John could feel control over the barrier, ever so slowly, slip back into place. If the loss of his grip on it had felt like trying to keep a tight handle on an oily piece of smooth glass, then the current state of affairs was like that layer of oil getting rinsed off without soap. There was progress, sure, but without lye, breaking apart the unwanted fluid would take a while.

As for the item causing the effect, it was a peculiar sphere Siena dug out of the repurposed heater. It appeared to be made from some kind of gold-brown wood and was inlaid with silvery-white lines, the colour of pure Mithril. Whatever it was and however exactly it worked, it was doubtlessly valuable. John would have loved to Observe it and, potentially, whisk it away. Like many other things he refused to do today, that would have gone counter to what he wanted to achieve today.

As for the fight of Jack and the maids against the forces of the Golden Rose, it continued to be a standstill.

William Brighton swung his two-hander at Aclysia. It sailed right through her, the weaponized maid turning ephemeral and then swinging her dagger, Salver, at the Lord of the Order. It, too, passed through its target. The difference was that Aclysia wanted this. Both opponents jumped back. Aclysia so she wouldn’t be hit by the massive sword on the upswing and William so the Delayed Cut wouldn’t hit him.

For all the chinks and scrapes the armour of the Lord and his knights sustained, few successes on cutting through them had actually been achieved. Because of the desired non-lethal terms of the engagement, Aclysia was barred from using Tiemarath. The cleaver would have been the weapon of choice to crack open armour like that, but with the amount of momentum a weapon like that had, any hit could have been a death sentence. Most successful armour penetrations had been achieved by Beatrice and her spear Perfect. Thanks to the Forever Fall enchantment on the weapon, the passive maid could spot weak points on her enemies. Aclysia had to rely on Delayed Cut to get underneath the armour, as that slice occurred simultaneously along the trajectory of the original slice.

Problem with that was the one-minute cooldown, of course. Because their strategy was to delay, it wasn’t a huge issue. John was just happy it was enabled in the first place. The interplay between Delayed Cut and Reality Fracture could only occur when Artificial Ascension was active. That, in turn, was only active if the wearer of the item was an Artificial Spirit still bonded with its creator and within 500 metres of the same. John’s real body was about two kilometres away. Luckily, Jack counted as his presence for the effect. Normal possessions and, oddly enough, the non-transformed Mandala Sphere wouldn’t have sufficed. It was part of the Ambassador Double Perk, not the Extension one.

‘A really odd mechanic,’ John thought, conjuring an Arc Lance. It blasted back one of the two people about to attack Aclysia from the rear and allowed the weaponized maid to take care of the other one with a high-rise kick. Garter belt, stocking and a scandalous amount of leg were revealed as her kick connected and launched the knight two metres to the side. Although Aclysia specialized in blades, her raw physical Strength was enough to overpower many opponents.

About ten metres away, Beatrice was weaving through assaults by six opponents with the grace of a butterfly. Hammers, axes, swords and shields were all swung at her, but through a combination of her immense Agility, Unsteady Limb, Twist Position and Perfect’s Endless Step Enchantment, allowing her to take 3 steps on the air as if it was solid ground every time she dodged, she escaped all of it. When she found the tiniest opening, she stung like a bee. Needle Assault activated, she launched two dozen attacks at an enemy’s right arm in the space of a second. Two Crescendos launched from Perfect during that time, taking the shape of blue energy rays that travelled through their target. It was an odd attack, the closest John could compare it to was a beam of radiation. It did damage in a line, no matter what was in the way, but materials that were struck first and that were denser usually took the brunt of the damage.

The rays entered as a bright blue on one side and excited in a fading colour on the other. While the armour took the majority of the damage, the flesh and, particularly, the bones underneath were the next available target. Needle Assault would have likely been quite lethal if Beatrice used it to the full extent of her ability, which was why she had to keep it to smaller bursts.

For all the holding back the Gamer’s side did, he got the feeling that the Order was doing the same. Aside from buffing themselves and the occasional demobilizing spell, they didn’t use any magic. This could be understood as the knight’s not having any, which was quite likely, but they didn’t use much in the ways of martial arts either. People of their physical prowess had at least some tools in their arsenal beyond raw strength and speed.

Their weapons were swung with the intent to hit wherever they could, but given that the knights knew they were fighting golems, that could hardly be seen as a confirmation that they weren’t holding back. ‘Are they aware I cut their barrier meddling short?’ John wondered. ‘Would they fight more aggressively if they did? Better not test that water.’

Jack was still hovering above the battlefield, giving the maids the advantage of situational awareness and providing the occasional backline spell. While the Extension’s Mana Storage was exhausted, the Gamer’s own MP regeneration wasn’t used for anything else at the moment. The vast majority of the evacuation had already gone through and the elementals had scarcely needed the support to start with.

Just as that line of thought finished, the Gamer noticed movement in a nearby street. The glistening armour, the radiant shield and the red hair immediately clued him on who he was looking at. The bright pink body slung over her shoulder drew his eyes more, however. “Come down here, Gamer!” Moira shouted, causing the entire battle to calm itself as they realized what exactly was happening. All of John’s split thought-processes synchronized into the one mind. Few other things could matter more than what was happening now.

Jack hastily descended, too worried about the consequences to disobey. ‘Jane, how did you get yourself in that mess?’ he thought in a mixture of mild annoyance and extreme worry. “I’ll do what you want,” he didn’t even try to put on a brave front, not at that moment. “Don’t harm her.”

“Come closer,” Moira commanded.

“Splendid work, daughter,” William exclaimed, while Jack approached the Warden with slow steps. He didn’t want this to seem like he was going to pull anything. Rave was too dear to him to risk anything, her life too fragile compared to the elementals or the Artificial Spirits. “A hostage will get this sinner in li-“

The Warden’s father stopped in the middle of his sentence, just as dumbfounded as John was as Moira simply handed over the knocked out Lightbearer. Looking at her face, inspecting her for any wounds, the Gamer took a sigh of relief when he found nothing obviously disconcerting. Then he looked at Moira.

The redhead had some singed hairs and her armour was in a thoroughly damaged state. Her tabard was more holes than red cloth, the plate was dented, melted and even shattered at some places. Somewhat oddly, the Warden’s face was a bright red and she seemed to struggle breathing through her nose. The way she shifted her weight from one leg to another closely resembled ways John’s haremettes often moved in more relaxed situations. That struck him as odd, but he wasn’t in the space of mind to question it.

William came stomping over while the Gamer held his girlfriend close to his chest. Before either of the leaders could say anything, Moira continued on. “I believe that you have honour, John,” Moira stated, coming half a step closer and meeting his gaze with steel wrapped in the emerald of her eyes. “I demand your surrender.”

The Gamer tensed up. Factually, he had no reason to give up. Moira had just handed back to him the one hostage they had. Doing so had been a sign of immense trust. It was a courageous act of good will, to give up one’s bargaining chip before entering negotiations. John could have taken full advantage of this and simply flown away with his girlfriend.

What would that make him?

After months of dealing with forces that would have only negotiated with him when he had a knife on their throat, he was now face to face with someone who honoured him. Moira’s demand would have carried so much more weight if she was making it with Rave’s head under her hammer. If he didn’t reciprocate the respect here, he would never be deserving of it in the future. Taking advantage of this in the short term would have shattered, in an instant, any hope there could ever be at trust between him and the Order. At the same time, he would be betraying his principles.

He had to negotiate as if Rave was still in Moira’s hands and Moira could negotiate from a morally upright position. This was the world he yearned for, was it not? One where prisoners of war were treated well, where opposing sides talked with mutual respect for one another and where trust was the norm, not the exception. He couldn’t break with this just because it would be convenient in this situation.

“…You win,” Jack therefore said. He hated those words crossing his lips. Inside him, a voice screeched that this was undeserved. He had done everything right. A few more minutes and he would have won. Just a few underhanded methods, that was all he needed. The love for his girlfriend and the pride he took in being principled were stronger than the pride he took in victories. “I yield.”

Moira nodded, as if she had known this would happen. Part of him was bothered immensely by this, the majority was flattered. “You put a lot of trust into this sinner,” William voiced the same question the Gamer had.

“That the Lady and Lore… no, never mind,” Moira spoke and let out an almost moaning sigh. Something was clearly making her less rigid than usual. “The Lady, alone, would not be supporting him with her light and garments of her making, were he as bad as you seem to insinuate, Lord Father. I have faith in her, and because of it, I have faith in him. He may be a schemer, but he is not malevolent. That’s all there is to it.” She looked back to Jack. “We should discuss the terms of your surrender. I take it you have concentrated all of the survivors in a single spot?”

‘Just say yes and keep them occupied for long enough that the barrier meddling breaks. Even if I don’t do anything, control reverts to Galku,’ the weaselly voice inside John spoke up. That was a slightly less dishonourable trick he could play, but it would still break the trust between them. The only way he could get away with that was to have Siena murder everyone who had seen her. He just wasn’t ruthless enough to do that, not to the Order. “I did and I also destroyed the machine you used to meddle with the barrier,” he truthfully reported.

That took both Moira and her father by surprise. “You destroyed the blessed Sphere of Lightshire?!” William roared.

John was reminded how thoroughly ‘good guy’ the Order’s naming convention was. “No, the sphere itself is intact,” Jack responded. “I destroyed all of what was around it, what seemed to keep charging it. Regardless, the control of the barrier will revert to the Demon Lord in a matter of minutes.”

“A bluff,” the Lord stated. “The overseers would have informed us.”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Do you think me inept enough not to take care of communication equipment first? You have it standardized right here.” He stretched one arm around his girlfriend to pull on his collar. “Takes the shape of a pin for members of the overseers.” The Gamer hadn’t even needed to torture that information out of anyone. Neither had he needed Observe. There were things that every organized fighting force tried to have and a reliable communications network was quite far up that list. Naturally, Siena had taken away all of them from her hostages.

At least, here, John found himself in a bargaining position. “I’m willing to exert control over the Protected Space myself, preventing escape, on three conditions.”

“…Let’s hear them,” William growled. The Lord-Protector was clearly unhappy about this, but he was at least present of mind enough to negotiate now that things had fallen into place this way.

“One: you will end this battle. Most of the survivors are concentrated in one spot and they cannot oppose you. I’ll do what I can so they see their loss, so there is no need to kill them on sight. Two: you will let those you deem innocent come to Fusion. Three: I will keep the grimoire.”

Moira looked at her father, whose jaw was grinding with little circular movements. “You will not interfere any further with the Order’s judgement?” he asked.

“That was what the battle was about, wasn’t it? Who gets jurisdiction over the residents of New Libraria.” Jack shook his head. “I conceded that battle. Little as I like it, they are yours to judge now.”

“Father, there is no reason to slaughter them if they surrender,” Moira spoke up.

“I acknowledge that, Moira,” William responded and pressed his lips together. “As I understand it, the demons will lose their memory once they leave the territory of New Libraria. We’ll give those deemed innocent the choice to stay with us or go to you after we are done. Does that sound agreeable, Gamer?”

Jack nodded. That was surprisingly fair by the Warden Lord. Maybe, under all that prideful zealotry, there was still a reasonable person. Even with their memories wiped, the demons were most likely to choose to go to Fusion. If a regular person was asked whether they wanted to live in a liberal, federal republic or a morally pure monastic order, John guessed about 30% would choose to go with the latter. Generally talking, more people liked to be free than orderly. Asking the same question of demons, John was fairly certain that the rate in his favour would be approximating 100%.

“On the grimoire, I cannot relent. It is an object of pure evil and must be destroyed.” William crossed his arms.

The Gamer was fairly certain that he could press the Warden Lord on this. There was no way he would risk losing the entire city’s population because of one, admittedly infernal, book. In the same vein, John wasn’t so attached to the grimoire that he wouldn’t give it up. Especially not under the current conditions. The need to understand how to bind demons decreased sharply if all of the bad ones were purged before they entered Fusion’s borders. “Fine,” he relented and reached into his inventory.

William took the grimoire from Jack, only to immediately drop it. “Lady, of whose blessings we are not worthy, remove these unholy texts from your creation and purge the human remains on which they were written, that they may find your grace’s liking again,” the Warden Lord mumbled a simple prayer. White light flashed outwards from him and the tome caught fire. “Then, stand by our bargain, Gamer,” William stated, looking at Jack with a minimum of respect.