As I drew near, I saw the angel’s blade and felt a dull ache in my mind, realizing that the being I faced had some connection to the Artificers.

  I also realized that even though I’d gotten a decent sleep, I’d used my minimal Artificer abilities to the limit yesterday in the jet.

  Except for the time I’d manifested Lee’s blade and fought Magnus (?) in that vision, I’d only ever managed to use my abilities defensively. Knowing how I felt, I wasn’t sure I’d even manage to do that now.

  I swerved away, loosing a barrage (well, three) of goobots, all of which exploded around Amnesia Angel, who grew translucent as the blasts of goo flew through them and fell to the grass, adding another piece of litter and destruction to their lawn.

  I, meanwhile, flipped over, using the suit’s inertial dampers to slow and then stop me in the air, engaging anti-grav to avoid dropping and firing the rockets to allow myself to reposition off to the right of Justice Fist’s tower. There, I’d be able to get a good view of the fight while testing my options out on Amnesia Angel from a distance, even if it wasn’t much of a distance.

  I wasn’t optimistic.

  What did I know so far? This person had Cosmic Ghost abilities in addition to whatever they’d received from the Artificers.

  The sword that the angel had pulled out of nowhere worried me. If it came from the Artificer toolkit, my armor might not protect me. Rachel could keep an object within a few inches of her hand out of phase, but Lee could do the same with swords.

  I aimed the suit’s paralysis rays at Amnesia Angel. Back when we’d fought Ray, he’d partially paralyzed Rachel with a shot from his. She’d been partially out of phase.

  As I fired, my suit detected the sound of a buzzer, blocking the sound-based portion of the attack. My paralysis device used both sound and an electromagnetic radiation-based attack. Though the second one was easily defeated by materials resistant to electromagnetism, the angel had used their sword against lightning. It was almost as if their costume hadn't been designed for that.

  I had reason to hope, and my hope wasn’t for nothing.

  The angel’s right arm slumped, and their eyes widened. They even stopped flapping their wings, gliding as the sword disappeared from the right hand and blazed in the left.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Through my implant, I heard Amy’s voice. She must have been watching at HQ. “The ladies have seen beings like that one before. The sword will ignore your armor.”

  “Okay,” I said, deciding not to dig into the implications of that statement. There were a lot of them.

  Faced with an enemy that could pass through my armor and an opponent that would phase out everything but the sword now, I had an option. If I labeled it, I’d have called it Plan E or Plan Omega—with Omega standing for the end of everything.

  I thought back to when I’d fought The Thing that Eats and manifested a sword. Last time, I’d used Lee’s abilities, possibly even unconsciously using Lee’s device.

  Hoping that I’d avoid getting Artificer attention, I used what Kee taught me to power it this time. It didn’t feel good. It felt like a long run the day after running a marathon. Initially, you feel the soreness, but after you move, it begins to feel normal. The problem is that if you pay attention, you know the soreness and damage from the day before are still there.

  If you push yourself too hard, you’re going to run out of steam and maybe hurt yourself permanently.

  I wasn’t dwelling on that, but it was in the background of my awareness. In the foreground of my awareness was the sword—what it was and what it wasn’t.

  Last time around, it had been four and a half feet long, dark metal, and on fire.

  This time, I could barely see it. Without knowing it was there, I might not have noticed the sword-shaped glow manifesting from my right hand. I’d have felt it, though. It felt like the beginning of a headache amid the flow of energy from elsewhere.

  A message from Rachel said only, “I can feel whatever you're doing from here.”

  Even though I found myself wondering if I’d be able to keep it going long enough to use it, I got one gratifying reaction—the angel jerked back.

  If years of training with Lee had taught me anything, I’d learned to use those moments of weakness. With a blast from my rockets, the being was in range, and I aimed toward the angel’s right to make it that much harder for my strike to be blocked.

  I didn’t make it obvious, though. I appeared to be going straight toward them, swerving and striking at the last second.

  Amnesia Angel twisted, bringing their blazing sword around with a speed I couldn’t match on my best day. They hadn’t burned out their brain the day before.

  It didn’t matter, though, because even though their reaction had been amazing, my timing had been better. I’d swerved, moved past them, and struck them in the side before their sword made it all the way around. I was out of reach by the time the sword hit where I’d been.

  Unlike their blow, mine counted. Though no blood flowed, nor did a cut appear in the angel’s blue and green costume, the being screeched as my intangible, glowing blade cut through spirit instead of flesh.

  I felt the resistance in my hands as I held the blade and struggled to keep it in existence. Watching as the angel followed me, I gauged their speed, knowing that my survival depended on having the ability to make unpredictable changes of direction.

  On the other hand, I at least had an idea of how to fight them.

  Behind me, the angel screeched again, but this one had more weight. It didn’t hurt, but I heard it with Artificer senses.

  That did not strike me as a good thing at all.