaves only one option. Sakura realised as she did a barrel roll to avoid a lance of eldritch lightning. Clearing the sky for a minute. Everyone ready?

There was a chorus of mental agreement from the Cards and Sakura allowed herself a smile at their faith in her as she began to channel all their power.

Her sword transformed back into her staff and it began to glow a brilliant pink. Raising it over her head even as she banked hard to evade a ball of green fire, Sakura cast the most powerful spell she had in her repertoire.

"Sakura Star Nova!" She incanted and an explosion of pink light burst out of raised staff. Hidden by the light, the various Card spirits manifested and added their own power to that of Sakura's own before quickly returning to their usual Card forms. Said power of the spell was truly extreme as it burned away the bullet storm that the Outsider Midori had unleashed, her projectiles fizzling out and her barriers shattering in the face of Sakura's superior strength.

"Argh!" The so-called Woodland God cried out in pain as her skin blistered and burned from the intensity of Sakura's spell and she threw up her hands to protect her face.

This left her open to the heat ray that Kero-chan was breathing at her and it pierced her in her right side, blasting a massive hole through her torso. This was followed up shortly by Yue-san's moonlight arrow that stabbed her right in the chest before exploding in a burst of power that fully bisected her body.

It was onto this ravaged avatar that Sakura fell like a vengeful angel. With her staff once more transformed into her blade through the power of Sword, and diving upon the injured Outsider using the power of Fly and Dash, she thrust her blade directly into the still intact head with enough force that even without the assistance of Power she caused it to burst apart like an overripe melon.

Watching as both Sakura and Tomoyo defeated the last of the invading Sapphic Circle through a scrying mirror in Omer's castle, the Twelfth Lord smiled with satisfaction. His young colleagues had done it. Just like he was sure they would.

"Is it finally time for you to act?" Omer asked him with a glare. "You know that the Circle won't just take this lying down. Some of them are just too petty."

"I know." The Twelfth nodded. "It is time to call in help."

Pooling his power, the Twelfth reached out across the gulf between worlds to perhaps the one group of beings willing and able to finally put an end to the situation."

As the light from her Sakura Star Nova faded - And she really needed a new name for the spell. It was so cheesy. It was the last time she let Tomoyo name her spells! - Sakura smiled as she watched the corpse of the so-called Woodland God's avatar rapidly transform into mush. A smile that only grew bigger as the distorted space created by Tomoyo's illusions faded and her wife sauntered over in her direction with a victorious grin.

Sakura returned it with one of her own and had just taken a step towards her wife, intent on pulling her into a celebratory hug and perhaps more when these were utterly derailed.

"Ṇ̷̨̱̫̈́̽͜o̶̱̺̱͒͗̔̎͛!̸̟̝̩̀̌ ̵̗͓̝̖͈̉͛̌̏͛Ì̴̞̪͍̜̪̉̎̆ ̶̫̹̩̯͖̀̎̅́͝r̷̺̈e̴̺͇̿̽̈́̉͝f̷̱͔̼̺̂́ü̴̥̹̖̏̂s̶̨͇͎̍̈̑͝e̵̮̻̿͛̏͂ ̸͎̓̿͆t̷̛̛̲͉̟̹̾ͅȏ̷͍̗͇̓ ̸̛̻̺̋̐͘a̵̗͐͠l̶̻̹̐̌ḽ̴̪̽́͘o̴͍̝̞̳̐͜͠w̴̨͖̝̳̓̆̏͘ ̵̱̔ṫ̷̪̲͇̮̈́̓͊h̷̰͂͒́̒͝i̴̮̇̓̋̄͠n̸̩͗̍͜g̸̙̎̔́̔͘s̷̮̣̹̐ ̸͓͙̝̆ṭ̷̻̤̒̽̕͘o̸̤͔͊̒̎ ̸̜̂̃͗e̴̢̖̦̻͌̔͌ͅn̸̼̗̘̰̬͛̈ḓ̸͓̲͇̃͆͜ ̴̧̩̟̭̾l̸̡̛̬̱̪̰͒̂̂͘ï̶̲̅͘k̶͕̇͜͝ȩ̸̖̈͊́ ̵̧̱̂̇̋̚ţ̵̈́h̶͍̆i̶͚͖͔̎͗̂ͅs̵͓͇̏̊̿͋̕!̵̛̼̊̈́̐" A monstrous, alien voice boomed from all around them as suddenly the ground underneath Sakura bulged.

Reacting quickly, the First Lord leapt back just in time to avoid the explosion of earth that heralded the appearance of another avatar of the Outsider Midori. One that was already in her full monstrous combat form.

"Curses," Sakura griped even as she tensed and prepared for yet another round with the alien invader. Though this time there appeared to be no sign of the alien's wife so perhaps she and Tomoyo could fight her together.

This hope was dashed when a pure white spider suddenly crawled up from the Outsider's back to perch on her shoulder.

"Midori, what are you doing!?" The arachnid asked, reprovingly. "We've been defeated. By the rules, we should withdraw."

"No!" The blonde countered petulantly. "I refuse to be defeated so easily! I will not! If I can't win this, then nobody will! Spell Card: Doom Sign 「Midori no ikari no Jutsu」(Spell Card: Doom Sign 「Green Wrath Technique」)!"

At her invocation, a green sun suddenly materialised out of nowhere overhead. An orb of eldritch plasma that started off small at the size of a basketball but rapidly began growing in size.

Sakura and the others were not idle as the Outsider launched this new attack and unleashed their full fury at her. Sakura channeled Dark and Light into Hope and had the latter fire a beam of void energy at the alien. Tomoyo for her part fired a beam of psychic energy. Even Kero-chan and Yue-san added their own firepower to the effort in the form of a heat ray and beam of moonlight. However, their attacks were stopped dead by a web like barrier.

"I might disagree with what Midori is doing now." The arachnid Outsider said even as their attacks attempted to pierce through her barrier. "But I will not allow you to hurt my wife."

"And we won't let you stop us!" Sakura shot back as she poured more power into her attack, calling on more Cards to lend their support to Hope.

"A worldbreaker spell? Midori, honestly are you that petty?" An unfamiliar voice said as a red lance suddenly shot the growing green sun and triggered a powerful spell that negated the growing spell.

Turning away from the staggered blonde Outsider to see the source of the unexpected intervention, Sakura was surprised to see a adorable little brunette clutching a penguin plushie with her free hand outstretched in a throwing motion. A girl which was being accompanied by the Twelfth Lord.

"Blakelord?" Shiro Evileyes asked, sounding shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"Stopping Midori from doing something very stupid apparently." The little girl said with a glare at the two Outsiders. "You're lucky that I'm the Moderator that Thirteen called in to settle this. If it was one of the others, they wouldn't be so lenient."

"Lenient? Wha-"

"You know what you did Midori." The girl said, her eyes narrowed with displeasure. "You and the Circle's little game was fine but you crossed the line at the end there and will be punished for doing so. Just count yourself lucky that I stopped you before you could follow through with your spell and I am willing to overlook what you almost did. Otherwise, you'd have to face the consequences of breaking the rules of honorable combat and dishonorably killing one of our own. One is bad enough, but both? You'd be liable to being imprisoned for a whole age of Creation if both stuck."

Sakura was lost and she guessed that Tomoyo and her Guardians were as well. The Twelfth however was not however and coughed to get the little girl's attention.

"Blakelord, perhaps you should settle that elsewhere?" He suggested firmly.

"Oh, right. Sorry Twelfth of Thirteen." She said with a blush. "Right. Come on Midori, Shiro. Time to face the music."

The arachnid Outsider sighed and her wife slumped but they both nodded.

Pleased with their compliance, the little girl teleported next to them and wrapping one arm firmly around the so-called Woodland God's arm she turned to face them.

"We'll take our leave now, Aspects of Thirteen. Sorry for all the trouble Midori caused."

"Thank you for intervening, Blakelord." The Twelfth Lord said with a polite bow.

"Just doing my job as a Moderator." The girl said before she teleported away taking the two Outsiders with her.

"Twelfth," Sakura said, spinning towards the man's projection and shooting him a glare. One that she knew was matched by Tomoyo's own. "Care to explain what just happened?"

Endnotes:

(1): For those curious, those coordinates were created using an online randomiser. It's for a position off the coast of Japan.

Done!

Okay, pretty long chapter huh? We'll it is the climatic chapter of this story after all. Though to be honest, I had considered splitting this chapter apart but I decided not to since it really did fit together better. Hope nobody minds. XD

So some of you might have been wondering why out of the entire Sapphic Circle only Midori (and to a lesser extent Shiro) actually took the invasion of Thirteen's world seriously. I think Azathoth summed it up quite nicely. It's a game to them. I've tried to hint/spell this out since the beginning through the relaxed way they were handling things till now. As the fact that the Circle was more concerned with socialising for much of the lead up to the invasion than actually planning and preparing for it should've made abundantly clear that was their true goal all along. As Shiro points out, the invasion of Thirteen's world was just a fun excuse/distraction to justify their getting together for some fun.

As for the rather anti-climatic ending, it's deliberate. As I've just said, the whole thing about the Circle's invasion was that it was a game. Games have referees/judges that ensure that the rules are followed. And in this case that's the Moderators. Who they are will be explained in the epilogue but I think it's pretty obvious already. And when rules are broken like they were by Midori at the end there, it's time for the Moderators to step in which is exactly what Blakelord did. It might not be the most satisfying conclusion but it was one that I felt fit the story, I hope most of you, at least, agree.

Well, till the epilogue proshchal'nyy privet!