Ateia and Taog sat down with Amulius. They had reached a forest level, and made camp in a clearing by the entrance. Amulius had convinced the pair to take a break, and now the Legion and the Academy mages were holding the line against a wave of plant monsters growing from the forest.

Amulius made a small smirk.

“You two have grown pretty strong, huh?”

Ateia and Taog glanced at each other and grinned.

“I guess…we have, after all.”

Ateia nodded.

“It’s hard to tell when Seero’s around.”

Taog tilted his head.

“But…we’re like, mini-Seeros now, so should make sense we’re strong now, right?”

Ateia nodded.

“I should hope so.”

Then her face curled into a grin.

“After all, I paid an arm and a leg for this!”

Taog blinked for a second before laughing. Amulius stared at them for a second before his eyes widened.

“Wait…what do you mean by that, Ateia? You’re just joking, right?”

Ateia turned to face him, tilting her head before her face fell.

“Oh…you haven’t realized, have you?”

Amulius began to tremble. Ateia didn’t say anything, but instead held up her hands. She grabbed one of the fingers on her left hand and pulled it off entirely, holding it up before reconnecting it. She then opened and closed her left hand and moved her fingers around like nothing had happened.

“This…isn’t just armor, Dad. It’s…a bit hard to explain, but you can think of it like a golem replacing the missing parts of my body.”

Amulius heart pounded in his chest, and his face turned pale.

“...missing?”

Ateia nodded and took a deep breath.

“I mentioned it, but I guess not in detail? The cult didn’t try to sacrifice me, they really did it. Half my body had faded away from mana overload by the time Seero rescued me. But Seero managed to replace what I lost, and now I’m stronger than ever.”

Amulius’s jaw dropped, and his eyes filled with tears.

“Ateia…”

Then he paused and spun around to face Taog.

“Taog…you too?”

Taog immediately shook his head and waved his hands in front of him.

“Ah, no, mine is different. It was a fully voluntary, and much less dramatic process, so I still have all of my body.”

Then he tilted his head and then nodded.

“Though, I should say that it’s not just armor for me, either. It’s a wearable golem, like Ateia said, and deeply connected to my body and mind.”

Amulius froze.

“Wait…it’s connected to your mind?”

Ateia and Taog nodded. Amulius’s face turned dark.

“Then…couldn’t it…”

Agedia sighed.

“Let me stop you right there.”

She slithered in front of Amulius, crossing her arms.

“Yes, it gives shiny girl a backdoor into their minds. I don’t get it fully but I know they can see what each other sees and speak to each other directly in their heads. And yes, as you’re probably thinking right now, shiny girl could hypothetically use it to manipulate them. In fact, she unintentionally did so to Ateia after rescuing her. This caused Ateia a lot of pain, which horrified shiny girl once she realized and she has never done it since.”

Ateia nodded, wincing slightly at the memory.

“It…wasn’t pleasant, having something foreign reach into my mind. But Seero’s given me full control of it now. And if it weren’t for her…I wouldn’t be here at all, in any form.”Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Amulius furrowed his brow.

“But…”

Agedia put a hand on his shoulder.

“I know it’s hard to accept. But also remember that those two are fully Contracted to her at this point. Shiny girl wouldn’t need to manipulate them to make them do as she pleases.”

Ateia nodded, frowning herself.

“In fact, Seero had to work hard to free herself from that kind of thing. So please, do NOT imply that she would try the same thing on us now. I know she wouldn’t.”

Amulius kept frowning, but sighed. But before he could speak, they heard a grunt from the battle ahead and everyone turned to look.

One of the Bulwarks failed to activate their bracing skill, and so had been sent flying by a large tree monster. Agedia curled down and leapt into the air, grabbing the legionnaire before they hit the ground. The legionnaire shook their head.

“Ugh, I’m sorry. My centurion always told me I needed to practice that skill more…guess I should have listened.”

The legionnaire was fine, but now there was a hole in the line and the monsters started rushing through. Nonus responded with a Fireball spell, but it was noticeably less powerful than the spells from before. One of the other mages turned to him.

“Can’t we fuse spells again?”

Nonus frowned.

“I wish I could. But I’ve only figured out how to do it with Light Beam, and Light doesn’t work on plant monsters like this.”

Ateia and Taog were about to stand up when Amulius waved them down. The Legion troops had already reacted, with Slayers and Sharpshooters cutting down the monsters that made it through while the Bulwarks shifted their formation to close the gap.

“I know it’s hard to watch, but this is their job, and they know what they’re doing. Mistakes and unexpected situations always happen during battle, but the Legion knows how to cope.”

Then he sighed.

“It’s just…losing the Aesdes has been hard on everyone, the troops especially.”

At that, Ateia froze, and blinked a few times.

“The Aesdes, huh?”

Taog turned to her, then grinned.

“You have an idea.”

Ateia stood up, and looked at her hands.

“Maybe. I don’t know if this will work but…”

Amulius moved his head, glancing back and forth between the two of them.

“Hm?”

Agedia grinned.

“Slipped your mind huh? Technically speaking…we haven’t lost all the Aesdes.”

Amulius eye’s widened as Ateia closed her eyes. Mechanical wings spread from her back before lighting up, bathing the area in golden and silver light. That light streamed towards the Legion troops at the front, filling them each with a warm aura. Holy mana now coated their blades, healed their wounds, and eased their fatigue. The Legion troops paused just for a moment before they started to grin, and pushed against the monsters with renewed vigor.

But that was but a simple Blessing, something Ateia already knew how to do. That was not what she wanted to try here.

Instead, she focused on Nonus.

“Ah, Nonus, the one Seero helped, right? That should work.”

Ateia focused on Nonus. She imagined what she wanted to happen. She imagined pulling it off herself, and remembered similar feats she had performed in the past. And while her human eye remained closed, her robotic eye began to flicker as she queried the CELIU network…

Seero was about to break into the final floor when an unexpected message passed before her UI:

“Friend Ateia is requesting for unaffiliated units to access the CELIU network. Requested units designated as Imperial Mages, temporarily allied. Access requested: CELIU spell protocol database, UI support. Proceed?”

Seero’s robotic eye flickered as she analyzed the situation. Ateia appeared to be conducting an experiment to improve combat efficiency of their non-CELIU allies. She analyzed the requested contact. While allowing any unaffiliated party to access the network in any manner was a risk, she determined that the mages would not be directly interacting with the CELIU network per say. Rather, Ateia would be acting as a middleman, transforming the digital data into a mana-based form in a one-way connection. That connection was predicted as acceptably secure, and improving the efficiency of allied forces was desirable.

Seero went ahead and approved the request.

Ateia made a small smile as the approval came in and focused on Nonus, and the nearby mages. Her cybernetic components selected an appropriate spell, and then her mana streamed in through a blessing.

Nonus was about to cast another Fireball spell when something passed before his eyes. Something that caused his spell cast to fail…as well as his knees.

The spell protocol: Fusion Fire Beam has been shared with you.

Assisted casting is available. Engage spellcasting assistance protocol?