My Weekly Gag Villain Job is Pretty Fulfilling: Chapter 14

My Weekly Gag Villain Job is Pretty Fulfilling: Chapter 14

…

Commissioned by Arksoul

…

Interlude: Chroma Scarlet: Aine Campbell

…

Food in exchange for precious metals and gems.

Even when we tried to make it clear to warlords and dictators across the world that giving the Legion of Shadow food was the same as giving them more soldiers, they sold food anyway.

In the end, we had to report our findings to our contacts in normal, human governments, and they acted off our information.

Those actions came in the form of military operations.

War Maidens being dropped from orbit to smash straight into enemy capital. Amphibious automated vehicles taking control of ports along with drones. Cargo containers full of quadrupedal drones and swarms of omni-rotors.

I watched it all from our base; every place where the light shone was available to us, and so I could see what my words did.

Pa just sipped on tea and kept reading up on the Legion.

“It’s a statement.” He chimed in after a moment. “Given the implication after the station was damaged.”

“I know.” I told him, and he gave a nod. The world’s eyes were on every attack. If there was evidence of food shipments disappearing, it was enough of a reason for the task force to strike. The various warlords were already cut off from the media, and diplomatic channels were frozen. “They’re showing off how strong they are after being struck down.”

Sell to our enemy who hurt us, and we will take away your ability to give to them.

“It won’t last. A month of this. Maybe two.” Pa said with a shake of his head. I looked at him with a raised brow, and he gave a snort. “These are little victories. Morale enhancers. They can’t occupy everything, only punish and destroy, but grain silos and farming equipment are easy to make and maintain.”

“Taking away those things will lead to much famine, too.” I said, and Pa nodded. “That’s why they’re not burning crops or fields. Just taking out international distribution centers.”

“That won’t change much. The Legion can appear and take from anywhere. No need for trains and no need for ships. Show up with a bushel of grain, and they’ll take it off your hands at a premium. It’s only a matter of time.” I frowned. I could see it already. Farmers were hardly well-off. If the legion spread around enough, then every farmer would sell off any excess they made to the legion. Even scraps that humans would turn their nose up at could be consumed by the Shadows. “What we need to do is get these barriers online.”

“Those will need support. A lot of support.” Barriers were used by the Light to defend enclaves and whatever survived the initial onslaught of the Legion of Shadow. The problem was that onslaught never happened here. The amount of silver and gold needed for the transmutation process was staggering. A quarter of the world’s gold supply would be needed. “Fifty thousand tons of gold to create an anti-teleportation barrier around the world. Ten times that in silver. Each node will need to be protected from assault.”

Barriers were usually for a single region and were far stronger. They could defend against the Shadows putting it under siege. Stripping away the barrier’s physical and protective properties for extended range and just to deny the Legion the ability to teleport was staggering.

“It can be recovered after the Legion is done for, right?” I nodded at Pa’s words, but he didn’t look pleased. He was running the numbers in his head, thinking on how people would react, and as he grimaced, I knew they led to a terrible answer. “We’ll be better off convincing a few nations to do it and have them defend it themselves.”

“A lot of people will die or get hurt if we do that. It might even cause them to fight against one another.” I could see it. Nations fighting to protect themselves. In the chaos, the Legion will grow stronger. Nations could isolate themselves under the stronger barriers, thinking nothing of the Legion, since the strongest versions could be scaled up massively. Not to mention the possibility that they might just protect arcologies. “Pa, we need to convince them to use only the anti-summoning barrier.”

“If things were that easy, then we wouldn’t have multiple countries armed to the teeth at each other’s throats.” Pa shook his head and leaned back into his office chair. Since he started spending time at the base, the archive room transformed to resemble his study. The tomes all turned and looked like old leather-bound books, the floors were wood, and the furnishings were all mahogany. Still, there was no scent of paper or antique furniture in the air. “It might work if we get one of them to kick off the project and force everyone else to do the same.”

That sounded like it would cause infighting and maybe even a refugee crisis, but I relented.

It was better than the idea of wealthy nations hiding behind domes of light while everyone else suffered and fed the Legion.

“I’ll talk to everyone. That plan can work.” I told Pa with a nod and got up.

Then, suddenly, a chime resounded throughout our fortress, and I turned to the light and went to the command room.

Tsubaki was there first, and her grip on her sword was tight as she looked at the viewing crystal.

“There’s another one.” On the screen, I froze as I looked at a humanoid shadow. Instead of robes, this one wore what was akin to a ballerina dress, but when I looked closer, the uniform was superficially like ours. “It’s in the guise of a Sentinel.”

It hovered in the air as policemen fired upon it. Their bullets did nothing, while Imps entered the warehouse, and all its contents were emptied moments later. A SWAT van came, and they tried to use a laser weapon to no avail. The fake Sentinel just loomed overhead, ignoring attacks, while cameras ran and the people could do nothing.

“This may as well be a titan.” The others arrived, and Tsubaki looked at me before realizing what I meant. The Legion’s titans were their method of clearing out resistance and ending as many lives as possible. That was their initial strike, which shattered worlds. But Sentinels, even the first generation, beat those. So, they changed tactics, came up with new methods, and now they had the initiative. “Tsubaki, you and I will head up first. Everyone else will support it. Titan strategy, but downscaled.”

Everyone nodded, except for Tsubaki.

She glared at the fake Sentinel in silence.

“That will not work. This one is a combatant. A warrior. Not some monster or even a false alien soldier. It has a mind, it is experienced, and it is watching all threats, even after they prove they cannot harm her.” Tsubaki’s words sent a chill down my spine. The Legion were operating off of completely different rules, but knowing that they had more than just monsters controlled by a single intellect? “Aina, let me go first. Be ready to rescue me if I cannot face it.”

Everyone exchanged looks.

Tsubaki saying that she might need to be rescued was enough for all of us to take this situation very seriously before leaving.

…

“Oh, they’re taking you a lot more seriously than I thought.”

Alex was engaged by Azure, and their fight looked a lot flashier than I thought.

“How about you give me more help, instead of just thinking!?” Alex’s voice was right in my head, even as we watched the fight go on. The completely smooth mask/face she wore captured all sound and sent it my way. No one else heard her curse or complain. It was a good choice. Kept things PG. “This bitch is crazy strong!”

Alex was weaving through attacks, turning into shadowy tendrils for fractions of a second to dodge Azure’s sword, and she launched ‘rays’ of Shadow back. The rays that we modeled after magical girl blasts were just solid shadows that reformed and went back to her after being launched. They were more like elongated spears, but some cosmetic changes made them look the part.

“Go ahead and adapt to her attacks. Use melee weapons.” Alex responded immediately to my words, especially as I provided her with more Imps. Her dark magical girl outfit had long sleeves with wide cuffs that hid her hands. In the shadows made by those sleeves, she could launch and transform awaiting Imps, and she could also form weapons. Onlookers might think she was casting magic, but she just had a glut of Imps ready to assist her. “It’s up to you whether to make a shield or a sword. You’ll need a lot of Imps for either.”

Naturally, Azure’s weapons were going to be effective in a ‘clash.’ Anything made of darkness was going to flounder against the Light. Our type advantage was solely against the mundane, while the Sentinels were our anathema.

“Yeah, I’m not doing that. This crazy bitch has been using a sword her entire life! She’s getting faster!” Alex cursed and let loose a surge of ‘beams.’ The sudden deluge was like a series of solid pillars coming out of her sleeves like a wave. Azure tried to cut through the wall of darkness, but even with the effectiveness of Light against the Legion, overwhelming firepower was still overwhelming firepower. “Ha! Take that!”

“Well, if you say things like that, you’re just asking for trouble.” I shook my head. Even Ebb shook itself from side to side. “Yep, there it is.”

The other Sentinels jumped in once Azure was endangered by the deluge. Beams of light slammed into and ate away at the Imps. I got the message that the attack on Azure could go through and smash the Sentinel through a building and its foundation, but only if I sacrificed more than a dozen Imps completely to annihilation.

Losing Imps permanently at our current rate of production and our limited pool was out of the question, so I had them withdraw.

Thus, Alex’s attack was destroyed by a massive beam the size of a skyscraper that only harmed the Legion.

One look up confirmed that the other four had been waiting and watching the entire time, just ready to intervene with a giant blast.

Honestly, very clever!

“Time to withdraw. You can give a speech if you want.”

“Fuck that! Leaving now!” Alex gave a grunt and aimed her hand upward. That was my signal to pull her back through. Since the Sentinels had multiple methods of keeping us in one place, I had a few methods ready. Spawn a titan arm to quickly throw her past the upper atmosphere, have imps erupt from every shadow while she went as small as possible and skittered through some sewer lines, and more. None of them were needed. Alex unraveled and reformed on the moon with a thought. “What the hell was that!?”

“The Sentinels of this world are responding to our actions through cunning tactics.” Ebb stated simply while Alex got rid of her disguise. In a moment, she was back to wearing a black cap, white tank top, and denim shorts. She took a seat, cross-legged, on the kitchen floor and scoffed. “Your efforts are much appreciated. That tactic would’ve robbed us of many Imps if they unleashed it upon a routine force.”

“Show me appreciation by grabbing me some pizza. The good stuff from Italy. Damn, that was a tough fight.” Alex shook her head, stood up, and walked over to the dining table. I had already ordered the square slices and had them in the oven. An imp went over and grabbed it along with a whole liter of full-sugar soda. She gave a grunt as the food was laid out in front of her and took a slice. Her glower faded as soon as she took a bite. “Right. That’s the best. Have you guys tried it yet?”

“I was waiting for you to return.” I told her simply and grabbed a square slice myself. Ebb floated towards us. Pizza al taglio wasn’t what I was used to. It was honestly closer to bread with loads of toppings rather than pizza, but it was tasty bread with great, fresh toppings. It was a good thing I bought two and kept them warm. “This is good; when’d you try it?”

“You had a bunch of Imps buying gelato, so I asked them to get some pizza too. The thin, fresh ones don’t travel well, but these do.” Ebb nodded at her words. She was probably talking about the Neapolitan style that was quickly cooked and had a thin crust with just a handful of ingredients. That was good, but you had to be there to enjoy it. Putting it in a box just made it a soggy mess. “So, when were you going to tell me that Azure’s a living blender?”

“She never displayed that much skill before. I hadn’t known.” I shared with her my memories of encounters with Azure. The blue Sentinel of Light usually fought beside the team’s leader as a frontline fighter. She used a sword of light to take on swathes of Imps at a time and used beams and other attacks to dispatch them quickly. “See? Usually, the sword is just lip service.”

“Well, not being able to hit you must’ve busted her balls or something, because that thing was scary. She was like a missile holding a razor. Everything I did, she had an answer to, and I could barely get a hit in. She was out for my neck.” Alex’s brow was furrowed while she reviewed the memories of our past battles. She finished off a slice before moving onto the next one. The bread crunched as she chewed and thought. “Yeah, I think her not cutting your head clean off got to her. She’s out to prove herself, and she’s strong as fuck and talented, too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Hopefully, forcing you to retreat will have her act normally.” We looked back on the ongoing battle. My troops were withdrawing in good order, returning to the moon, and taking with them a lot of foodstuffs. The Sentinels were trying to cull the Imps rather than letting them run, but I didn’t have to hide the fact that I could just teleport away anymore. In their eyes, Imps were basically disappearing into the shadows before they could destroy them. “So, are you interested in possibly going to the same school as her?”

A dark rival magical girl arriving at the same time as a transfer student was perfect for this scenario, but Alex shook her head.

“Fuck that, I need to learn how to fight.”

Ah well.

A female villain defeated to cap off the first season is fine.