Lilith might have underestimated the situation.
Whether it was the woodsmoke or the prickling stench of ozone driving the point home—
But one moment, they had their usual early-evening counter-insurgency, and the next?
"They're breaking through my temporal barrier," Gabrielle gritted out, coughing up blood.
Which meant trouble.
Like, the real, bad, ugly kind. Actual pain in the ass she didn't plan for tonight.
Not up in the mountains, the cold and the dark, isolated from all her other friends.
Well, not like she'd ever count the angel as one.
In fact, any other day, she would have commented how she wasn't at the top of her game, but—
Right now, Lilith wasn't, either. And they were losing bad.
"My teleport's a bust, too," she admitted. "And the only one I can reach is this Cat Ears guy."
Not like she trusted that stupid bishop after his show in Haiten.
And—even if she did, she couldn't bring him here, anyway.
Yeah. Screw that guy. She had no time for him.
"Do something," Gabby cried out, though. "I can't hold out any longer."
And sure enough—
A frozen moment later, her dingy temporal bubble had finally collapsed.
That was it. Within a split second, two giant golems jumped them, metallic arms flailing.
Not to mention the entire alien army that followed them from behind.
These were organic creatures, too, not the usual throwaway drones.
Hmm. They hadn't seen these in a while.
This must have meant that Lucifer was finally getting serious about his invasion, and—
He also caught them with their pants down.
How did they end up like this?!
It's not like she couldn't prepare ahead of time.
Konrad told her he wanted to celebrate Welf's discharge, and that was all fine. The big, redheaded brute deserved it, and her husband needed some time off, too.
Heck, even Meow Midori and Lucifer's other puppets worked hard against their master.
Giving them a break now and then should not have been the end of the world.
She should have been able to deal with this stuff for a day.
Especially with Gabrielle still by her side, with the non-trivial ability to stop time.
Three portals in the mountains? No problem.
The angel would freeze the moment, and they'd mop them up one by one.
A little extra hassle, but that was it.
Sure, she wouldn't do it for those lazy asses every day, but—
One night was ought to be fine. It should have been.
Except it wasn't.
They were still at the first portal near the salt mine when Gabrielle's magic was already failing.
And, well, her own abilities were also acting up from the start.
As if someone had jammed both her long-distance telepathy and teleportation magic.
Heck, on her way here, she almost portalled herself into a solid boulder.
Was it a new tactic, or the result of fighting near the place that saw her sealed for a century?
Either way, that should have been a red flag, but—
It was already too late.
At least her other spells still worked fine. She cast a fireball large and hot enough to melt even those iron golems. The explosion had halted the organic creatures' onslaught, too, but—
Someone or something was only waiting for this chance to counterattack.
Yeah. It wasn't the place.
These bastards had finally learned how to fight.
An electric shock had jolted her for a moment, and damn—
Not every day did something penetrate her passive defenses. In fact, it happened so long ago that she had stopped using barriers altogether, and—ow. Even her tongue was buzzing now.
Good thing she didn't have to talk to cast her response.
Lilith summoned an entire lightning storm for good measure, to strike a wider area.
Not like she cared about the army. That caster had to go down first.
The rest of the aliens might have been annoying, but she could've mopped them up later.
That sorcerer, though. Where was it even hiding? She had to deal with them, and—
Damn. She realised that this was still only the first portal.
"You don't seem to be doing well," a familiar voice noted. And hell, she almost struck that stupid little bishop as she spun around. "So this is what the Saints talked about? Let me lend a hand."
Ugh. For a moment there, Lilith thought she got had.
But right now, she was willing to accept help even from this annoying guy.
"Find the caster," Gabrielle panted, still coughing blood from her own spell's rebound. "We're pinned here like this, and can't deal with the other portals until he's gone."
Thank the spirits that she admitted defeat, so Lilith didn't have to.
Not like she could talk with her buzzing tongue right now.
"I have my knights ready to ride in, but—did you say another portal?!"
Knights? As if more meat puppets would do them any good.
The Church had what, two thousand riders around? And this portal alone had already spat out three times that, trapped in this narrow valley for now. But if the other portals had a free pass?
Crap. Some tribes lived up here, right?
"You sure they're invaders, too?" Cat Ears asked, still hesitant. "I have brought my men up with a portal of my own, too. If that's what you felt, then—"
"I how whaf if waf," Lilith snapped, and ouch.
Her tongue still wasn't working right.
'The knights would get in the way,' she messaged via telepathy instead. 'And the tribesmen, too. There's a salt mine. Robust. Easy to defend. Evacuate everyone and have them wait there.'
If they weren't running already, but—
No. All this time, the battle happened in a vacuum, and now that their temporal bubble burst?
It would involve the entire mountain—and sweep over it way too fast for them to react.
"Sent them the orders," the bishop grunted. "Now, about your caster—"
Whatever he wanted—like, asking for a description?—he had no time for that.
That bastard sorcerer struck again, and this time they aimed right for the old man.
Unlike her, though, the bishop had a solid barrier ready. He came into the battle better prepared than she had. His shield had bounced the lightning bolt right back, and—
It even revealed where that cursed spell had come from.
The sorcerer who opened this portal was still hiding behind it.
How? She thought they killed the bastard the moment they arrived.
But this was no ordinary servant, and it kept on fighting—
Until Lilith's rage boiled over, and she collapsed the entire valley on them.
That had to do the trick, right?
She couldn't bury the portal itself. But there was no way that guy could survive thousands of tonnes of earth and stone with that pressure. Except—the next spell was already coming.
What the hell was wrong with that guy?!
The bishop reacted faster than she did now.
His lightning bolt had bored a hole into the earthworks she created, striking true.
But the enemy sorcerer was still standing. A red aura glowed around their unbroken silhouette.
"That's either another fallen angel or Lu's strongest puppet so far," Lilith gritted out.
"No other angels had fallen," Gabrielle claimed. "And if it's a puppet—can we take them alive?"
Hah. Ambitious.
But right now, she wasn't even sure if they could beat the guy.