Middle Management

**Middle Management** is the thirty-eighth episode of Reflection.

*Pincer attack! From three sides the forces of OPIA do battle with the source of this maelstrom, but not all is as it seems. Beyond the twisting swamp exists an intelligence that would happily see our protagonists erased.*

## Summary

Arg0s flashes back to the first time he ever encountered a serious amount of Burn, which was during a live stream of a game called "Girl in the Tower". He remembers encountering an NPC that dealt large levels of Burn to himself and viewers, and now he's seen that same NPC in the middle of the warped Beleth swamp. Back in the present, he and Cast continue forward and group up with Basil, Unit 04, Saru, and Sei to find and neutralize the final Pyromancer suit in the area. Just south of them, Willow, Cal, Mic, and Stein have found the second Pyromancer suit. Cal puts a segment of his Flame inside of it to overwrite its command to defend the mysterious threat at the center of the swamp. Meanwhile, Ace encounters Coll and his "Muscle Box". Coll reveals he came to Beleth to make sure Lugh stayed out of trouble. The two watch Seagazer and Muscle Box fight before deciding to work together to unravel the mess they're currently in. Arg0s' group encounters the final Pyromancer suit, and after some debating, eventually decide to have Cast inhabit it. With the entire warped swamp now surveyed and pacified, they get into position for a three-way pincer attack against whatever is hiding in the core of the swamp.

Ace and Coll attack first, engaging the "Swamp Knight" from Arg0s's game and managing to keep him occupied as Arg0s' team races in from the east and hits the Knight with the truck. The Knight summons a large number of clones and displays extremely powerful sword skills, including an ability that is fatally dangerous against entities that are distant in alignment from "humanity". He uses this ability to nearly completely destroy Basil's already unstable body, but she is reconstituted by Sei. The Knight corners Cal and badly wounds him. Meanwhile, deep beneath the swamp, Septi and Stephano reach the gate where Septi was barred access earlier. They find a massive, slug-like entity who sees Stephano and lets them pass. When Stephano asks what's behind the gate, the entity points to itself, and then to him. The pair finally arrives at their destination, finding a laboratory-like room containing a gigantic wound in reality with Astral Sea shining in from the other side. Back on the surface, the fight continues. The group is able to get the Swamp Knight away from Cal and neutralize most of his clones, but the battle continues to rage on. Eventually, Ace and Lyst manage to corner the Knight and knock off his mask. Ace then uses Sei's Fang sword to force a command onto him, which infuriates the Knight and causes reality to black out.

When Ace returns to awareness, he finds himself in an office room with Basil, Arg0s, Willow, 04, and Cal. After a brief moment of confusion, a robot dressed in business attire appears on the opposite side of the desk. He explains that he was the "Swamp Knight" in truth, and that he was masquerading as an ancient figure he respected. He reveals that his name is "Onboard Planned Obsolescence Unit for Judgement Unit 03", and that he's going to kill everybody in this room. The team is forced into yet another battle as the Planned Obsolescence Unit uses Burn-inducing attacks and manipulates the illusory space around him to deal damage. However, the battle is cut short when Basil jumps on him and consumes his essence, embedding his consciousness into her body, leaving an empty robotic shell behind. The illusion dissipates, but the warped swamp remains stable. The team decides to cut their losses and leave the warped swamp through an exit that did manage to open up. They return to Trailhead and spend a few hours attempting to tie up loose ends as Stein receives emergency medical treatment. However, before they can truly relax, a panicked Wisp runs into the city with a disintegrating arm. He barely has time to warn them before Eternity manifests at the entrance of the city. He removes the Flames of the civilians nearby, but Willow jumps into action and uses Pyromancy to keep them stable. Ace is quick to follow, using Seagazer to create a wall of Astral Sea and Sei's sword to stall Eternity with commands. Sei herself fled the area at the first sight of Eternity. Basil destroys the Planned Obsolescence Unit's original body to force him to comply as she grows to a large size and also rushes into battle. Ace uses his teleportation to drag Eternity away while he and Basil fight him, but he is able to easily escape their attacks and teleport back to Trailhead. Saru joins Willow and Ace in fighting him off. However, Eternity uses his own commanding ability to pacify Saru. He attempts to make Ace impale himself with Seagazer but resists it. He approaches Willow and thanks him for teaching him to fish earlier as the battle rages on. From a distant vantage point, Number Five watches the chaos unfold. His companion, who reveals herself to be Willow's dead body, asks him to load a missile, which she rides towards Trailhead.

## Characters

### Player Characters

* Ace Galatine
* Basilisk Id
* Willow Wisp
* Arg0s

### FLOW

* Ascalon
* Lugh
* Twice
* Lyst Solais
* Aura Pridwyn
* Melli Luxity
* Saru
* Charybdis
* Breach

### OPIA

* Mic
* Cast
* Isabeau

### Demonic Courts

* Stein
* Stephano
* Sei Miscellany

### GEIST

* Number Five
* G-Willow

### Exulansis

* Treble
* Septi

### Other

* Seagazer
* Collbrande
* Unit 04
* Grandpa Wisp
* Planned Obsolescence Unit 03
* Eternity