With the hero units down, the rest were easy.
Star—master of Words of Power: Sword Command—flattened most of Rhodes Island's operators on her own.
After setting the unconscious "little cat" aside, Star swaggered over to Ember, elbow resting on his arm, grinning brightly.
"So? Looks like I'm winning."
Ember stared at her.
"Do you really think that's a glorious win?"
"Absolutely glorious!"
"Fine, fine. Since you insist. You win. What's your demand?"
"Not yet, not yet. By the way, someone got away. You see her?"
"Nope."
"Really?" Star glanced toward the hole in the moving structure—where the assassin had been flung through earlier. She was gone without a trace.
Heavy footsteps approached.
They looked up to see Patriot walking toward them.
"Yo, old man. Nice fighting," Star called.
"Thank you for your help," Patriot said.
"Don't mention it," Ember replied. "We came here because someone asked us to."
"Someone... asked you? Who?"
"Guess you'll find out soon enough."
Patriot nodded and didn't press.
Ember noticed a boy on the battlefield using Originium Arts to heal wounded Reunion members.
Each time he finished, he smiled brightly.
Ember's mouth twitched.
Sensing his gaze, Patriot explained quietly.
"That child is Mephisto. His Originium Arts can heal others."
"Oh. Right."
Ember recognized him, but he hadn't expected Patriot to bother explaining.
"What about these Rhodes Island people?" Star asked, looking at the unconscious operators.
"...If possible, imprisoning them is best," Patriot said, his hoarse voice edged with helplessness.
If they were enemies, he would have ordered an execution without hesitation.
But Rhodes Island wasn't their enemy—if anything, their ally.
Reunion, his daughter, even he himself had received treatment aboard Rhodes Island.
He was grateful.
But now they were controlled like puppets, and that made this choice heavy.
"The rest are one thing," Ember said, looking at Logos and Rosmontis. "But how are we supposed to imprison these two? There's probably no cage in this world that can hold them. If they wake up, we're fighting all over again."
"Why overthink it?" Star flashed a thumbs-up. "We can storm Rhodes Island, smash that machine, and boom—peace restored."
"If it were that easy, we wouldn't be here," Ember muttered.
Then—
Ember, Star, and Patriot all snapped their heads toward the same direction.
A girl stood there.
"...Amiya," Ember said.
Star frowned, tightening her grip on the bat.
She felt crushing pressure from that girl.
"You know her?"
"I know Amiya. I don't know this one."
The Amiya he knew was earnest and bright.
This version felt empty, numb, and lethal.
"Everyone, on guard!" Patriot stepped to the front, shield raised.
No dialogue was needed.
Controlled pieces didn't talk.
They only obeyed.
Amiya hovered in the air, staring down with hollow eyes.
And then dozens of hurried footsteps rushed in from afar.
Talulah, FrostNova, the Doctor, and Kevin arrived.
They saw the battle's end.
They saw Amiya in the sky.
They saw Patriot, Ember, and Star below.
"Patriot, I'll help you!" Talulah pulled her greatsword out and moved—
Her voice drew Amiya's gaze.
More precisely, the person beside her did.
Amiya closed her eyes, then opened them again.
Geometric sigils turned in her pupils. Color bled back into her face.
She looked at the Doctor.
"Doctor... it seems things have changed with you again. I intended to bring you back and hear your story, but I failed."
"But that's fine. We have plenty of time."
"Let this be our encounter. Goodbye, Doctor. I look forward to our next meeting."
She ignored everyone else completely.
To her, only the Doctor existed.
A strange light blossomed over Amiya's body, washing over the Rhodes Island operators on the ground.
The light flared—
And when everyone's vision cleared, only firefly-like sparks drifted in the air.
All of them were gone.
"...We're screwed," Ember breathed.
He finally understood what they were up against.
Fighting a cyber ghost girlfriend for real?
Can we win?
Kevin glanced at the Doctor.
"Feels like you've got a really troublesome woman on your hands."
"Yeah, no kidding!" the Doctor snapped.
If he'd known waking up meant dealing with this kind of mess, he might've preferred staying asleep.
He watched the Doctor fume, then said nothing more.
FrostNova hurried to Patriot.
"Old stubborn fool, the Catastrophe's coming. We have to evacuate Chernobog now."
"...What happened?"
"The key... broke." FrostNova lowered her head, voice thick with frustration.
Patriot laid a hand on her head.
"Not your fault."
He stepped to Talulah.
"Are we ready?"
Talulah nodded.
"Alina's side is prepared. There's no Rhodes Island interception there. We can evacuate directly."
"Then... we leave now."
As they turned to go, a voice stopped them.
"You go ahead."
Everyone looked toward the speaker.
Ember.
He was staring up at the Catastrophe forming in the sky—
And he was smiling.
-------
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