Chapter 221: Chapter Two Hundred Twenty Two

The hall of mirrors was bigger than expected. I'd envisioned a tiny  little corridor made up of a series of angled glass panes, reflecting  each other to create a mild bit of confusion. It had seemed like an  excellent place for me personally to work because of Seek Hidden, which  would let me be the sole person in the group who could reliably pick out  actual people from reflected images.

While it turned out  that it WAS a great place for that, Callie had somewhat underestimated  exactly how much of a 'hall' the hall of mirrors was. It literally  looked like a huge manor house made up of a variety of reflective  surfaces, all bouncing images into each other in such a way that it was  almost impossible to tell where the walls and floors began and ended.  There were even mirrored pieces of furniture lying around bouncing the  reflections even more and interrupting line of sight. It was absolutely  absurd.

I did my best to ignore the small headache I was  getting trying to process and take in everything happening at the same  time, instead turning to Callie, who was close enough that I could tell  she was physical in the open space of the middle of the entryway. I knew  because of the furniture and wall layout that if she stepped up to the  walls she would effectively vanish, and I imagined stealth would be even  more difficult to pick up here, "Ok, this is going to be a huge  headache, but it's what we've got, what's the plan?"

She  scowled around the area. "Admittedly this isn't what I imagine when I  read hall of mirrors. Kind of wish we'd gotten a chance to visit this  place during our date so I knew what was going on, but it is what it is.  The plan is pretty simple. Based on what I was told, the defenses on  this place are a sort of rejection. Once the enemy enters the building  it'll start to punish them for being inside until they leave. There's a  limited amount of it in the circus, so I doubt we see the ring leaders  early on. They'll probably flood the place with bodies until it wears  off."

That made me grimace. I'd been hoping to talk to my  counterpart before the whole siege deal, maybe finding a way to avoid  it. The way it was looking though, chances were good I'd have to deal  with waves of disposable minions first, and taking them down would make  the other candidate much less friendly most likely. Still, it could be  worse. "What about damaging the building. I take it that's another way  to burn out the defensive systems here. I'm assuming they're  Enchantments based on the description. I was kind of imagining big gun  emplacements."

"I think this works better." She said with a  shrug. "But no. While they could theoretically wear the defenses out  attacking the walls, it would take dozens of times longer. They're  designed to withstand attacks in their passive form for much less  energy. No, if they want to get through this siege any time soon they  would need to take the proactive approach to trying to kill us." She  said that cheerfully, and I had to smile along at how blase she had  become about all of this. We'd really been through quite a bit, and we'd  all grown from the experience, but Callie most of all.

She  headed off to talk to the Beast Lord initiates, and as she did, I  slipped over to where Jessie was standing, eyes scanning over the  mirrored walls and furniture. I leaned against the nearest wall. "Credit  for your thoughts?" I was pretty sure I knew what she was thinking  about, but I didn't want to push her into talking if she wasn't ready.  She'd mentioned something about this before, and based on her story it  wasn't the kind of thing that should be casually picked at. Whether she  wanted to vent or not was up to her.

Her green eyes jerked  up in surprise, as if she'd been so lost in her own thoughts that she  wasn't even aware I'd approached her. "Oh, Solomon! Wow, you scared me a  bit there. I didn't even notice you." Concerning behavior before what  was probably going to be a huge battle. Still, I waited, giving her the  chance to decide how much to share. She chewed her lip a bit. "Probably  not great that I'm so out of it. I was just thinking about a few things  from when I was a kid. I think I mentioned it to all of you at one  point. My last encounter with a place like this?" Her voice sounded  almost desperate, like she was pleading with me to remember so she  didn't have to repeat it.

I did though, and I was happy to  talk with her if it helped. "Yeah, a memory with your brother you  mentioned. Being here is making you think of him?" She nodded, looking a  bit uncertain. I put a hand on her shoulder, knowing the general shape  of her thoughts. "Hey, just because we have a plan doesn't mean it  doesn't still hurt being without him. Agreeing to help you try to get  him back wasn't some attempt to get you to stop grieving. Feel what you  need to feel. Though, I'm a bit worried about your timing, I have to  admit."

She winced, looking around the mirrored hall. I  scanned the surrounding area, and something occurred to me. "Wait, where  are the wolves? I haven't seen them today." I felt a bit bad for not  noticing Jin wasn't here, but to be fair there had been quite a bit  going on today.

Jessie perked up, happily distracted by  talking about her 'puppies'. "Oh, they're on the way. I left them at the  Rowdy Badger today since we were working on things. I called for them  once we got set up here, and Randall too. That should seriously help  with any attempted siege. I already called and gave Cark a path through  the traps to get here like Nightstrike texted me to earlier. He should  be showing up soon. That's part of what had me so worried. I wasn't sure  they would get here in time, but they're getting close. I can feel  Randall's energy even from here."

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I was pretty shocked  Callie had put so much together without me noticing, but I probably  shouldn't have been. She was the boss because she noticed things I  missed. I was just glad we'd have so much backup. I had a thought and  had to break off the discussion. Apologizing to Jessie for cutting off  her introspection, I stepped over to let Callie know she needed to talk  before dropping in on Sloane.

She saw me approaching and  sighed dramatically. "You know, I wish we would have had a better  timeline for this attack. I'm sure it'll be today, but I wasn't  expecting the delay. All this hurry up and wait nonsense is driving me  crazy." She reached up to scratch the silver bird on her shoulder under  the chin. "You have some place you need me, or did you just feel like  checking in? Because I'll be honest, I'm not in the mood for idle  conversation right now. Trying to keep myself hyped for the battle."

Her  response to my supposed attempt at conversation was blunt and to the  point, and it made me smile, not that she could see it. "No." I said  dryly. "No casual chatting on the agenda. I'm here to ask a question  about the fight. We have a bit of backup coming, one of whom is tamed  beast Agria has who is at F-rank. Is that going to violate the spirit of  the war? Like are we opening the door to them using more powerful  combatants if we field him?"

Sloane looked impressed.  "Most people wouldn't have bothered asking that, for the same reason it  won't be an issue. Other factions don't consider tamed beasts combatants  as much as they consider them tools. It's a disgusting mindset, though a  useful one at times. Agria herself is G-rank so it'll be fine. Being  able to tame a creature above her level is just considered a form of  genius. Like having a combat standard above your rank. It isn't an  opening for things to escalate."

I exhaled in relief.  Callie had probably considered that and might even have asked someone  else, but the thought had scared me enough to compel me to ask about it.  I thanked Sloane and headed back to where Jessie and Callie were, and  my girlfriend gave me a nod. "I heard what you asked her. That was a  good catch. I didn't realize Cark was bringing Randall and not just the  wolves or I would have asked. I expected him to leave the bear back at  the Badger to protect their people."

"Yeah." I said. "I  probably would have assumed so too. I guess he decided that one way or  the other things will end tonight. Might as well go all in, it's not  like the G-ranker Militia members could resist on their own if we got  wiped out." I wasn't sure Burning Fist would even be able to do anything  if that happened. Given how powerful Sanctuary Hall seemed to be, and  the implication from Melinda that the Militia was a middle to low tier  organization in E-district, he might not even try, and if he did he had  M-Jack to deal with on top of the Peace Lord.

Jessie,  who had continued to stare off into the distance in the direction I  assumed Randall was coming from, lit up. "They're here. Quick, let them  in." We rushed up to the door and levered it open, removing a mirrored  metal bar keeping it closed and pulling the doors apart to let in the  wolves as well as the five G-ranked members of the militia. Once they  saw us, Cark grinned with relief. Sage and Saffron were with him, along  with the two other G-rankers we'd seen when Ronnie attacked.

He  gestured back at them. "We brought who we could. I wasn't leaving the  Badger empty, but these are the most combat capable of my subordinates."  Sage cleared her throat loudly, glaring at her boyfriend, who coughed  in embarrassment. "And Sage of course, who is my partner and definitely  doesn't work for me or have to do what I say." He gave her a sarcastic  smile and she rolled her eyes are his obvious attempt to point out how  ridiculous she was being by going overboard. I saw a small smile on her  face though.

Cark  turned and looked outside for a minute before nodding to the purple  haired guy we'd seen at the Badger. The guy clapped and there was a  waver in the air as Randall appeared next to the entrance. The huge bear  had been under some kind of stealth field and he followed the wolves  over the threshold without waiting for any sort of response from any of  us. Once he was in, we slammed the door and barricaded it again. I  wasn't sure how they were going to get in, but I assumed if the defenses  were internal there had to be a way.

We  talked over the distribution of forces, and mostly just had people hide  around the hall where they thought they would be hardest to detect,  with the exception of the heavies like Baric and Croll, who decided to  stick by Randall, a decision I couldn't really fault them for. I slipped  into stealth mode, Callie right next to me as we waited. It was assumed  that the meat shields would be first through the door, but even with  the candidate waiting in the wings I was jittery. I felt my foot tap  rapidly and unconsciously as my body tried to let out some of the  tension through fidgeting, but I put a stop to it. After about an hour,  we finally heard a loud boom as something hit the door. It seemed like  the first wave had arrived. Time to fight.

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