Beelaques's irises flashed gold as she rose into the air. Her eyes flickered between Han and all his bees, reading every subtle movement they made and calculating even the movements they had yet to make.
'She's taking an air advantage while using queen's gaze?' It was a bit overkill on her part, which meant she wanted to finish things quickly.
'Which means she thinks I have a chance at winning this.' But this also raised an important question. 'What are the win conditions?'
While his surface mind thought of a solution, the lower levels were experimenting. He sent out subtle thoughts to test his new powers, probing the workings of the strange thought hijacker and calibrating the amount of 'will' he had to exert to instruct his bees.
Chul's corpse raised an arm at him.
'She's done planning.'
A fireball came tearing through the air.
Han thought to dodge to his left, but in the instant his body moved, Nolan appeared to block his path.
He circumvented the thought to his bees, turning the simple idea of 'dodge' into the will to not get hit.
One of the bees soared in front of him in response, and the fireball exploded against its exoskeleton, sending out a wave of sizzling air.
'Is Chul's fireball stronger?'
Nolan appeared behind the bee, grabbing its stinger with his bare hands. Blood spilt from his grasp; however, the puppet showed no reaction to the pain.
Han tried to will the bee to retreat; however, his orders were being ignored. It was as if they weren't even being sent at all.
'What's happening?'
Chul's corpse unleashed a volley of fireballs, each seemingly larger and brighter than the last. Waves of hot air echoed in the wane of each blast, burning the soft skin on Han's lips.
Han gritted his teeth.
At this rate, even the bee's exoskeleton wouldn't save it. He could send out his remaining bee, but that would leave him unprotected. And when it came to closing large distances in a short amount of time, Beelaques had the advantage.
The bee began to let out a gluttaral buzz, one that came from its abdomen instead of its wings. It was only a sound, but the idea it carried invaded Han's mind as a thought.
He knew it was screaming to be released from its summoning.
'Fuck. This isn't the time to be freezing.'
Han sent forth his remaining bee and followed in the cover of its shadow.
He would show Beelaques the double-edged sword her air advantage was. She could see the entire battlefield from above, but she had no eyes on the field itself.
He and his bee targeted Chul.
Whatever power-up Beelaques had given his fireballs made him a danger Han could not ignore.
'Condition 1 for winning. Destroy Chul,' Han thought. As much as it bothered him to defile his comrade's corpse like this, Chul was already dead. This thing was but a virus that used the husk of him.
He and his bee attacked like twin daggers.
When Chul teleported away from one strike, another was already changing course to hit him. Blade on blade, there was little room for Chul to move.
Even with Beelaques's reading their movements in slow motion, they began to land a few hits. He and the bee were one in mind, two arms of the same body.
If she wanted to keep him from breaking her most dangerous toy, she would have to send out Nolan and release his remaining bee.
This was check.
And so she responded.
Nolan released the remaining bee, teleporting to Chul's side.
'Good.'
Han tried to keep the same tempo, this time using the extra bee as well. However, even though he kept his attention on Chul alone, it proved difficult.
His attacks seemed less fluid; ordering two bees at once was not as easy. His mind was naturally attuned to controlling pairs; two hands, two legs, two arms, but trios were an alien concept.
And even then, every successful attack pattern he did manage to orchestrate was either dodged or redirected by some strange, unseen force.
On top of her queen's gaze, Beelaques now had enough pieces on the board to control the tempo.
He was forced to retreat. He needed space to re-centre and process the new information he had gathered.
He stood a few meters away from Beelaques's summons, under the twin shadows of his bees. Beelaques could infer where he was, but at the very least she could not read his body language to predict his next moves.
'I thought there was supposed to be a limit to how many times they can use their skills,' Han thought. 'I counted 15 fireballs, and at least 20 teleportations from each of them. Not to mention that their skills seemed slightly amped.'
Was Beelaques responsible, or was it...
Han smiled. 'How hadn't I noticed this sooner?'
His eyes were fixed on Jen. That puppet had remained an unmooved piece this entire exchange. Why would Beelaques handicap herself like that?
Was it because she had a hard time controlling more than two as well? Or was it that 'Jen's trait skill boosts the effects of others.'
'No, not just that. It might be boosting their strength and speed as well... I need more information.'
He looked up at his bees. The one that had succumbed to Chul's enhanced fireballs had cracks all over its obsidian carapace. It leaked golden blood, and each shiver of pain that travelled through its body was echoed in Han's head as a burning thought, draining him of energy and making him weaker.
'This limb needs to be cut off,' he thought. 'And I have just the perfect thing to trade it for.'
"How long will you hide?" Beelaques announced from her place in the sky. "Your cowardice does not warm the gaze of the Hive."
Han scoffed. "You've just been watching from the start of this exchange," he shouted back. "One would think that you aren't allowed to join the fight directly. Or maybe you're the coward."
Beelaques remained silent at his provocation. But even that fed him answers, widening the web of strategies he could successfully employ.
"A sovereign need not raise their hand to pass their will," she responded. "Your way of battle stains the order of the Hive."
An instant later, a fireball came hurling at him; this one larger than all the others before it, a flaming-blue orb the size of a wrecking ball.
'You've got to be kidding me.'