Fitoria stood there on the open plain. That's all she did.
Jessica struggled to keep herself calm. Her palms were sweaty and her mind was racing. The Filolial's Soul was intense, inhuman and difficult to understand.
She loved her Soul Sight. The insight into the people around her made it valuable beyond almost any other skill.
Here it's use was questionable.
The Carriage, her age and her nature as a Filolial made it difficult to predict Fitoria.
The worst part of it all was how none of the others seemed to understand what a terror she was.
They recognized her power, but only Gaelion, who'd been wise enough to flee was acting in the right way.
Itsuki was calm and annoyed with the Filolial. Raphtalia was standing by with a wary expression.
Neither of them was careful enough.
"-We aren't sure what it did exactly, but the Entity teleported away before the light could hit her," said Jessica.
"The Goddess has an Avatar," said Fitoria with a frown. "How? She has never managed to manifest before."
"You know of the Entity," said Jessica deciding not to reveal her ace. Soul Magic had proven to be able to strip the Takt of her Weapon. If Fitoria turned out to be an enemy, then it was her best shot at tearing the Carriage from her.
Fitoria nodded. "The Goddess is the reason for the Waves," she said her tone flat as she kicked at the ground. "She always tries to make everything worse. She's annoying, but she always has people act for her."
"Takt was one of her pawns. He might be using the stolen weapons. Maybe he needed a Legendary Weapon before she could manifest," she said tapping her Cane against the ground. "He had three Vassal Weapons and stole the Spear before killing Motoyasu. I assume that he wanted my Cane and Itsuki's Bow as well."
Fitoria frowned at Itsuki, "Bow Hero," she said, "You're too weak. Get stronger and find the other Heroes. Work with them and tell them to survive. If one more Hero dies, then I'll have to remove all of you."
"What?" said Itsuki at the sudden shift in conversation. He raised his Bow. Her soldiers behind him all reacted with some hostility. This was even though Jessica's air barrier stopped them from hearing. The threat had come out of nowhere. Jessica struggled not to twist her expression into something. "What are you-"
"Itsuki," she snapped. He turned to her, "Calm. That was a warning."
His eyes turned from her to Fitoria before nodding. His grip on his bow didn't change. Itsuki's focus was on the Filolial Queen.
Jessica turned to the Filolial Queen who was studying Jessica with a tilted head.
"We'll be sure to speak to the Shield and Sword as soon as possible," said Jessica not mentioning anything else. Fitoria was not all-knowing. She cared not for politics or anything else. "I know that the Legendary Heroes are very helpful in fighting the Waves, but is there a reason why you insist on removing them all if one more is lost."
Fitoria nodded and shrugged. "Yes," she said. "More Heroes means the World Barrier stopping the Waves is stronger. If all Four die then I can summon more. The Goddess makes this more important."
Jessica nodded. "I understand," she said, "but as you noted, this is the first time that the Goddess managed to Manifest. It's possible that she could disrupt the summoning process. Especially now that she has the Spear."
Itsuki had been stricken when she started. Only Raphtalia's grip on his shoulder stopped him from speaking.
By the end of her sentence, he was smiling and Fitoria looked stunned.
Foolish. She needed to teach him how to control himself better.
Fitoria was terrible at hiding her emotions, but she didn't need to learn how to. If she made a demand. Jessica had to obey or risk annihilation. Still, it was better for Jessica was that Fitoria wasn't much of a strategist. After all, while the Princess could be speaking the truth, it was also possible that the Entity was gone for now.
Unlikely, but possible.
"Explain," commanded Fitoria.
"We don't know what the Entity can do now that she has manifested," said Jessica. "I hope that barrier is acting as it always has and the Heroes can be summoned again. The Entity makes the whole process risky. She might be able to disrupt the summoning. Having all four is the best option, but it would be risky to remove them without confirming our ability to summon another set."
She made a note to speak to Itsuki after this. No one liked knowing that they were expendable. Especially if they were expendable.
The silence that followed was painful. Jessica could see Fitoria's confusion. The Filolial was rather adorable as she bit her lip while thinking.
Jessica knew that if Fitoria decided to kill them all, then there was nothing she could do to oppose it. It was hard to square that reality with the girl she was using her eyes to see.
Soul Sight let her see the inhuman nature beneath the outer shell.
Their only defence was the mission Fitoria's master had given her. That, and the apathy she showed to everything around her.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to predict if this would hold her back for long. Fitoria's whims could lead to Jessica's death.
It would lead to her death if she decided that Malty's actions in the past were damaging enough. Or she might view Melromarc's actions enough to condemn the country.
"Where is the Goddess?" asked Fitoria.
Jessica struggled to fight her smile.
Careful. She had to be careful.
"Faubrey is my best guess," said the Cane Hero. "That's where her host set up his power base. Her plans may have changed after her manifestation. Can you sense her? Her mana was different."
Fitoria shook her head. "I didn't feel her after she manifested," said the Filolial, "I came here because the Hourglass lost a lot of energy. That can mean a super-powerful Wave. That should only happen later. Cane Hero, Find her."
The command and mana flare had staggered Jessica. The Princess raised her mana in response.
The relief was short-lived. Jessica glared at Itsuki and Raphtalia who seemed ready to intervene.
"I will," she said after a moment. "but she was immune to my attacks. Finding her is pointless if I or my allies end up dead the moment they do. She killed thousands of my people by talking to us. I can't imagine defeating her."
Fitoria frowned. "Okay," she said, "find her. I'll kill her. Deal with the Waves in your territory and make sure to tell the other Heroes and keep them alive."
The agreement was a relief, but in truth, she wasn't sure how much faith she could have in this Filolial. It was easy to read her expressions, but the motives behind the actions were harder to interpret.
"As you say," said Jessica, with a firm nod, "it will not be easy, but I'll do everything I can."
"Not easy," she repeated, "Why?"
Jessica had a feeling that she had some guesses, "Politics and human stupidity," she said with a dry tone. Fitoria recoiled at the words. "I'll get in touch with them as soon as I can. I promise."
She made sure that she was honest. With how old she was the Filolial likely had some sort of truth-seeking skills.
Fitoria nodded with a blank expression. Her annoyance was obvious. She jumped and tore through the air barrier. In an instant, she'd reached such a height that Jessica couldn't see the Filolial despite her enhanced senses. Fitoria vanished with a flare of the carriage's mana.
The oppressive pressure of her Soul vanished. The sky was blue, the Wave was over and her people weren't dead.
She could breathe again.
A frown appeared.
Fitoria had left before giving Jessica a means to contact her.
Presumably, this meant that she'd be back for a visit later...or something else had come up.
Jessica hoped that she wasn't going to the Shield Hero. It would be disastrous. Or, she'd be as apathetic to his reasons as she had been to Motoyasu or Itsuki.
It was impossible to predict her actions.
This was the same entity who had seen fit to ignore Takt both in canon and in this timeline. Worse, she hadn't realized that the Book Hero was controlling the Spirit Tortoise.
Wise, Fitoria was not. It hadn't escaped Jessica's mind that she'd been able to lie indirectly to Fitoria. Nor that she had ignored Itsuki the moment Jessica had started to answer for him.
It struck her after a moment of thought.
Fitoria was tired. This wasn't something she wanted to bother with.
That made a lot of sense to Jessica. Who would want to bother with this fucked up world for hundreds of years?
Still, Jessica had been half-way expecting Fitoria to test and mark Azure. A method of spying and a successor for escape.
Had marking Filo been an impulsive decision?
"Malty," said Itsuki. "What was she?"
"A Legendary Filolial," said the Princess after a long moment. "More powerful than all of us combined and apathetic, yet involved."
Itsuki didn't look satisfied, "I can tell that she's strong," he said, "I saw her deal with the Wave-"
Jessica shook her head with a scoff, "That was nothing. Her mana was off the charts and her connection to her Weapon is deeper than anything. She could do worse than that a thousand times and not even feel it."
"What she was saying about us-"
"She believes it," admitted Jessica, "but the truth of it is clouded in myth and legend. I was playing along because she will act on it and it's possible. My guess about what the Entity can do was something I made up to protect you. Otherwise, the moment the Shield or Sword die she'll drop in and kill you."
Itsuki looked at her with an exhausted expression. He laughed. It was a bitter, furious sound.
"Wonderful," he said, "Now we have two of these stupidly powerful things on our back."
The 'we' made her smile.
The rest of his words had her sigh.
"We'll survive them," she said.
"As Motoyasu did," he scoffed before remorse filled him, "Sorry. I'm just tired of this."
"Get some rest, Itsuki." she said, "Take some of our people back to the capital. I'll deal with the aftermath here."
He nodded and moved.
Jessica frowned once he wasn't looking at her. She closed her eyes and winced once she realized that she hadn't put her air barrier up after Fitoria had torn it apart. Her soldiers had heard everything after that.
The Cane Hero sighed. One thing after another.
She had to get to Naofumi and Ren. Make sure they lived even if they were her enemies. It was something she could risk now that she knew that her Soul Magic could rip weapons away.
She had to get her prison ready.
Angering Fitoria without a plan to take her down wasn't an option. It was safer to have enraged Legendary Heroes standing against her.
