Edge Cases

"What do you want?" Sev's tone was cautious, guarded. He wasn't afraid. Liz was a Platinum ranker, but his team was more than capable of fighting a single Platinum-ranker, at this point. The biggest issue here was information disparity — he didn't know what Liz could do, but Liz might have a good idea of what they could do, if she had access to Wisfield's information.

Though they'd gained a lot of new abilities lately, so even then...

"I just wanted to talk," Liz said, her tone friendly. She waltzed in through the portal, the hole in the air snapping shut the moment she stepped through; she glanced around and let out a low whistle. "Nice place. Is it yours?"

"Obviously not, lady," Misa said. "You think we own a jewelry shop? We're hiding out here so we don't get attacked."

"Whoa, whoa." Liz held up her hands. "Why the hostility?"

"It might have something to do with the whole 'being attacked' thing," Sev said dryly. "Tell us what you want."

Helix had retreated almost to the other side of the room, in the corner where his brother was standing and behind the big, tall suit of armor. Sev thought that was probably the safest place for him — but he didn't fail to notice the mana gathering around Vex's brother. Helix was afraid, but he wasn't actually planning to go down without a fight.

The fact that he expected a fight at all, though? Concerning.

If nothing else, Helix and his team didn't seem affected by the divine mind-manipulation. Sev couldn't tell if Liz herself was affected, a conspirator, or an entirely neutral party — [Triage] didn't ping on whatever kind of manipulation Wisfield was using. That she wasn't immediately attacking was probably a good sign, though.

"I dunno," Liz said contemplatively. "I mean, a traditional adventuring team, skulking around Elyra? I was interested, that's all. Can you blame me?"

"Yes?" Misa stared at her. "You're one of Elyra's Platinum rankers, aren't you?"

"That's me." Lisa almost seemed to preen at the title.

"And you're working with them willingly." Misa's tone became a touch accusatory, and Liz's own expression changed. She looked defensive.

Sev wondered if Misa had hit upon a sore point.

"Why wouldn't I?" she said. "They got me where I am today."

"Have you even heard about what's been happening in Elyra?" Misa asked in disbelief. "The nobles are starving their own damn citizens. I dunno whose side you're on, lady, but if you're part of their military you're supporting what they're doing."

"Unless you're here to help us, I suggest you leave."

Sev cast a surprised glance at Vex. He hadn't been expecting the lizardkin to speak at all, much less with such a firm tone — but he was standing with his back straight, staring firmly and pointedly at Liz.

"Aren't two of you nobles yourselves?" Liz drawled. "Seems pretty hypocritical to tell me I'm on their side, don't you think? Besides, you don't know what side I'm on."

"We've been trying to get you to tell us for the past minute," Sev said, exasperated.

"Then let me give you a plain answer." Liz's expression became a little more serious, but there was a flicker of a mischievous grin — one that seemed, to Sev, just a little too empty. "I'm not on any side. I'll side with whoever I think will win. The question is... are you guys gonna win?"

"Not a very good way to pick sides," Misa said bluntly. "Doesn't make you trustworthy, either. Means you'll switch sides at the drop of a hat."

"I think you should leave," Sev agreed.

"Now, now," Liz said, affecting shock — Sev could see she wasn't used to being denied. Her status as a Platinum ranker most likely made other groups eager for her assistance, but they just... didn't need her. No matter what she could do, it wasn't worth it if they couldn't trust her. "I'm willing to take an Oath, if that's what it takes for you to trust me."

"We don't have an Oathmaker," Helix said warily.

"I do!" Liz answered cheerfully.

"Because we can trust an Oathmaker that's on your side?" Misa raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"You can, because it'll be a public Oath!" Liz said, her tone not changing a bit — but a hint of danger entered her eyes, like she didn't really like being questioned so much. "You can verify his class and everything, I don't mind."

"What do you want from us?" Helix finally repeated the question on all their minds. He drew himself up to his full height — a bit taller than Sev himself, the priest noted with surprise — and folded his arms across his chest. "To prove that we can win?"

"Are you sure you want her help?" Misa whispered to him. She didn't bother actually keeping Liz from hearing her. "We don't even know if she's take the oath. She's not trustworthy."

"We'll need it," Helix said with a sigh. "Realistically speaking, the rebels need as many powerful players as we can get. Liz isn't the only Platinum ranker working for the nobles. Any one of them could wreck our forces. We were relying on them not being anywhere nearby, but if Liz is here... You four can't be everywhere at once, you know?"

"Wanna bet?" Misa muttered under her breath, but it was so low that no one except Sev heard her. He gave her a warning glance — Sev didn't want Liz to know more about what they could do than she had to.

Liz, on the other hand, seemed intrigued by what Helix said. "You think these four can beat us? Beat me? Bit of a tall order, don't you think?"

"They can beat you." Helix's tone was flat and unimpressed — not a shred of doubt in his voice.

Liz raised her brow, but nothing about Helix's expression changed, and after a moment she hummed thoughtfully. "Huh."

"Do you know what's happening?" Vex spoke up. He might have been the smallest out of all of them, but there was a force to his voice that there hadn't been before — Sev couldn't help the flicker of pride that danced across his face. "I don't know what you've been told, but the world is dying. Elyra's dying especially fast. None of our crop-growing methods work anymore, and even the food we ship over here decays faster than we can eat it. There isn't a kingdom to rule anymore. It doesn't matter what plans Wisfield has — we need everyone to leave."

"This isn't a rebellion anymore," Misa agreed, her face solid as stone. "It's an evacuation. Just because some people are too stubborn to leave doesn't mean there's a winning side and a losing side."

"There is no victory here," Derivan said mildly. "Elyra falls whether you stay or leave."

"Different degrees of losing," Sev said. "A kingdom is its people. Not the infrastructure, not the military, not the nobles. Evacuating minimizes how much of the kingdom will be lost, and that's the best we can do."

There was a long pause. Liz stood expressionless, her head cocked slightly in consideration; Sev had no idea what she was thinking.

And then she sighed.

"I'll give you one thing for free," she said, all traces of playfulness gone from her face. "Wisfield thinks they can control it."

"Control what?" Vex asked blankly, and when she shot him a look, he froze, his eyes narrowing. "The Void? The end? That's not — that isn't something you can control. It's just the end of the universe. There's nothing to control."

"And yet," Liz said mildly. "They seem pretty sure they can do it."

"Then they're idiots," Misa said firmly. Liz quirked a smile.

"The funny thing is," she said. "I think you're right. I don't think Wisfield really understands what they're working with, and I think you guys do."

"So that means you'll work with us?" Helix said. Sev noticed the lizardkin sounded guarded, though he'd been eager to work with her earlier — it seemed he'd figured out exactly how dangerous she might be.

"No," Liz said, and all five of them tensed. She shook her head. "Relax. I'm not gonna fight you. I don't care one way or another how this works out, honestly. I just want to have some fun. And just between us, I think it's gonna be way more fun to watch Wisfield mess up than help you convince people to leave."

She grinned. "But hey, tell you what, I'll help you out. I'll tell you whatever Wisfield is planning. They order me around, I'm gonna do what they say, but I'll tell you whatever they tell me. They can't read my mind — I'm not stupid, I found a workaround to that aaaages ago. They can't control me through whatever divine nonsense they're doing here. So! There you have it. De facto Platinum spy, at your service."

She bowed, then winked. "I really hope we get to fight, though. I hope you're as good as they say."

Liz turned around, making as if to leave — then stopped right before she walked through the door. "Actually, one more thing!" she said. "Wisfield told me to come capture you. That's the one thing I'm not gonna do for 'em. They've brought back two other Platinums, Jakos and Ilyrr. Both of them are pretty uptight and loyal, so I'd watch out for them if I were you. Good people, but very misled. I think they were sent out to go capture other important rebel figureheads. Dunno which ones."

Instead of walking through the door, she ripped a hole open in the air. Sev wasn't particularly surprised — she'd kept Derivan's portal open, she clearly had skills related to spatial travel. "Well, toodles!"

She vanished.

Misa was the first one to speak, and she sounded incredulous. "Who says toodles?"

The plan was, supposedly, simple.

They couldn't individually check up on all the rebels — Derivan's skills weren't exactly suited for it, and Vex's rituals took too long to complete. Every second mattered when it came to people that could potentially be under attack by Platinum rankers. That meant they needed to split up and target the rankers themselves — Vex and Misa for Jakos, and Derivan and Sev for Illyr.

Sev would give everyone a minor blessing to account for splitting up. The blessing would suffuse each of them with enough divinity to push away the foreign influence of the nascent god, temporarily deemed the God of the End. It was clear that god couldn't target everyone, and there was some sort of trigger condition for its activation, but no one wanted to risk being compromised.

They did all this after verifying that Liz was telling the truth, of course. She wasn't someone any of them felt they could trust. But Jakos and Illyr were both in Elyra, and they were both moving quickly; that was proof enough, for now. Everything else they needed could be done through confrontation.

Hopefully it wouldn't get to a fight, but if it did...

"Jakos is a physical fighter," Helix cautioned. "He's fast, strong, and very hard to kill. If you get in a fight, you hit first or not at all."

"Vex and I will get him, then," Misa decided. "I can counter him."

"Illyr is an illusionist," Helix said. "A very skilled one. He makes you believe his illusions, and then whatever happens stays with you permanently. It takes a high level cleric to remove that kind of illusion."

"Suppose I'll have to fight him, then," Sev sighed. He hated illusionists.

"I suspect he will have trouble fooling my other senses," Derivan offered.

Helix considered that. "It's possible," he allowed. "He's only lost in a duel against Liz, and that's supposedly because of Liz's spatial sense. He can't replicate anything he doesn't already know. But I wouldn't trust any information about them that's public. They're bound to have tricks up their sleeves."

"Doesn't matter what they've got," Misa said. "We stop them here and now, and then we stop Wisfield and get everyone out of here. We don't have time to mess around. The Guild's already reporting more incidents across the continent. Anderstahl might be the only safe haven left."

"Might," Sev muttered. "I'll believe it when I see it. It'd be pretty suspicious if Anderstahl's the only place that's fine and dandy."

"We are wasting time," Derivan said. "It will tax me to open the remaining two portals. If we are ready, we must leave now."

"I'll stay here and keep an eye on things," Helix decided. "We can set up the same kind of control room dungeon delvers usually use. I at least know that set of spells. Let me just get [Telepathy] set up."