An Unstoppable

There were no rest stops, no bathroom breaks. Even the meals were distributed in the confines of the transports, and the Order transports ran on mana crystals, so there was no need to stop for a refueling. The feeling of the road passing by beneath them and the soft whirring of the engine continued almost uninterrupted, broken only by the rare switching of roads and a single instance of rush-hour traffic that was quickly bypassed via Barriers.

The tension in the air grew stronger as the miles passed, heightening that sense of impatient ****, the desire to avoid what was coming clashing with the desire to have it over as hastily as possible. Updates came from Moira as they drew nearer, but it was the sound of gravel crunching below their tires that truly brought John out of his stupor.

"We wait here," Moira stated plainly, shifting to hold herself steady as the vehicle came to a halt.

The feeling of his weight shifted as the van pulled off onto the side of the road, its right side dipping slightly into a shallow ditch to clear the asphalt. John's eyes darted to the windshield, but found nothing of note on the road ahead, and the narrow windows at the sides and rear of the vehicle revealed little apart from roadway, clear skies, and the identical Order vans now pulling aside behind them.

"How far are they?"

"Hard to say. They'll be inside of a Barrier; they won't wait out in the open, no matter how much of her arrogance Adantia has regained." Moira's back flexed against the thick wall of the compartment as she assumed a formal posture. "We will wait for their arrival."

"We won't be waiting long."

"They will not keep us waiting."

Kim's eyes cracked open a sliver, her brown irises meeting Vallya's purple ones. Vallya smirked with amusement and hummed a happy little tune to herself. Kim redirected her focus to John, the question plain in the arch of her brow.

"Ah. Wait, have you two never-" John cleared his throat before starting over. "Right. Forgot I didn't cover it during the introductions. Sometimes I forget that both of you haven't met everyone I've Purified by now. You're both capable of sensing mana and auras, so... congrats? Bonding time?"

"Mmm, maybe," Vallya purred. "I can think of a few ways for teammates to get closer, you know."

Kim's eyes twitched in the same way they might appraise a challenger. But if she had something to say to Vallya's tease, it was **** to wait. Three loud raps on the back of the transport signaled an arrival. The windows were too narrow and too high up to see much from where John was sitting, but a flash of red hair drifted lightly into view in the early afternoon breeze.

"Lady Warden, it is the Lord Protector," the driver stated. She was monitoring a feed of the camera mounted in the back. "He just stepped out of a Barrier with a woman. She matches your description of Adantia."

"It's him," Moira confirmed, though John wasn't sure what gave her such certainty; her eyes remained fixed on the doors. "Understood, Knight Hedlin. Disable the security measures."

The thick metal doors looked largely mundane, but as the locks disengaged, there was a brilliance of blue that ran from one end of the seam to the other before the doors finally popped open. A gauntleted hand reached between them, swinging the thick armor wide with the casual ease one might pry open their refrigerator. A cluster of three Order clerics was gathered behind him, looking weary and pale.

"My, but I've missed the sight of you," Lord Brighton boomed. "I've not camped out for so long since I was a lad! Might have been refreshing, if it weren't under such dire circumstances."

Metal clanked and clattered as Lord Brighton stepped into the compartment, taking one of the two remaining seats, ending up near the partition behind the driver. His wide frame took up most of the walking space, but his plate hung on him with a cozy familiarity, and he made the stooping march look somehow almost elegant.

As he seated himself, the clerics began to file in as well. One wedged himself between Shishun and the now open door, apologizing awkwardly as he tried to find the perfect balance between personal space and not having a door slammed into his side. Amidst the commotion, John didn't notice the lack of a fifth body until the passenger side door in the front cabin clanked open noisily.

"Right, let's get this show on the road, then." Adantia shuffled in without fanfare. "Border's about a mile from here. I bet we get within a thousand feet of it before whatever numbskulls they left on guard duty notice us."

"Nice to see you too," John noted, eyes lingering on Adantia's form. He couldn't see a great deal through the hatch joining the two compartments, but he caught glimpses of her in the rearview mirror as the van creaked back onto the road. She was intact, her arm fully restored, a fact she reinforced by giving him a double bird.

"Don't put words in my mouth. I'll let you know when I'm happy to see you." Adantia snorted and rolled her eyes at him, a gesture over-emphasized by rolling her whole head. "For now, I'm just glad to be out of the woods. Boyscout over here might have a thing for camping, but I'm more of a civilization girl."

"Not very civilized for a civilization girl." John's follow-up fell short, dangling from his lips as Adantia shifted. The arm was intact, its skin unblemished, but as she shifted, he caught a glimpse of a rather ragged-looking set of almost perfectly circular scars lingering along her upper body.

They were not raised or indented, nor did they seem to be any kind of ordinary scar tissue formed in the healing process. Each round marking was pitch black, as if the skin had been somehow permanently stained, though the skin itself looked nearly identical to the tissue surrounding it. They grew and shrank along the length of her body, following the line of where part of her had been torn away.

"Funny. Maybe don't antagonize the one responsible for keeping you safe out here," Adantia grunted.

"We are all responsible for each other in these times," Moira interjected. She had begun to glare at John for his barbs, but that didn't soften her tone. "No one person can win this war alone."

"Yeah. Yeah, believe me, I know." Adantia's tone darkened slightly. One hand slipped up to her collar, tracing the line of scars. They looked like ordinary skin apart from the discoloration, yet her fingers found them without error. Her pale eyes narrowed, but she otherwise kept her expression from revealing too much. "We're almost there. Let me handle this. I'm gonna have to explain to them what happened to me anyway."

"We were unable to mend her wounds fully with the haste we would have preferred," Lord Brighton admitted. "Had we been able to heal her more quickly, we would have liked to make contact on our own. But even with my abilities, it is not so easy to heal a wound of that severity, particularly on a mage of Adantia's caliber. That she lived at all speaks to her strength, and it is nothing short of a miracle that she was able to escape such a dire situation in that condition."

"Not a miracle," Adantia countered. "No gods involved in this one, just yours truly."

"The Lady works in all things, in her own ways." Lord Brighton's intonation, with all the energy of a practiced sermon, earned a ragged groan.

"You're lucky you gave me my arm back." Adantia huffed. "Whatever. Here it comes, get ready."

Before John could question what it was he needed to be ready for, a wave of mana washed over them. The passive of his Observe let him see it physically pass over the vehicle inch by inch, but even if it hadn't, a notification gave it away the moment it touched his skin.

You have been forcibly brought into a Trap Barrier!
Clan Heinrich Domain Barrier – Trap Barrier Passive Effects:
-All Spells lose 50% effectiveness for inhabitants under Level 35 within the Barrier not belonging to Clan Heinrich.
-Teleportation and movement spells are limited to the boundaries of the Barrier for those below level 35 not belonging to Clan Heinrich.
-All extradimensional spaces belonging to those below level 35 not belonging to Clan Heinrich are inaccessible from within the Barrier.
-Damage dealt within the Barrier by those belonging to Clan Heinrich is increased by 25% against those below level 35.

Adantia stepped out of the car as the magical field continued to expand. Behind them, the Order vehicles vanished as their own transport was brought into the protected space, then reappeared in sequence as each was engulfed in turn. They came to a halt on the replicated road without bothering to pull aside.

Ahead, a half-dozen mages approached in tight formation. Their outfits were simple mail and leather, but weaves of mana and glistening runes shone on each piece of armor. Adantia moved to meet them beside the road, and though he could not feel the earth shifting below them, John's Observe revealed the shifting of her cables as she ceased to conceal the flow of mana within them. They followed in her wake like a massive, braided serpent burrowing beneath the ground.

"Seems they haven't left their borders entirely undefended," Lord Brighton mused. "Hopefully that's a sign that their situation hasn't grown as dire as the worst case scenario."

"Indeed. Given the need for Fateweavers at the frontlines, they must not have reached true desperation... at least, not yet," Kim agreed.

"Is this... impressive?" John's astonishment rang clearly, even in his own ears. A sense of relief he didn't quite understand flowed over him as the Barrier itself had. "This Barrier doesn't even affect me. Or any of you."

"Hey... I think he's right," Etriyya murmured. She looked at herself in awe, inspecting her armor with bewilderment. A sphere of blue light formed in an upturned palm, and a giggle bubbled forth from her. "Oh, that's grand, innit? Last time we were in one of these, just using a basic cantrip was like shovin' an old sow uphill, arse-end first. Now I'm still suckin' diesel!"

"It's a good reminder of how far you've come, John. The rank and file of our Order will be feeling this Barrier's effects now." Lord Brighton spoke in the way of an instructor, as he often did when John made his ignorance of the Abyss known in the early days. But curiosity threaded its way through the scholarly tone. "And Fateweaving is not such a simple art. There are few who can call themselves experts, let alone masters of more complex Barriers. Yet you seem unimpressed. Are your own Barrier techniques so superior to this one?"

"No, not really." John hadn't been thinking of his own techniques at all. "I can only do basic utility and dungeons. The Shard of Bishamonten gives me a kind of Trap Barrier, but all it does is lock people in."

"Then why do you seem so unimpressed with their arts?" Lord Brighton's eyes remained fixed on Adantia as he spoke.

"Because I saw what Himiko was capable of." Even the memory of that feeling of powerlessness set a sense of empty weight in John's stomach. "Even the Barriers her mages set up were leagues beyond this."

"You think it reasonable to compare these border guards to one of the Deities?" Moira's brows both lifted in unison, surprise great enough to outweigh mere skepticism and amusement.

"No, it's just- I- I guess I've been worried." John hadn't noticed it amidst all the other madness, but the relief he felt at that Barrier readout was undeniable. "I'm used to clearing dungeons, not fighting battles against other mages. I guess I thought that sort of thing would be a lot more common."

"And how powerful were those Barriers, exactly?" This time Lord Brighton did turn his gaze away, though only for an instant. His irises shimmered with an almost adventurous light. Though he didn't precisely recall the wording, the levels were still clear in his memory.

"Just what her strike **** had was enough to shut most of us out of magic completely," John admitted. "Everyone except for Adantia and Lord Brighton. And the Barrier around her palace? Even with the Blessing of the Rose, you wouldn't have been able to break free of its bindings."

"I only hold the Memory of the Rose." If Moira's father meant the statement as a defense of his strength, it brought no comfort. The lines of his face deepened, his eyes still focused ahead. "You are unlikely to encounter magic of that caliber anywhere else, lad. Himiko Nakamura is not merely a Deity, but one of the most revered enchanters in all of the Abyss–with perhaps her closest competitor being the very woman you look upon now. All the same, do not let your guard down. Remember this is a mere border crossing. Adantia may have been able to escape the ambush that befell her eventually, but she was dragged into it all the same."

John nodded gravely. Lord Brighton's eyes swiveled to meet his once more, a discomforted grimace creasing across his expression.

"And I would not speak so freely of what transpired during your journey. Information like that is valuable and dangerous in equal measure; a mere association with a Deity causes one to become a subject of great interest in the Abyss. For one like you, who has already drawn such attention..."

Lord Brighton's eyes traveled ahead once more, but his gaze lingered on the back of the driver's seat, and John didn't miss the uncertainty there. Moira and her father had never acted as if they couldn't trust their Knights before. The idea of dangerous knowledge was something that had been beaten into John a thousand times, yet seeing the former Warden Lord scrutinizing one of his own reached John in a way he had not been expecting.

Silence seemed the most appropriate response. John's attention returned to the matter of their arrival. Adantia was now speaking with the mages from 'Clan Heinrich'. Two more had entered the Barrier behind her, all eight mages posturing for a fight. Adantia stood with her hands in her pockets, head turned slightly skyward, looking thoroughly unamused.

Through the reinforced walls, John couldn't make out what they were saying, but he could see the expressions of all save Adantia and the two now flanking her. Tight features oscillated between alertness and outright alarm, occasionally brightened by skepticism or what might have been amusement at some remark he couldn't hear.

The tensions only eased slightly as the conversation continued. One of the mages in front of Adantia, a woman wearing leather armor engraved with swirling lines of pulsating orange mana, pulled out a phone. After a few taps, she lifted it to her ear and began to speak, still angled toward Adantia but diverting her face ever so slightly. There was a length of silence between the group then, all eyes on the woman. A sense of ease even seemed to settle over the group, bare as it was. Muscles uncoiled, weapons dipped, and the sense of impending combat dissipated.

What happened next came without prelude. Adantia moved so swiftly that John's eyes caught the motion as one long, continuous blur. The woman must have caught even less of the movement – she was still speaking when she realized the phone's absence. Her eyes widened with shock at the same instant a shrill scream tore from her lips, a startled exclamation just loud enough to reach them inside the armored transport.

Adantia ignored the cry, standing and rotating idly on one foot as she began to speak into the stolen phone. John could just make out the movement of her jaw, and her posture gave him no delusion that she was being particularly diplomatic.

Weapons that had been lowered were raised and then utilized in a reflexive cascade of strikes and shots. A half-dozen bullets arced with fragmented red mana as they glanced off Adantia. Two swords, an axe, and a halberd met similar resistance, each blow bouncing off or coming to a simple halt with no visible wound inflicted. Two spells, one of glimmering fire and the other a mess of arcane sigils given form, each dissipated on contact.

Adantia did not so much as move during the entirety of the ****, save for the impatient tapping of her foot. The frenzied strikes became half-hearted, **** in their futility, and finally halted entirely as the mages of Clan Heinrich found that even their undefended strikes were utterly impotent against Adantia. Their efforts would have been better spent carving away at the dirt beneath her feet – at least then they might have inflicted some annoyance, however minor.

The tension outside was mirrored within. Even the driver's hands were clenched tight, one on the wheel and one on the gear shift. Kim's eyes were cast wide now, as sharp as they ever were in battle, one hand resting on the pommel of her blade and both feet firmly planted on the floor below.

"She wasn't kidding about knocking heads together, then." John's mutterance did little to ease the tension, but the silence was becoming unbearable. "Should we do something?"

"Doesn't look like she needs any help to me," Lerianna grunted. "And if we're aiming for diplomacy, I know I'm sure not letting them poke at me with those things."

"She has started something she's more than capable of finishing." Moira's frustration came out in a huff bordering on a growl. "The only thing that might save the situation is that she feels no need to do so…"

The mages began to shout at one another. Adantia remained composed through it all, almost bored. She continued talking to whoever was on the other end of the line, but gave not a moment's thought to the now-hostile guards surrounding her. After a while, perhaps thinking to target something that might actually be affected by their weapons, the mages did turn toward the Order vans.

One of the two nearer to them pointed their way and shouted something. In response, a steel cable erupted from the ground before him, so close that chunks of rock and soil scattered against the man's body. John's eyes caught the way the cable slapped the man's arm as it passed, with the same casual cruelty a dog might be smacked across the nose. A high-pitch scream broke from the guard's throat, and he leaped away so frantically that his reflexive stab missed the now-stationary cable. A full array of cables followed the first, forming a chain-link pattern and dissuading anyone else from turning their attention to the Order vehicles.

"She's certainly making a show of things," Lerianna murmured.

"No more of a show than it would be for any of us to swat away a fly." Coming from Lord Brighton, the uttered words lingered with well-earned weight. John grimaced, remembering how easily Adantia had subdued him when they met.

"You think she knows what she's doing with all this?"

"She worked her way into their ranks when she first arrived," Lord Brighton said after a long pause. "I made attempts to plan our re-entry into their territory while tending her wounds, but she only gave vague assurances on the matter. One grave downside to relying on an ally of such strength... we have little recourse if she is determined to **** a matter, no matter what that might be."

Obscured as it was by the fence now separating them, the discourse ahead continued for an uncomfortable amount of time without change. The mages stood at a tense but ultimately worthless stance of readiness, Adantia continued to speak on the stolen phone, and time ticked by with all the grace and speed of a drunken snail.

Disruption came in the form of a blue sigil, formed on the ground not far from where Adantia herself stood. Three mages appeared within the boundaries of the sigil, quite different in their appearance from the border guard.

The woman leading their formation wore no armor at all, only formal robes that suffered little as they brushed along the upturned dirt and grass alongside the highway. Behind her, the other two wore armor of an equally regal standard, far more imposing than that of the guards Adantia had all but ignored. Their armaments actually glowed to John's Observe passive.

Adantia tossed the phone back to the mage she'd snatched it from as the trio approached. This was either the person she'd been speaking with or important enough for her to acknowledge. John eyed each of the new arrivals in turn.

Hillien Heinrich
Level 84 Leyweaver
<Clan Heinrich of the Seventh Great Plains Federation>
HP: 4,005 / 4,005
Relationship: -12
Alignment: +6
Status Effects: Warp Sickness

Wyldriff Heinrich
Level 58 Shieldbearer
<Clan Heinrich of the Seventh Great Plains Federation>
HP: 4,415 / 4,415
Relationship: -42
Alignment: -3
Status Effects: Warp Sickness

Thommald Heinrich
Level 62 Honor Guard
<Clan Heinrich of the Seventh Great Plains Federation>
HP: 5,930 / 5,930
Relationship: -48
Alignment: +2
Status Effects: Warp Sickness

"Gear must be making up for those levels." A quick scan of their gear affirmed it – every piece was at least Epic quality according to his abilities, and obviously designed for maximum durability, minus the shining weapons. Their health pools were impressive, but John would've liked his odds at taking all three of them by himself. Their presence would do nothing to tilt the scales against Adantia.

And yet in spite of that, the woman in the lead approached Adantia with a fury that almost seemed to mock the hesitant guards surrounding them, her shouts loud enough to pierce the armored walls. John caught only a handful of words, none of them pleasant, yet Adantia stood without response as the woman wore herself ragged, her dirty brown locks swinging wildly as she gestured at Adantia, the Heinrich guards surrounding them, and the line of Order vans still perched on the highway.

John was expecting her to respond with the same intensity, but Adantia only laughed. Not a mocking one, but seemingly genuine. It rippled from her chest with casual familiarity, and she stepped forward, clasping her arms around the brunette gleefully. The guards behind her jolted at the contact just as much as the woman herself. One half-drew his sword before the infuriated woman waved him off, gesturing to the escorts with one hand while angrily shoving Adantia away with the other.

This time there was no patient waiting for a chance to respond. Adantia was talking just as quickly and every bit as energetically as the woman herself. Neither seemed content to give the other any room to speak, leaving John to wonder if they could even hear each other.

"What the hell is going on out there?"

"She is accusing Adantia of sabotage, claiming they adjusted their formations for her presence, and suffered for it in her absence. Adantia is dismissing her as a 'gravel-headed fool', saying that if it weren't for her presence, they would have slaughtered every member of their alliance with the forces they conjured that day." Kim's focus was absolute, her body still save for the motion of her response.

"You can hear them?"

"I can, if you are silent," Kim growled.

John obliged without complaint. His attention now alternated between the 'discussion' being had ahead and Kim's own features. Though stoic, the Slayer's expression gave way to the barest of frowns, one that grew deeper as time passed – then abruptly twisted in an erratic fashion, breaking open to release an aggravated sigh.

"She lacks anything that could even be carved into a form resembling subtlety or nuance," Kim groaned, "but she manages results, I cannot deny her that. I fear for the day her thick skull meets something that can endure the brutish **** with which she wields it."

Even as Kim spoke, the criss-cross of cables retracted into the ground again. As Adantia turned and began to walk back toward them, the Barrier faded around them.

You have been ejected from the Clan Heinrich Trap Barrier!

An angry horn sounded from somewhere behind them. A civilian vehicle swerved onto the shoulder of the road to get around the black van that had suddenly materialized in front of it, then kept going, passing by all of them with fuming words and a middle finger given to each van in turn. He showed no signs of shock, only fury as he continued onward, hooking back onto the road just in time to avoid Adantia.

The other mages had not exited the Trap Barrier with them, leaving the party alone again as Adantia threw open the door and slid back into her seat. Whether she could sense the unease in the car, John didn't know – if she did, the cocky grin on her face seemed to indicate no shame for causing it.