The rooftop felt too crowded all of a sudden, now that there were five of us chatting away while the city buckled underneath.
The one Astoria named Serenya did not bother with words.
She just hurled herself forward, arms locking around Lyra in a bear hug fueled by borrowed divinity.
Lyra's face went crimson as she gasped, "I can't breathe… Serenya!"
The man Astoria introduced as Faris lingered a step back, eyes flickering like a torch in the wind, relief written plain but something softer buried under it.
The poor bastard had it bad - that wasn't just relief shining in there.
He opened his mouth-
"Ahem," I cut in, loud enough to slice the moment before it turned sentimental.
My grin stayed lazy, and wrong for the scene. "Not to ruin the mood, but while you lot were hugging it out, I counted thirteen knights and some adventurers die."
The words sank like stone.
Serenya froze mid-squeeze.
Lyra's smile cracked.
Faris's jaw locked.
Astoria didn't even blink, though her hand twitched once against the hilt of her blade.
[Good… back to the war at hand. Someone had to drag them down to ground level, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be Miss Bear-Hug or Frosty over there.]
"Astoria," I said, cutting through the silence like I was handing out chores, "I need you to fill these two in."
Before anyone could question what I meant by these two - considering I'd just lumped the Commander of Liora's Knights and Cardella's Vice-Captain in one bucket - I turned to Lyra.
My grin curled at just the right wrong angle. "Alright. I need you to take my hand."
Faris's mouth had only just started to move, words fumbling on his tongue-
"And please don't make this weird," I cut in, deadpan.
Lyra's cheeks flushed despite the blood and grime smeared across them.
[And now she's embarrassed after princess carrying me all the way here…]
Even Serenya went pink, her brows twitching like she wasn't sure whether to scold or smirk.
But Lyra reached anyway, fingers brushing mine, hesitant for half a heartbeat before she locked firm.
Blue sparks bled into the night around us, dancing up from the tiles like fireflies made of lightning.
Then the rooftop air folded on itself, and in the next blink-
We were gone.
Astoria's breath caught sharp between her teeth, her hand twitching like she had half a mind to touch the air where we'd been.
Serenya muttered something low that could've been a curse, or a prayer, or maybe both in the same breath.
And Faris just stood there, jaw hanging open, fists clenched at his sides like he'd missed the only line in a script he'd been rehearsing for years.
Blue sparks snapped out, and the world folded back into shape.
The cracked bell tower of the little church came into view, its spire half-collapsed, and the broken sword clenched firm in my hand like it had never left me.
Lyra staggers a half-step, eyes wide, breath catching as if she'd just surfaced from drowning.
"The hell was that!" she snapped, shocked.
"A little family heirloom," I lied without flinching, holding the sword up like some rusty keepsake instead of the thing that just folded space for us. "Runs in the family. Handy for saving on carriage fare."
Her mouth opens, then shuts.
"Alright. I need you to throw this sword at that roof." My finger lined up with the another tall building rising out of the city haze.
[Man, wish I had poured some exp points into strength...]
While I kept my voice deliberately casual because panic is theatre and we are not performing.
Lyra blinked, still dumbstruck, but she nodded anyway.
In stiff motion, her grip tightened around the hilt with more grace than she probably meant to, and hurled it.
The sword cut the night clean, spinning in a glitter of sparks before it slammed into the roof exactly where I'd told her.
Turning away to begin my dance with death, I said over my shoulder, "You're free… Go help the others… I'd recommend rounding up the adventurers. They fight like cats with belligerent opinions."
Knights hugged their lines perfectly, while adventurers with their parties darted and screamed and hacked wherever they could find glory.
They were basically a lobby of randoms.
Lyra yanked back my sleeve and caught my hand before I could take another step.
Her grip was warm and absurdly fierce.
"Hey," she said, voice low and sharp, "I didn't bring you here to sacrifice yourself. Be careful. Please."
I let my grin spread stupid and proud, "Aww, you worried about me?" I teased. "Or you'd rather not have my death on your conscience?"
[I mean… It's a bit late for that.]
Her jaw went hard enough to sculpt.
For a breath, she looked like she was about to file a complaint, or cry, or start lecturing me on the dignity of single-use heroes
"Now shuu," I said, quiet and fast. "The longer we wait, the more people die."
She inhaled like she was being handed courage on a platter.
For a second, her whole expression was sharp as a blade.
The worry folded into resolve, and she nodded, tiny and fierce.
Without another fuss, she jumped from the tower and dropped like a meteor, hands already pulling mana around her.
I watched her go, watched her land and roll into the fight, watched her vanish into the smoke and the roar.
While my hand closed around the rifle as I let the city hear me laugh, because whatever came next was going to hurt… and given my track record… It was me who was gonna get hurt.
And with that, I slipped the suppressors off both rifle and pistol with satisfying clicks.
Then came the little bastard from my cloak — my drone.
Its wings unfolded by themselves as it booted it up.
[Gonna need more attention than a teenager with daddy issues. But first… let's mark that shaman... and see if the drone still work the way it did in Endlessness.]