"So, what's the verdict?" Lilith asked, looking over the carnage.
"It wasn't one of his puppets," Gabrielle said, shaking her head. "But it sure was tough. My brother put in the effort to train them in the most effective counter-spells. And this—"
She picked up a glowing gem from the corpse and crushed it.
"Ah. Right," the demoness smirked. "I was about to mention that."
The angel gave her a look.
"You knew about it?!" she demanded, wiping the dust off her hands. "This crap had blocked my temporal magic the entire time. As if they knew what to expect and when best to use it."
"Yeah, yeah. I forgot they existed," the ginger admitted. "But Brigida reminded me today."
She had no idea it'd become relevant so soon, though.
"Our friend," she said. "Otto Ostfeld had gathered all kinds of artifacts. Kept them in his office, and—after Stella's rampage back then, I forgot to check whether she destroyed them or not."
The battered angel blinked, scowling.
"So this is even from this world?!"
Lilith nodded.
"The way I understand it, it wouldn't work if it weren't. And it existed on the other timelines, too, but last time Stella evaporated them. We also secured them in another, and—"
"So you knew they existed, were dangerous, and forgot to mention them," Gabby seethed.
Ugh. As if she could remember every little thing.
But, well, she understood her rage.
"What I don't get is—why did Lu wait until now to use them?" she pondered, rather than arguing with the angel. "Like, he must have gotten his hands on them months ago."
And the invasions had been ongoing for a while, too.
If he used Gabby's perfect counter and these freaking lightning bolts from the start—
Imagine if they had to face this before Soap and Roach joined them to help out.
Or while Konrad was away?
Now, that would have been a disaster, but—
Well, Lucifer's main target was him, after all.
"Them?" the angel scowled. "You mean to tell me there's more of these?!"
"Oh, you have no idea," Lilith scoffed. "That old baldy loved to collect magical taboo stuff."
The transmutation bracelets he used as a torture device might have been the tamest one of the bunch. And—he had almost two decades to search throughout Halaima for them.
"How many?" Gabrielle demanded. "And what else did he have?"
"I don't know off the top of my head," she said, shrugging. "But Brigida and Stella might remember some of the stuff. Don't forget that the others are still fighting, though."
And if Lucifer had expected them to show up, too—
He might've prepared other nasty surprises to counter each one of their strengths.
"In case you hadn't realised, I've already stopped time," the angel pointed out.
Which could only work if they had this one temporal gem around.
A good sign, but when Lilith tried to set up her next teleportation target, her mind was still fuzzier than usual. Gabby already got her powers back, but the invaders still jammed hers.
Well, it wasn't as bad as it was at the start, but—
"In that case," she said, "let's take a walk."
The angel's eyes went wide.
"You know how much strain that'd put on me, right?!"
Hah. As if walking under the spell's influence didn't strain her, too.
"I'm not talking about strolling and taking it easy," Lilith noted. "But knowing how prepared these bastards were? There might still be something nasty around."
The thing that jammed her. Or a second, smaller portal they hid.
Some kinda trap. She could almost feel it, but not quite.
"We have to go and help the others out," she explained. "But if your brother knew when to attack and use his most effective tools—you think he'd stop at that?"
"I can't feel anything else nearby," Gabrielle noted. "But I guess you're right. This was too easy."
Ugh. She would beg to differ, but as long as it convinced her?
"Let's look at the facts, then," Lilith said, scanning the valley. "He must have known that Konrad would celebrate today, and he'd only have to face us, rather than the usual gang."
"Yeah. Opening three portals at once is nothing new, but the temporal disruptor gem?"
It would have been a waste to use it now, were they split into three groups as usual.
But Lucifer couldn't expect the others to sit idle and keep drinking. They would have noticed something was amiss sooner or later. And, as they actually did, would come to the rescue.
"He also jammed long-range telepathy, though," the demoness remembered.
"And you're saying you feel disoriented?" Gabby added, pondering, too.
"Oh, and didn't you feel like Konny wasn't his usual self today?" the ginger pointed out. "Like, first, he was moping around because he didn't do enough, then went partying and stuff?"
"Now that you mention it," the angel said. "Thought it was this Paula messing with his mind."
Well, yeah. Lilith wasn't a fan of this parallel brain thing, either, but—
"No, so far, she was an asset," she noted. "And she's way too wary of us to try something like this. Besides, she has every reason to hate Lucifer, and none to work for him in secret, so—"
"Fair. But it still feels like my brother didn't see into the future, but organised everything for us."
Yeah. That concerned Lilith, too.
They noticed the jamming effects, the direct counters, and the tools they used, but—
"How long was he trying to influence us, and how did we miss it until now?" she pondered.
"You say Konrad was only acting strange today, right?" the angel asked. "After that clash with Benedictus Cathiers. But then—as hostile as he had been acting, I do trust the bishop."
"Yeah, yeah. Cat Ears is a hasty little boy, but he's fine," Lilith agreed, too.
He had also helped them out before Konrad arrived. Evacuated the tribes.
It would have been so much easier to backstab them if that was his goal.
They would have had nothing to block his lightning bolts now.
"And the other two with any means to mess with people's minds are Stella and Brigida," she summed up. "Would not suspect those girls, either, but—"
"We can't rule them out," Gabrielle sighed, shaking her head again.
Right. She didn't like the blonde necromancer, either. Even though she knew she'd become the great balancer. And, as for the little mute—well, she spent almost ten years with her past self.
Lilith still wouldn't suspect them, but she couldn't imagine anyone else, either.
"Oh, look," she yelled when she finally felt something more tangible nearby. "Another gem."
And—crushing that, her sense of direction immediately improved.
'Lilith?!' a voice demanded not even a second later. 'Is that actually you?! Oh, boy. Fucking finally, man. Come and bail us out at the southern portal. Things are pretty bad here.'
That had to be Roach. She could hear his thoughts now, loud and clear.
Gabrielle blinked, too.
"What?! But time is—"
"Whatever," the demoness yelled, grabbing her arm. "We found what we were looking for, and telepathy is working again, so let's go. We'll figure the rest out once we have arrived."
One thing was already sure.
Lucifer wouldn't go easy on them this round.