The Guard numbered no more than sixty soldiers still living, in black and white armor recalling the robes worn by their civilian brethren in Rokesha. While they were focussing on repelling the storm fly, most of their manpower was engaged in pitched combat against the nymphs, in order to defend their siege weapons. The nymphs appeared to be rotating to avoid exhaustion, especially mana exhaustion, many hanging back as We looked on. The Guards, badly outnumbered, had no such luxury.

How long had they been fighting like this? It had likely been nearly a week of nonstop battle. Was this dedication or insanity? It was deeply impressive commitment to the cause, but the task they had before them was so impossible that the situation was more heartbreaking than inspiring. Nymphs may not be particularly dangerous to a properly armed soldier, like those who fought with Me in Rokesha, but the Guards could not use enchanted weapons. The Guards needed to kill storm nymphs, all comparable to middling green mages, with little more than determination and sharpened sticks. And that wasn't the worst problem.

"As foolish as it is valorous," Izena said, and I agreed. "Even if they defeat the nymphs after a legendary effort, with no one in the world aware of what they achieved, what could they possibly ever do to their mother?"

It was true, and they probably knew it, but I couldn't criticize their choice. They were fighting with, in their minds, absolute certainty that the world would end if they failed or abandoned the facility, letting the monster's red magic leak back into the outside world, find new slaves, and restart the old war. We--I--had left this task to them. They were doing the best they could.

Our eyes misted a little, because of Me.

It was time to make a Divine Entrance. They had thoroughly earned it. I cast a shield on every Guard, and Ourself, and passed control to Izena. This close to the laboratory, it was best for Me to be focussed on purifying potential corruption attempts, and Izena had prayers to answer anyway.

I couldn't wait.

Electricity started sparking on Our left hand. I tried to control Myself so Izena could focus, but I felt like squealing.

"Sister," Izena teased. "This good enough to get your spirits up?"

This was indeed another bright side. There were going to be many big booms and zaps and vaporized enemies. I'd been waiting 944 years for this.

The Guards, noticing their shields and looking around in confusion, had spotted Us. It was unlikely that news from Rokesha had reached them yet. In their eyes, their Goddess of Salvation had just now returned to the world, descending from the sky on Her platform of Light, in answer to their most desperate prayers. But they had no idea. It wasn't just Salvation who had answered.

Our left hand was now pointed at the battlefield.

Focus, focus, You need to pay attention to Your Own spells, I said to Myself.

The air was humming. It sounded like a choir heralding the coming Intervention.

I double-checked that all shields I had cast were up to the task of preventing friendly fire. I had held a lot of mana in reserve in case I needed to attempt some intense Self-purification, but they were.

If Izena restrained Herself appropriately.

We only needed to kill nymphs with this one, no need to get too ridiculous, Sister.

Our pools linked, Izena drew some of My white mana into Her established black magic spell to increase the raw power, as Oscanion had done many times with the monster's red mana during the war, causing his strengthened spells to stink with the monster's rot-imprinted mana. Or rather, as Oscanion had been forced to do by the monster's coercion. Instead, incorporating My white mana made Izena's spells shine more than they already did.

Izena shouted: "COVER YOUR EARS AND LOOK AT THE GROUND NOW!"

If some of the Guards didn't do so, I'd heal their eyes and ears later.

Izena released Her spell. A literally thunderous boom echoed across the peninsula. I didn't heal Our deafness immediately, since the thunder would continue until Izena was finished.

A curtain of lightning, blue bolts radiating the white light of My mana, swept across the battlefield as Izena swung Our arm right to left. The Guards were protected by My shields; the nymphs were not. The nymphs stopped existing. The bunker roofs stopped existing, the bolts penetrating to reach any nymphs that had made it inside. Every bit of ground touched by the spell that had not been protected by one of My shields--that was not occupied by a Guard--was glowing from the heat.

Izena probably could have kept the area attack lightning spell going and used it to kill the storm fly too, but She knew what I liked.

This time, heated air began rising off Our left hand. I was glad that We were shielded.

The storm fly belatedly moved towards Us, its master apparently having grown desperate. Knowing from experience that ice attacks were pointless while chaotic wind was challenging for Me to negate completely, it tried to blow Us away, but the distance was great, and the wind magic was weirdly slow to activate.

"Don't worry, mother fly," Izena said under Her breath, as She carefully calibrated the spell of unfamiliar power and mana composition. "I know it's too late for you. Your mind is broken beyond healing. I know you're praying that I will release you from this curse. I will. I know you're praying that I will avenge your family. I will. I hope you retained enough of yourself to mourn your children properly."

Retribution released a beam of simple heat that gave the impression of molten iron, exploding out of Her palm in the storm fly's direction. It moved so quickly that it didn't arc at all before striking her, at a distance of some few thousand paces. When I healed Our eyes and ears, the storm fly was gone, with the only evidence that it had ever existed being the rapidly dissipating clouds and twisters, and lingering smell. One of her prayers had been answered. One remained.

I started giggling maniacally. I was proud of Myself for the restraint that I had shown until now.

"Do you think at full power You could kill that thing from here? Just obliterate the whole facility all the way to the bottom without going in?" I asked, half seriously.

Izena thought for about ten seconds.

"Maybe, depending on the structure of the facility, and how intact the protective enchantments are after all this time? But We wouldn't be able to confirm the kill with absolute certainty from here, and You wouldn't have any mana left to shield Us from the blowback. And We'd need to wait for the Guard to evacuate to a safe distance." She seemed serious.

A pity.

"Into the abyss, then," I said mournfully.

Objectively, I knew We were an unstoppable force and didn't really have anything to fear. But there was a primal terror at the idea of descending into a pit of perfect blackness possibly surrounded by ocean monsters, their cages no longer as robust as they once were, all bent on our destruction, subject to continuous attempts at mind control.

We turned toward the surviving members of the Guard, who were all facing in our direction, but with heads uniformly bowed. They all had a hand on their chests, probably pressing against the ancient amulets worn underneath their black-and-white armor. They appeared to be praying.

Justice had done Her part. They would need healing and resurrection, next.