The early morning sky was overcast, but the sun still made a valiant effort at shining through the clouds. That effort was not quite enough to pierce the toxic fog that blanketed the landscape far below, but it was more than enough light for Jadis to see the shadowed shape of Kastoria looming in the distance. Having never been to the Demon-corrupted city in the light of day, a part of Jadis dreaded what she would see.

A far larger part of her burned with the anticipation of facing her foes.

Of course, that was not why she was flying over Kastoria. She wasn’t there to fight, but to observe. Even if she were to spot Twisted Desire standing on the top of a tower, exposed and unprotected, she would not fly down to kill the evil cunt. Mostly because she wasn’t stupid enough to fall for such an obvious trap, but also because she had made a promise to her lovers not to engage with the enemy on her own. This mission was reconnaissance, nothing more.

Well, not entirely nothing more.

As the three of Jadis slowed down, she felt the constant pressure of moving faster than sound ease from her bodies. In a few moments, she reached a speed where she could speak with a raised voice, rather than having to shout over the deafening rush of wind. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” Severina shouted back, her voice echoing inside of her helmet. “I understand why Alex didn’t like moving that fast. I am used to high speeds and that was… different.”

“I’m sure it’ll be easier to handle once you can fly as fast yourself,” Jay said. “Are you ready to test the buzzer?”

“Yes,” Sev said, her volume dropping a little as her ears no doubt stopped ringing as much. “Testing now.”

Jay released her hold on her Seraphim, letting the justicar float in the air next to her. They were still a few miles away from Kastoria and there was no sign of anything in the sky with them, Demon or otherwise, but Jadis kept her two other bodies on alert while Severina worked. In the blonde’s hand was Sabina’s latest and greatest invention; the Tell-Me-Phone.

Jadis refused to call the device that horrible name. She hadn’t been able to tell Sabina why she was laughing after her excited announcement, since there were those present who didn’t know about Jadis’ reincarnation and there was no way to explain how Sabby had messed up the word “telephone” without revealing sensitive information. Fortunately, everyone else had agreed that the name was silly and nonsensical, and Sabina had not fought to keep it. The official name of the device was still on the drawing board, but for the moment, they were just calling it the buzzer.

The device looked superficially like an overly large bracelet with leather straps and a plain copper face on top of a bulky form. It wasn’t quite a bracer, since it wasn’t able to cover more than half of Severina’s forearm, but it was far wider than any bracelet Jadis had ever chosen to wear. The size wasn’t for fashion reasons, though. It was for necessity.

With a few quick motions, Sev removed her left gauntlet and metal bracer so she could strap the device to her forearm. Lifting the copper face up on a set of precisely crafted hinges, Severina revealed the delicate inner workings of the buzzer. Inside was an array of carefully stacked glass plates that had lines of runes drawn in melted eleria visible within. A single round moonstone sat in the center of the glass array, held in place by silver solder that kept the stone tight against the runes. Putting the index finger of her still-gauntleted right hand onto the pearlescent stone, Sev went still.

“My magic went through,” she said after a handful of seconds. “I don’t—there! I felt it!”

“Nice!” Jay grinned widely beneath her helm. “Does it feel weaker or different from before?”

“No, it feels the same to me,” Severina continued to hold her finger to the gem. “We are repeating the sign, exactly the same as before. I think Sabina may have just invented one of your sealing phones.”

“That’s cell phone,” Jay sighed. “And no, what she’s invented is a pager. Or a wireless telegraph, I guess.”

“Tel-graph?”

“Telegraph. It’s an old—ah, never mind that for now, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that it works!”

“Yes, that is true,” Sev said, and Jadis could hear the smile in her voice. “Now we just need her to make more than one.”

“And also, maybe a bit more portable,” Jay laughed as she stared at the cumbersome thing strapped to Severina’s arm.

While large and unwieldly, the buzzer was absolutely revolutionary. Based off of Jadis’ Perverse Spectation skill that she had never taken as well as the stories she had told of technology back on Earth, Sabina had invented a long-distance communication device that was powered by magic. The design was partially based on the Nephilim archive with influence coming from the metal orb that had contained a piece of Desire’s soul. Jadis wasn’t sure how Sabina had managed to put everything together into one coherent idea, but her genius lover had found a way.

As amazing as the enchanted device was, there were both limitations and drawbacks. First and foremost, the buzzer could not send any sensation but touch. To get the runes small and compact enough to fit in a reasonably portable form, Sabina had been forced to limit as much of the potential communicable sensation as possible. What came through was a sort of electric buzzing feeling, not dissimilar to the silent mode on her old cellphone, Jadis supposed, if not a little sharper. The user had to have direct skin-to-metal contact with the device, though just one point of contact was enough to make it work. So, if the user wore the bracelet on their arm, the user didn’t have to have their finger bare when they touched the moonstone, which was the method of activation.

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Since the buzzer could only communicate the buzzing feeling, the information that could be conveyed was limited. Sabina had whipped up a few patterns that could be quickly recognized, which was not too dissimilar to an S.O.S in Jadis’ opinion, but there was no comprehensive morse code as of yet. Aila was already working on the problem, so Jadis was certain that they would have a usable system soon, but it would take time to train everyone to understand a new language.

The buzzer also would not be able to communicate directly with other bracelets. The way it worked was by sending its signals to a central hub device, namely the large, inverted satellite dish object that Sabina had been working on inside of the Leviathan. Someone would have to receive the signals through the central hub, then pass them along to the intended recipient of the message.

It was awkward, cumbersome, and definitely not as fast as a text message, but none of that mattered. Sabina had invented telecommunications, and Jadis couldn’t be prouder.

And they were already putting the invention to use.

“I let them know we made it to Kastoria,” Sev said as put the buzzer away and got her bracer back on. “Shall we?”

“Let’s do this,” Jay nodded in determined agreement.

Together, they flew east, keeping high in the sky. In the short time that they had spent testing the buzzer, a break in the clouds had appeared, illuminating the mist-shrouded city of Kastoria with a glorious backlight. It would have been a beautiful sight, one to be enjoyed while holding hands with Severina perhaps, but the image was spoiled by the obvious signs of stinking corruption festering on the exposed stone walls.

Massive pustule-like growths decorated the walls and roofs of Kastoria. Each one was the size of a city bus, with black and purple tendrils radiating out from the tumorous center. A sickly green, semi-translucent sack was visible inside of each growth, and Jadis knew from experience that those sacks could be flung quite far, and with decent accuracy. Jadis counted at least a hundred of the growths as she and Sev slowly circled overhead, though more were possible as some of the lower areas of the city were heavily obscured by the miasma.

The city itself looked horribly damaged. Roofs were caved in, walls were tumbled, and sometimes whole buildings looked to have been crushed entirely. A few neighborhoods looked to have suffered from fire damage, but the majority of the buildings were made from stone and mortar, so fires couldn’t have spread easily. Unfortunately, while the building damage was severe, the outer walls of the city were intact, except for the guards towers that directly surrounded the eastern gate of the city. Those structures had collapsed, creating a mound of brick and stone that clogged the broken gate.

Some of the streets were also clogged with debris, though it seemed to Jadis that all of the largest thoroughfares were open and unobstructed. The reason for that was immediately clear, as one of the impenetrable Demon shells slowly moved down the main road towards the west wall of the city.

“You see that?” Dys called out as she pointed at the shell.

“Yes!” Severina shouted back, her arm stretched out in a slightly different direction. “Look there!”

Following the line of her arm, Jadis saw what Sev had spied. There was a large open square on the southern side of the city, directly north of the old Opaline Palace structure where Sybil had said she and other prisoners were being held. The half-constructed forms of two or three more shells were visible, and Jadis could see hundreds of dim figures moving across the shadowed structures. It was like watching the ant farm her class had cared for in third grade, though Jadis didn’t think there was much chance the Demons would be satisfied with an offering of sugar cubes.

By her count, there were at least five domes already constructed that had been moved to the western wall of the city, and probably three more nearing completion. Jadis wasn’t sure how long it took the Demons and cultists to finish each stone shell, but she wasn’t going to count on the process being slow.

“We need to find a way to disrupt all that,” Jay told Severina as the circled back around towards the direction they had come. “We can’t let them keep building unhindered!”

“Perhaps we can bring Tiernan and he can cast spells from high above,” Severina replied. “I do not believe Aila will have the range to strike safely.”

“Probably not,” Jay agreed. “We’ll talk options lat—oh! Look! They saw us!”

One of the large, squat buildings that had probably served as a city center in better days had a large, gapping hole in the southwestern wall. From that gap came dozens of winged monsters, some feathered, some not. Stymphalia, wyverns, and a few things Jadis had not ever seen before rose into the sky, aiming for Jadis and Sev. Among their number was a red-winged Seraphim whose bronze armor shone in the early morning light.

“That fucker,” Dys snarled as she pointed her axe at the possessed Seraphim, “is mine.”

“But not until later,” Jay amended before Severina could protest. “I’m sticking to my word. At least now we know that asshole is still alive.”

“We will deliver justice upon that ruined form,” Severina said, her tone holding no less anger than Dys. “Vitus deserves to have his body put to rest.”

“Alright, lets get out of here before we get tangled up with those shits.”

Without another word, the two increased their speed, quickly outpacing their distant pursuers as they made their way east, back towards the marching line. After a minute or two, they slowed to double check if they were being followed. Finding that the flying Demons had not flown far beyond Kastoria’s walls, they took a moment to pull out the buzzer and notify Sabina or whoever was manning the main hub device that they were safe and returning. This time, Sev only put her bare finger on the moonstone, not bothering to press the metal against her forearm. The buzzer still worked, and she received confirmation that their message had come through a few moments later.

“I didn’t see as many Demons inside of the city as I thought there would be,” Jay commented as Severina put the buzzer away. “But I guess they could be hiding inside of the buildings, or underground in tunnels.”

“Did you use your Succubus eyes to check for them?”

“I did,” Dys replied. “But it wasn’t much help. All the auras kind of blended together. And I can’t use it to see through solid objects anyway.”

“Were there any points that stood out to your vision?” Sev asked as she turned her head to look back towards the city.

“The place where they were building the domes was bright, but I couldn’t really make anything out clearly. I’d need to get a closer look, I think.”

“We will have our closer look soon enough,” the justicar said as she moved into Jay’s arms. “For now, let us return and let our allies know what we have seen.”

“You know,” Jay said as she firmly clasped Sev in her arms, “I wonder how this even works.”

“How what works?”

“Well, when I fly at my top speed, I’m breaking the sound barrier. That means I’m moving so fast that I am literally creating shockwaves in the air due to friction and resistance. How am I even able to breathe when I’m going that fast? How are you breathing when I take you with me? How does any of that even work?”

Severina was silent for a few seconds before gently patting Jay’s side.

“So long as it works, does it matter?”

“… right. Never mind then. Let’s go.”