"Amphelise, wake up. WAKE UP, AMPHELISE."
"I'm here, I'm here, I'm fine. I can do this. I can...do this..."
"Amphelise, what's the matter of you? Now of all times?"
"I'm feeling dizzy. Seeing his damn face keeps me in a fighting spirit."
"Good. Focus on that."
"I've burned most of my Sin, and even though I can come back to life, it just hurts more and more."
For an hour they tried everything, coming to terms with the fact that Helios embraced perfection to then destroy it to outclass it.
All of Genova's tricks and strategies fell short in front of Helios' degenerate amount of experience. Shooting him appeared unefficient, slashing his throat couldn't take him down either, so she grabbed Amphelise and ran away.
On her way back, she had in her sight Melisa holding the two girls and falling. She had to sigh and catch her breath for a moment to then be able to carry all of them at once. Luckily for her, the doors were close enough.
She opened them and threw them all at the same time on the floor, closing the doors behind her.
"Exasperated. Truly, really, exasperated. Thank God this thing didn't exist at Cressenie."
Once inside, Anaïs healed them as she could, but assured them that the trauma would last, and that she couldn't do anything about it.
Ismael and Theigon were talking strategies inside, and when the girls were done resting, they joined them.
"Anaïs, the whole point of seperating us was to instigate a debate on how to kill him, right?"
"Yes, that is usually how it goes. I make sure the residents of the Structure have different perspectives and share them, so they can come up with a better plan each time. We decompose the mission in groups and collect all experiences."
"Nice, but...I assume Helios does the same."
"You're right, he does. In his head, his sharp instinct allows him to precisely imagine what each new group of residents at the Structure is talking about, at every step of the process, so he can anticipate the next move."
"It'll never end, right? I mean what will you do when all of our ten lives will be gone, Anaïs?"
"I'll improvise something. I honestly don't know."
Outside, Karin had emerged with new intel on the battlefield.
"Turns out, Ismael is the son of Helios, this unkillable soldier of some sort, and Anaïs, a witch, as I felt it, gave each of them ten lives so they could efficiently defeat and kill him."
"Ten lives? What a joke, we barely get one", Awane complained.
"I agree, it's stupid. Who cares, the animal is trapped either way, right? If she's a witch and she can obviously manage barriers wherever she wants, so why not just trap him in smaller and smaller places until you just explode what's left?"
Emova appeared concerned and felt the need to explain.
"Helios is an infamous historical figure of Perseus. He killed hundreds of millions of people, and when we finally had the opportunity to ask, humanity had a terrible answer, he said he didn't want to waste his own life rotting in his room he called a cage."
"So I was right, the animal is trapped. All of that just to end up in a cage anyway. Truly insufferable, like most men."
"Karin."
"What? I don't count Grant and John."
"I know. Focus on these two, not on anyone or anything else."
"Right. Back to it."
Emova sat down and sighed in despair.
"What now? I'm tired of the lore drop, try something so I can kill you."
"I would actually appreciate if you could wait until Anaïs invites you into thr Structure, so you can kill him. I instantly noticed your connection to the Ether. It's so rare it's literally unspoken of."
"I'm unique, I know."
"Don't blame her too much, ever since she arrived in Perseus, she lost her mind in a wrath that she can only express verbally. Karin is a nice girl, she's sensible and compassionate. Her hair is usually not let out like that, but attached on the sides. She's avery cute one, we just hate Ismael for what he did."
"Ismael, Helios and the witch of the lake, as we call her. Agony. That's the family. Broken, apart, torn, trapped, each away from the other. What is the point of fighting anymore? If only we could kill Helios..."
"We can. Leave us inside five minutes."
"Hundreds have tried. You're not special."
"We're from Earth, meaning if we try, we win. Perhaps the concept of the indomitable human spirit is foreign to you. Or the idea of being so incredibly stubborn that you also univetably win either way. This Helios is no different from what we had to endure so far. Okay, maybe a step higher, so what? You people of Perseus give up on the first obstacle. Just my resolve right now is enough for you to throw your book of spells away."
"You're right. We're pathetic. But we've been doing this for so long, we've lost the plot. Helios needs to die so we can all move forward."
"What a weird obssession. Why kill him?"
"So we can move forward."
"Again with this, what does that mean?"
"Perseus is made of different steps. And Helios is one of them, one of the biggest ones. What lies ahead is even worse, but if we all join forces, I believe we have a chance."
"Then let's wait. But I'll keep my eyes on you. Everybody sit down, we'll have a talk. It is true we have a lack of knowledge of your lands. But do not mix up our absence of knowledge with a total lack thereof. We have our own stories and ways."
"I'm sure you do. And I thank you for listening. Here is the truth about Agony. As long as she is alive, all pain in Perseus will be amplified. We can't keep on loving like this. We have to send a message to the inside somehow, to tell Ismael to free Agony so we can kill her. But I don't think he even knows this is his mother."
"The question is, how do you know he's the one holding her back there?"
"Witches have strong sensitive perceptions. The border of Garden White has particles similar to his. And Yael here who has had physical interactions with her in the past confirmed it."
"Great, so now, how do we get the message through the school, considering the barriers?"
"Anaïs can only take so many people inside the Structure. The rest, those she says are "held back", can walk freely in the school area, and we'll get there and talk to them."
"I guess this is where I intervene?"
"Yes, use the Ether if you can and talk to them."
"I couldn't really talk, or moreso, I could listen very clearly, and used it only once, but Anaïs absolutely knew I was there the whole entire time. So I'll just write it on the blackboards of the nearest classroom."
"Thank you again. This has to end."