The rest of the day was deceptively peaceful after the big train kerfuffle. By the ti the Chira got turned into paste and everyone let out a sigh of relief, future- had already left the Chasm of Desolation. Ollie was happy to see him again, even if only for a while, but as for , I was just happy he was gone. Because he was a dick. And no, I wasn't going to reflect on the implications of that.
Anyhow, we ate our usual frozen dinner, and then I played with the kid for a bit. Of course, that didn't an I wasn't keeping tabs on the gang, but nothing special was going on over there, so the evening was mainly filled with Mareo Karting and listening to Ollie's cute ramblings about his LAGO pirate robots.
Maybe because of that, he petered out much earlier than usual and obediently let tuck him in before the clock even hit nine. I said my goodnights and returned to my cell, and once I was comfortably on my bed (this ti without Cal), I decided to cast my net a little wider.
Of course, since it was almost night, there wasn't too much to see, but I still caught a few revealing snippets. For example, it seed like Lord Grandpa and his gaggle of arch-mages finally figured out that Ammy was no longer on the island, but they were still far from realising the true ramifications of that fact. On the other hand, Roland was as busy as I'd ever seen him, and while he never said it outright, the way he was actively organising the Ordo Draconis and was in direct and active correspondence with both the Praetorian Guard, the Seraphic Safeguard, and the head of the Celestial military, he was clearly preparing for war.
In fact, he was moving with such clear-cut reassurance and purpose that it felt like he didn't just suspect what was going on, but was outright aware of the plan. Did I miss the mont when Tajana told him? To be fair, I wasn't paying much attention to them when their marks were together, because most of the ti they were either quarrelling, cuddling, or bumping uglies. Sotis all three at the sa ti. Not in a relationship, my ass.
The point was that there wasn't much of imdiate importance happening upstairs, so to speak, so I focused on my marks in the Abyss. The Matron wasn't doing anything special, the people at the salon were up to their usual gas and gossip, and so once I got all the secondary players down, I finally focused on the target I was most expecting to do sothing interesting. My timing was roughly on spot, because Crowy just arrived at Castle Ninhursag.
It was dark outside, and the coup (or maybe Elly's penchant for throwing utility poles) must've knocked down at least part of the grid, because most of the town was wrapped in darkness. Since they were expecting him, the Ninurtas managed to cobble together a landing strip inside the spacious courtyard of the castle, using what looked like a mixture of ceremonial braziers and magic light balls conjured and maintained by dedicated personnel.
Crowy's wing apparently hadn't recovered enough for a trans-country trip, because he arrived on a much smaller local version of the palanquin we used in the Elysium during our beach trip. On the other hand, it must've healed enough to at least function, because the fancy flying carriage supported by a dozen Abyssals didn't land. It stopped over the landing spot, then Crowy got out of it and floated down, in his Abyssal form, complete with the baggy pants and the crown of flas over his horns.
I imagined it was all for show, though for whom he was putting it out, I had no idea. Maybe it was his way of asserting dominance over the Ninurtas? In any case, he soon landed with a small squad of (presumably) elite bodyguards in tow, and they quickly spread out to secure the periter. anwhile, the prick was warmly welcod by… no, actually. I take that back. There was nothing warm about his welco.
"Lord Inanna," the Ninurta patriarch greeted him with a nod, his face all but inscrutable in the dim lighting.
Now that I could take a better look at him, he was a lean man with long blonde hair, though it was currently singed in a few places. He was wearing a fancy red coat and pants with lots of black and gold embroidery and bone buttons, but the careful observer could see the white of bandages peeking out from under them. His otherwise handso face was bruised, and his forehead had a cut mostly hidden under a cotton swab and so adhesive tape.
"Lord Ninurta." Crowy's tone was as dry as his host's, and he looked around the castle grounds. "I understand that you just gained custody of this castle and its people, but I still expected a more… traditional welco."
He was likely implying that not getting a full fanfare and adoring masses throwing themselves at his feet hurt his poor, sensitive ego, but the other man had none of it and only let out a scoff.
"You have to graciously forgive , Lord Herald, but I lost three of my sons today…"
"Ambitions often have to be paid in blood," Crowy responded off-handedly, as if none of that was his business, but then the Ninurta patriarch continued without even acknowledging the interruption.
"… as well as two train engines, a Chira, and more. Festivities are the furthest from my mind right now."
It was at this point that Crowy finally stopped being all hoity-toity and focused his attention on the man.
"Train engines? And… a Chira? What exactly happened here?"
"Walk with , and I'll explain on the way."
"Walk with you where, exactly?"
"To the Mana Well Chamber," he responded dourly and gestured for Crowy to follow. "Otherwise, you will not in a million years believe what I'm about to tell you."
My disembodied point of view followed them all the way through the castle. They ambled slowly, as if taking a pleasure tour around the ruined interior, all the while the magic-lightball-conjurers tried their best to match their pace, so the corridors and halls appeared at least decently lit around them.
It was only when they reached the Mana Well Chamber that Crowy ca to a halt and his eyes opened wide. It wasn't because of the torn-off tal doors or the circular hole in the wall at the back of the room, but because it was also dark. There was none of the characteristic blue glow associated with the stupid magical Rubik's cubes, with only a few small lamps giving off light in the hands of the Abyssals already present in the room, investigating the place. Which, of course, made sense considering…
"… Where is the Mana Well?" he blurted out with poorly disguised alarm as he made his way inside, and the Ninurta noble behind him let out a groan.
"Gone, as you can see. I told you that you wouldn't believe if I didn't show you in person."
"Who took it!?"
Crowy's outburst took the man by surprise, but he managed to keep his cool and respond with a pithy, "We don't know for sure."
"How can you not know?"
"As you can see…" The Ninurta patriarch made a sweeping gesture at the still chamber. "Without the Mana Well in place, all the wards and arrays are inert, including the surveillance charms. Until we figure out a way to power them again, I'm afraid we can't—"
Before he could finish the sentence, Crowy marched up to the empty pedestal and slamd his hand on top of it. His whole body burst into the familiar purple aura I'd seen on him when we last fought, and as it seeped into the stone, the room around them slowly lit up as everything ca 'online', so to speak.
"Get on with it! Now!" Crowy bellowed, the fla over his head becoming so tall it could almost reach the high ceiling.
The Ninurta patriarch hesitated for a mont, but then he gestured at one of the Abyssal investigators, and the middle-aged woman hastily ran over to the other end of the Mana Well Chamber and put her hand on an otherwise unassuming part of the wall. It lit up with three concentric purple circles, tinted by Crowy's aura, and then her other hand started to move in the air. It kind of looked like she was typing on an invisible floating keypad while also playing the castanets at the sa ti, and after about a solid minute of frantic finger movents, she glanced over her shoulder.
"My Lords… I'm afraid we don't have visuals, only voice recordings of the scene. Do you want to play the surveillance records of the pedestal area?"
"Yes! Now!" Crowy bellowed, making the woman flinch and redouble her castanet-typing efforts.
Another minute passed, and then there was a distorted voice, seemingly coming directly from where the bastard was standing. The first few words were hard to make out, but then…
">Ah… This isn't good.What?We have a problem. One Mana Well isn't enough,… enough'!?Confirmation:The output of one terminal is insufficient to perform the requested ooo—… are we supposed to get our hands on two Mana Wells at the sa ti?! Can't you just do it remotely, or sothing?Response: Due to a lack of regular systems maintenance, restoring remote communications between terminals would require six days, three hours, and seventeen minutes. Alternative Response: Making manual contact with two terminals at once i—Confirmation: Request received. Engaging standby protocols in five… Four…Wait, what?
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