“Okay, first and foremost, we need to bring back my brother at all costs,” I said. “Then, our second biggest priority is capturing Doc, since we’ll need him if we want to cure my brother. As for Goh, if worse comes to worst, I don’t mind if he happens to slip through our grasp.” Of course, I would much rather end up with both Masters and Els in our custody, but I had to be realistic.
“I’ll take Mei and Aoyuki to face Doc and my brother,” I continued. “I’ll get Nazuna to take on Goh alone. Ellie, I’ll need you to set up an anti-teleportation barrier so that nobody can escape once we engage them. After the barrier is up and running, I’ll have you return to the Abyss and be on standby.”
“As you command, Master Light,” Mei replied. “On my honor as a maid, I pledge that I will spare no effort in rescuing your dear elder brother.”
“Mrrow!” Aoyuki said, every bit as excitedly.
“It is to my utter chagrin that I won’t be able to participate in the monumental task of rescuing our dear brother myself, but I understand that my part in this assignment is for the best,” Ellie said resignedly. “As you wish, Your Blessedness.”
I was pretty sure Ellie wasn’t going to protest about the role I had given her in front of Aoyuki. After all, Ellie had just gotten back from fighting Gira, while Aoyuki had stayed behind in the Abyss, serving her house-sitting role with absolutely zero complaints, so it wouldn’t be a good look if Ellie whined about being held in reserve.
And truth be told, I would feel much better with Ellie fighting by my side on this mission too, but I’d feel a whole lot worse if I didn’t have at least one Level 9999 warrior watching over the Abyss while the others and I were absent. For one thing, we had Miki detained in the dungeon, and having a SUR warrior around was an extra layer of insurance in case of the worst happening. I loved my brother, and I would do anything to ensure he got brought to me safely, but I loved my sister, Yume, just as much, as well as everyone else in the Abyss. I wasn’t about to leave the people I loved unprotected.
In any case, I had very good reasons for bringing Mei and Aoyuki with me on this mission. In Mei’s case, she was able to create a physical enclosure nobody could escape from using her Magistrings. Aoyuki, on the other hand, had her Beast Chain, a phantasma-class weapon that would prove handy for this mission. The Beast Chain had a spiked collar attached to it that was able to automatically pursue and capture any monster on command, and once attached, it was practically impossible to remove the collar, no matter how much the captive struggled against it. The only choices available to the collared creature were to wait for Aoyuki to let it go, defeat her, or willingly obey her. (Of course, there could be some other secret hacks for escaping the Beast Chain that I wasn’t aware of, but that was neither here nor there.) My plan was to have Aoyuki capture my brother-turned-monster and make sure he couldn’t escape from our grasp.
According to Miki, Goh was the most powerful Master in her clique, but despite this, I figured Nazuna should be able to easily take him on. I might have been a bit worried if Goh had some other Masters he could call on to back him up, but from our count, Doc was the only ally he had left. Still, Goh appeared to be the smart, savvy type—or at the very least, sharp enough to lead the Demonkin Nation’s faction of Masters. Even if Nazuna completely outclassed him in terms of raw fighting skills, I had a few doubts in the back of my mind about her ability to counter some of the potential wild-card tactical maneuvers Goh might pull.
As it turned out, my other lieutenants shared my concerns about Nazuna.
“Master Light, I would suggest assigning Iceheat to be Nazuna’s minder—ahem, or rather, her assistant,” Mei suggested.
“Mrrew!” Aoyuki mewled in agreement.
“Perhaps I should serve as Nazuna’s backup once I’ve finished preparing the teleportation barrier?” Ellie offered.
“Yes, guys, I know. I’m worried about sending Nazuna on a solo assignment too,” I agreed. “I’ve thought about sending someone with Nazuna to provide her with support too, but...”
I thought back to what Mera had told me about the fight between her spawn and Goh. She had laughed darkly while recalling the completely one-sided affair she had witnessed.
“In all honesty, I have no idea how much strength Goh was packing,” Mera had admitted, speaking for her spawn. “What I do know is he didn’t take the fight seriously at all. He was toying with me, in fact.”
Mera’s spawn was the one that had attacked first, but it had found itself slammed into the ground before it even knew what was happening. When it tried attacking Goh again, he had simply grabbed a claw and forced the spawn down onto one knee.
“I tried with all my might to stand, but I just couldn’t,” Mera had said, speaking for her spawn again. “I also tried to pry myself loose from him, but I literally couldn’t budge an inch. It would’ve been one thing if Goh had used his superior power level to subdue me, but there was absolutely no sign he was using any of his strength. This was true even while I struggled wildly to get free.”
Mera had paused briefly before continuing. “I actually asked Goh if he was using spells or some kind of magic item to pull off that trick, but he just scoffed and denied it. Even now, I have no idea how he was able to just shut me down completely like that. It was like he had used a creepy hex on me or something.”
After recalling Mera’s report, I looked up at my lieutenants again. “Goh is a Level 9000 Master, meaning he’s the strongest opponent we’ve ever faced. It also looks like he possesses some kind of unknown skill that completely disabled Mera. From what she told me, I’m afraid any assistant would only get in Nazuna’s way.”
Mei, Aoyuki, and I would be too busy taking on Doc and my brother to be viable alternatives. There remained the option of having Ellie accompany Nazuna, but she was a sorceress through and through, meaning she had next to no close-quarters combat skills. It might have made sense to have her take on the Level 7000 Gira, but she would be more at risk pitted against Goh, who had already proven himself to be a master of physical combat.
I looked at Ellie. “I want to avoid a situation where you end up getting killed by Goh’s melee attacks before Nazuna and the rest of us can save you.” I paused briefly as I took a breath. “I’d never be able to live with myself if that happened.”
“B-Blessed Lord Light...” Hearing me worry about her safety so elated Ellie, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glistened with tears.
“And that doesn’t just go for you either,” I said. “I don’t want anyone to lose their lives. Not Mei, not Aoyuki, not Nazuna, nor anyone else. That’s why I want to keep these assignments as they are for this mission.”
“It is my greatest honor knowing that you care so much about our welfare,” Mei stated warmly.
“Mrrrow!” Aoyuki cooed.
On hearing their responses, it was my turn to start blushing. I cleared my throat to cover up the awkwardness I was feeling and wrapped up the meeting.
“Anyway, I think we’ll end it there,” I said. “We’ll go into battle without any changes to the lineup I suggested. Make sure Nazuna knows about her assignment so she can get ready for it.”
My three lieutenants acknowledged their orders, marking the start of my mission to rescue my brother.