I didn't hesitate. Before the Cultist could speak another word, I ripped open a portal behind myself and Emilia, pushing her as I did so. At the same time, Wilhelm was a blur that barreled towards the Archbishop. Dust flew all around us, the small shockwave that the Sword Devil made strong enough to push rocks into the air.

The Archbishop was somehow faster.

A pillar of stone came up in front of him, forcing Wilhelm to divert himself. He skidded along the ground, kicking up more dirt in the process. I grit my teeth as I felt the sting of heat on my skin, the sheer velocity of the debris heating it up in the process.

I grabbed Suwen by the back of his shirt, throwing him through the portal as well. I was selfish, but I wasn't heartless. I wasn't about to let a bystander get in the middle of the increasingly dangerous battle. Which also meant that I needed to get Natsuki out of here.

"Oi!" I grabbed his shoulder forcefully, trying to shake him out of his undisguised shock, "Get your head in the game, Natsuki! No plan survives first contact!"

"R-Right!"

We both ducked as Karsten joined Wilhelm, her own blade glowing blue. The two of them battered Romanée-Conti, and yet, the Cultist kept up. His hands covered in mana-strengthened earth, he blocked and parried the furious assault. The two of them didn't let up. The Unseen Hand that Natsuki spoke about, we couldn't let him even try to use it.

And yes, I included myself in that list. I still had one last trick up my sleeve, one that didn't make use of my mana, and if that allowed me to get some idea of how other earth magic users fought, then all the better. Even if the one that I was 'learning' from was a damn Witch Cultist.

"Get going already." I glared at Natsuki and the maids, before turning my gaze towards Argyle and the rest of the Karsten retinue, my voice barely above a whisper, "Take care of the other Fingers, we have this one covered."

Natsuki was hesitating still. I could see him want to say something, alternating between me and the three beyond me. Rem was practically foaming at the mouth the moment she saw the Archbishop, with her sister being the only reason why she hadn't gone off already. Finally, Natsuki sucked in a breath and nodded, the look that I was beginning to associate with his blatant hero complex fading.

"Right. Good luck, you guys."

…

Magic duels were strange to witness, at the best of times. Really, think about it. You could watch two magic users fight, one using ice and the other fire, and watch as the fire slowly froze over. Or rocks the size of a grown man swerve in the air, curving in ways that no rock should.

They were as far removed from common sense as thinking the world was flat.

Except that this world was flat, and therefore, magic duels were just as rational.

Just like how pure light without heat shouldn't be able to deal damage other than hurting your eyes, and yet Karsten was quite clearly carving trenches with her swings of said pure light. In between the crescents of light, Wilhelm danced between, flurries of slashes towards the Archbishop.

They worked seamlessly, a well oiled machine that had had years of refinement.

Romanée-Conti took it all in stride.

Walls of earth rose to block Karsten's attacks, while a shield of dirt relentlessly circled around him, blocking Wilhelm's assault. At the same time, the wall of earth shattered under Karsten, only for the Archbishop to push his arms forward, the previously useless rubble turning into a veritable tidal wave.

A mix of defense and offense that Wilhelm and Karsten couldn't break. Not when they were as tired as I suspected them to be.

Luckily for them, the Archbishop had been ignoring me, seeing as I had made myself scarce.

Big mistake.

I just needed to find the right opening, and we'd be able to win this.

"Please, stop." The whirlwind of dirt did not muffle the sound of the Archbishop's voice, "I have no quarrel with you, I only wish to talk." He certainly didn't sound insincere. I made eye contact with Karsten. Hm, he was telling the truth.

Then again, I tried to convey in the silent conversation with the Duchess, would you really trust the genocidal maniac?

The problem with the ability to tell the truth is that the truth is usually subjective. Two different people could have very different truths, depending on their view of the world. Therefore, the idea that a Witch Cultist wanted to talk was not so unbelievable a truth. Rather, the real question was, what did he want to talk about?

Ten times out of ten, I would bet that they would want to talk about converting you into the Cult.

Karsten understood this, she must have, as she gave me a small nod. She charged back into melee. It was not, I don't think, my imagination when I watched the three go even faster. Not even blurred images anymore, but large blobs of color.

I let my mana flow into my eyes, enhancing them to the point where I could actually see the three's movements. In an instant, I saw Wilhelm kick back against the oscillating wall of sand, only for the dirt to suddenly converge onto his leg like a vice. It whirled him around, tossing him as if he were a ragdoll, before throwing him to the side.

Karsten didn't waste time, even as Wilhelm landed into a roll behind her. She slashed, once, twice, three times, before finishing with a stab. Each slash was met with a rolling patch of earth, and her stab was stopped dead in its tracks. The ground beneath her liquified into sand, then solidified into rock in the next instant, trapping her in place.

I opened a portal just beneath her, letting the Duchess fall into place next to me. She gave me a nod of thanks, narrowing her eyes at our opponent. I glanced to the other side of me, where Wilhelm approached. All three of us stared at the Archbishop.

All of that, in less than a minute.

None of the attacks he did were lethal. They were meant to disable, restrain, or otherwise incapacitate. What's more, is that he was using more earth magic than the Unseen Hands that Natsuki said. Though, given that he was still as calm as he was, staring at us with his hands behind his back, I doubted that this was the best he could do.

For the first time since before the fight began, I could take a good look at the Cultist.

He wore the stereotypical robes that Cultists wore, albeit he wasn't wearing a hood. His eyes were sunken, though not in the insane way that Natsuki described them. Rather, they looked to be the product of several nights of lost sleep. Not only that, but the ranting that he would supposedly do was replaced by abject calm.

"Are you done? Are you finally willing to talk this out like reasonable adults?" Romanée-Conti gave a look reminiscent of a parent looking at their unruly child. I stifled a scoff, just as Karsten clicked her tongue in annoyance. Wilhelm stayed quiet, though I couldn't tell what he looked like, seeing as I refused to look away from the Archbishop.

At some unseen signal, Karsten and Wilhelm moved forward once more. Romanée-Conti plunged his arm into the ground. The moment he lifted it up, crescents of stone came with it. Both sword wielders passed between them unharmed.

They were unprepared for Romanée-Conti's follow-up attack, a spray of mana enhanced rocks from his hand.

I was.

I opened a portal right in front of where the rocks would go, the exit directly behind the Archbishop's head. They didn't do anything. The stones, just when they were about to impact him, curved and morphed into flat discs, blocking the rest of the debris as they did so.

The two reached him, Karsten aiming high and Wilhelm low. A dual pronged attack that came at superhuman speeds. A normal person, even one born in this world where they would be empowered by mana, would be unable to dodge.

Romanée-Conti did so.

With a show of finesse and flexibility that shouldn't be possible, he twisted his body, and now I can see the contortions that Natsuki said he was capable of. Monstrous, unnatural. There was no possible way that a normal person wouldn't break their bones turning their spine like that.

Both of my allies were just as shocked as me, their swords missing entirely. If I hadn't been looking, I would have missed it entirely.

There.

As Romanée-Conti turned, he only had a single foot on the ground. I portalled underneath it.

Then closed it immediately.

The squelching rang in my ears as loudly as the scream of pain from the Archbishop. A soft thunk beside me, one that my roiling stomach refused to look at.

We can't afford to kill him. Not that we can't, but rather, that killing him would allow him to possess someone else. The entire reason why we had most of the others go for the Fingers was to prevent such a thing.

That didn't mean I couldn't grievously injure him to the point that he can't move.

…I'd like to say I was desensitized to this kind of matter, what with how everything seems to be out to get me at times. But no, I'm self-aware enough that I'm only monologuing to distract myself from the severed limb that was right next to me. In hindsight, I probably should have portalled it further away.

Focus.

This still wasn't over. Despite lacking one leg, Romanée-Conti shakily stood his ground, while Karsten and Wilhelm warily circled him. I shared their hesitation. No longer was the Archbishop calmly staring on. No, he was glaring.

At me.

An animal was most dangerous when cornered. I couldn't remember where I heard that, but this was what the Cultist reminded me of. I had just dealt the first bit of real damage in the fight. Where he was still playing around earlier, there's no doubt the gloves were off now.

I was, unfortunately, correct in my assessment.

With a breath, he brought his arms to his missing leg. Small bits of rock lifted up, prompting us three to tense. Except, the rocks climbed up to the bleeding stump, before slowly morphing into a stone foot. I cursed inwardly.

Dammit Natsuki, could you maybe have told us that this guy was also an earth mage that could give Mathers a run for his money?!

Regardless of the instant of annoyance, I gave a grim smile, one shared by Wilhelm and Karsten. We were somewhat worried that he'd die too easily - an ability that activated on death would have certainly made me more willing to die. And an injury like that would have been enough to get me to seriously consider just killing myself for another, better chance.

That he didn't throw himself at us in the hope of dying was a good sign. He still had confidence that he could win this bout. He likely thought that we didn't know anything about his real abilities, and that the others had just been shooed away for other reasons.

"Very well." With a sigh, Romanée-Conti lifted both arms back up, his gaze still targeted towards me, "If you wish to behave like children, then I will see fit to punish you as if you were."

He stepped back.

Into the ground, the earth acting almost like water.

It was only my own paranoia and admittedly lesser ability in earth magic that I felt it. I dragged Karsten out of the way as I empowered my jump away from where I was standing. In the next instant, a maw of earth snapped upward. I rolled onto my back as I scrambled away, the maw rising up and out of the ground.

A mistake.

The dirt beneath us morphed and molded, first turning into glass, then enveloping the two of us in a ball. It rattled my head as we rolled repeatedly, my hands and feet finding no purchase on the slippery surfaces. I had to focus, to try and block out the pain of being thrown around like that.

I didn't need to, as I was introduced to another form of pain as the ball shattered on impact on a tree. I bit back a cry as I felt shattered glass puncture into my side. Painfully, I stood up, even as the rest of my body groaned in protest.

"Karsten?" I grimaced as I tore out a shard of glass that had buried itself into my lip, "You still good?"

"Worry about yourself first, Hikigaya." In contrast to me, Karsten looked barely rattled. Sure, her uniform was unkempt, but that was the extent of it. Her grip on her sword tightened, so much so that I could hear it groan in protest, "Do you have a plan to deal with him, perchance?"

We were tense as we watched Wilhelm battle against the Archbishop, who'd used the earth from before to create a stone serpent, complete with fangs and all. At the rate we were going, where we couldn't deal a decisive blow, we would lose before he pulled out the Unseen Hands.

"One." We still had a chance, though, "I need to get in close, enough to make contact."

"We'll give it to you. Be prepared."

Indeed, I only had one chance for this. Throughout the entire fight, less than five minutes had passed. Not once did Romanée-Conti use a traditional spell, only using his mana in ways that I had thought I had mastery in: molding whatever earth there was to my desired form.

I was mistaken. There would always be someone better. Seeing Karsten and Wilhelm fight against the Archbishop, who was now using an extra four stone arms and fending off their attacks with relative ease, as I made myself scarce.

That mastery. As morally corrupt as the Witch Cult was, I couldn't deny their ability. With that kind of mana manipulation, or at least the understanding of how Romanée-Conti did what he did, I would be one step closer to getting a path home. I don't know how, I don't know why, but I just knew that that would be the case. All in all, I had come to one conclusion:

I wanted it.

Just a bit more, Karsten managed to break off one of the arms. They reformed just as quickly, but that small window, when she did so, there was a moment where he would be exposed. The next time it broke, that would be my opening.

There.

Now.

I portalled the moment I saw the cracks form, just in time to see it break off through said portal. I saw the Romanée-Conti whirl his head, locking eyes with me. I saw the shock on his face. I felt my lips form a grin, as I activated my A-

"That's enough, I suppose!"

I was forcefully pulled away by a blast of purple. In the background, I saw Karsten and Wilhelm get manhandled the same way. The Archbishop was encased in a translucent screen of the same purple. Beatrice came floating after, with various cloaked individuals bound with her power floating near her. The rest of our allies gingerly stepped through a portal, including Emilia and Suwen.

The Great Spirit stared at us in unbridled surprise. No, not us. The Archbishop. A look of recognition passed between them. They knew each other.

I couldn't bring myself to care at that moment. I was too busy stopping myself from wringing Emilia and Suwen's necks. Clearly, portalling them into the Mathers mansion was what had brought Beatrice here.

Dammit. DAMMIT!

Just one second. That was all that stopped me from dragging out whatever secrets the damn Archbishop knew. I-

No. I still had a chance. Argyle and Rem still had those looks of utter revulsion. That, that I can work with.

One way or another, I was getting what I wanted.

…

A/N: Hachiman and Petelguese might seem out of character here, but let me point to the White Whale and one of its victims. If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.

And a special thanks to: FireRogueWolf25, brutalcrab and Tassimo.