Of the three combatants, Diana was the strongest — but her hands were tied. Facing two ordinary humans, she couldn't go for the kill. She fought awkwardly, pulling every strike, and the result wasn't pretty.
Trigon's projection had the most combat experience of the three and the most cunning mind. He repeatedly dismantled Diana's surprise attacks and even managed to land a punch on the Amazon warrior in return.
The Crimson Armor swung back and forth between them, helping one and then the other like a pendulum with no clear allegiance.
Diana used the momentum from Trigon's punch to break away from the fight. With a sweep of her hand, she channeled a burst of shimmering golden divine energy directly into the armor — a call to the girl inside. She was trying to reach Cassie.
In truth, Cassie had already been jolted awake by the pain long ago. Every leap, every attack the armor made felt like it was churning her body from the inside out. She was lucky to have a constitution far above that of an ordinary person, and the armor's interior spikes had been designed for tempering, not killing — they fed a portion of that energy back to the wearer after each movement. Without that, anyone who wasn't a steel-bodied ancient monk would have been dead already.
Drifting in and out of consciousness, Cassie watched the battle outside as if she were a detached observer. She saw her new friend, Diana — the big sister who'd only just entered her life — fighting a demon with spear and twin blades. It wasn't hard to figure out: this woman was Wonder Woman, the superhero. But Cassie had zero interest in asking for an autograph. All she felt was that this had to be a nightmare, and she desperately wanted to wake up.
Diana's divine energy reached her — warm and radiant, carrying within it a wealth of precious virtues. That energy of perseverance slowly drew Cassie back from the spectator's seat and into her own body.
"Cassie, can you hear me?"
"Cassie, it's Diana. I need your strength. Stay with me."
"Hold on! You are the master of this armor — command it. Make it obey you. You can do this."
Diana's voice started as a distant murmur, like it was carried on the wind from somewhere far away. Gradually it sharpened and became clear, and Cassie finally understood her situation.
"I can't. It won't listen to me." She wanted desperately to take control — even just one finger would have been enough — but her body was locked up like stone. Her nerves, bones, and muscles all felt like they belonged to someone else. Her commands couldn't reach them. She couldn't even speak aloud, only scream the words inside her own head.
She wanted to yell at Diana that she was just a normal girl — not a superhero, not someone with unbreakable willpower.
But Diana didn't seem to hear any of that. Her warm words kept coming, steady encouragement pouring into Cassie's ear, patient and gentle — like a sister, though more often it felt like a mother watching over a child.
"You can do this. Hold on. You're almost there. I believe in you."
Buoyed by Diana's relentless encouragement, Cassie summoned her courage again and again to wrestle control of her body — and failed again and again.
No cold words. No strange looks. Only the same unwavering support, over and over.
Something heavy settled in Cassie's chest. She didn't want to let down that kind of trust. She pushed. Failed. Pushed again. Failed again. Keep going. Don't stop. The girl who had always drifted through life never imagined she had this kind of conviction hiding inside her.
"—AH!"
A cry that rose from the depths of her soul tore out through her throat at last. The armor seemed to sense the profound shift in its wearer. It surrendered control and fell dormant, retreating into silence.
"Cassie, you did it!" The voice she recognized — but this time it wasn't a mental transmission. It was sound waves traveling through air, vibrating her eardrums, reaching her brain.
"I...?" She stared at the Crimson Armor covering her hands and arms, momentarily dazed.
"Come help me get Desai out. I know you can do it." Diana snapped her out of it.
Desai. That name felt like it belonged to a different century. It took her a long moment to remember — her boyfriend. Then, all at once, a flood of information poured into her mind. Cassie's eyes flickered, and she understood. The knowledge she'd just received was the armor's instruction manual — or rather, the Silent Armor's.
The luminescent red lasso carved a wide arc through the air and coiled around Trigon's projection in one swift motion.
The great demon's face twisted into a savage grin. His gaze drove straight through the armor, straight through flesh, and fixed itself directly on Cassie's soul. The sheer terror of those eyes — filled with boundless hatred and every shade of darkness — sent the psychological defenses she'd barely built collapsing in an instant.
Fortunately, the rookie hero-in-the-making wasn't facing the great demon alone. Diana had already seen this coming. She'd held back deliberately, just a moment — long enough to use the situation to temper the girl's character. Arrogance and impatience had no place here. The armor wasn't all-powerful. In the end, what mattered was what was inside you. A strong will was the only real weapon.
"Demon — look at me. Say your name!" Diana cracked her Lasso of Truth the instant Cassie's lasso was about to snap.
She looped it around Desai's body. Under the rules of the lasso, the demon could only speak the host's true name.
The result was inevitable. Trigon's true form could resist the Lasso of Truth without question — but this projection was nowhere near that level.
"Desai..." The moment the name passed its lips, the binding force of truth expelled Trigon's projection from the young man's body. Diana didn't spare a glance for the unconscious youth. She seized her lightning spear, drew back into a textbook throwing stance, and hurled it with everything she had at the projection — still half-unformed, barely beginning to solidify.
BOOM.
Trigon's projection shattered. The fragments dissolved into nothing, shadows fading until not a trace remained. Only then did Diana exhale.
"Desai!" Cassie could only call his name from a short distance away. She was afraid the spikes on her armor might cut him.
"He's just physically exhausted. Rest will fix it." Diana checked him over and gave a firm nod.
"The air here is awful. I left the Lawrence siblings not far from here. Let's move." Diana scooped up Desai, located the other two who had been unconscious this entire time, opened a sonic boom channel, and stepped back through to the spot they'd departed from earlier.
They slipped away from the tourists' line of sight and found their vehicles.
Diana pressed a gemstone — one sealed with a potent healing spell — against each of the three. Desai woke first. His gaze went straight to Cassie, still encased in her armor. He didn't need to see her face to know it was her. But he said nothing. He fixed her with one long, cold stare, got into his car alone, and drove away.
Cassie watched him go until the car vanished at the far end of the road. Then her emotions finally broke through.
She was gutted. She'd read exactly what was in that last look. Resentment — that the armor hadn't chosen him. Resentment that she'd gotten something she'd never earned. And more on top of that, stacked to the brim.
That much bitterness left no room for anything that had existed between them before. And Cassie couldn't honestly picture herself going back to a normal life looking like a walking suit of armor, anyway. If he wanted to leave, then let him leave.