"I'll end this with one spell," Walter boasted.

Walter nearly killed himself, and Elin, because of video game logic.

The Duke of the Rotting Garden initiated a boss fight. Walter had no reason not to obliterate him. He flipped through the [HUD] menus, now renamed to [Grimoire], and scrolled to the bottom of the list of spells.

Sorcery Chronicle II's most powerful spell was [Nuke]. He froze at the tooltip, 'Annihilates everything within a certain radius.' [Solar's] tooltip denoted, 'Incinerates everything at a chosen area.' Every scanned tooltip read something similar to total destruction. 'Pummel all targets with meteorites.' 'Transport the area to the void of space.' 'Crush everything in a gravity well.'

"Walter?" Elin raised her sword apprehensively. "Any time now."

"There seems to be one tiny little snag," Walter said, "If I cast any big spells, I'll definitely kill the nosferatu, but we'll die, too."

The Duke of the Rotting Garden grinned, "How do you like my choice of venue?"

"Disgustingly unfair." Walter shook his head. If casting magic was dangerous, incanting in a tiny room increased the challenge, because Elin would be risked as well.

The Duke is standing there, enjoying our fear. Well, what did I expect? He might be polite, but he's still a monster. What can we do? Elin leveled up again, and she's strong, but Kieran was a boss fight intended for a party of four.

Is it possible I can cast healing magic? That would simplify things.

Walter checked the [Grimoire] for the Sorcery Chronicle II spell, [Revive], and frowned. The official tooltip read as 'This spell brings a fallen comrade back to life,' but it possessed a hidden mechanic. This magic instantly defeated a targeted undead.

The option was greyed out, and selecting it did nothing.

Right, of course not. Healing magic in this world is complex, and using simple spells requires a nurse's level of understanding or better. I'd have to be a surgeon to even attempt [Revive]. Lore-wise, Menvra's magic was assisted by a patron deity, and I don't have one. They're more like power-abusive moderators, anyway, and asking for their help might make things worse.

No, I have the power of Aratron and look at what good it is. I need to be smarter than throwing giant balls of fire, or Elin will get hurt.

"I'm growing impatient. Shall I start?" the Duke said. He walked forward, one step at a time, with a fixed smile on his face.

Can I [Teleport] us out of here? No, my mind-pointer can't go through the wall, so I can't direct it outside the room.

"Walter," Elin said, "I love you."

She used the tone of voice a woman would use watching a lover on a deathbed, kind and reserved, holding back her fear of separation.

He took her hand, and she smiled and nodded.

Right. We have no options. Even middle-level magic would kill both of us, and lower magic wouldn't get him before he got us. Elin gained some bonus HP, but the disparity is too vast. If we have to die, then let's take him down, and destroy the entire Necropolis, too, while we're at it--

--Wait. Why didn't I think of that sooner? This isn't a game!

Walter cleared his throat nervously. "Elin, please don't be mad at me, but I have to use you as a human shield. [Elemental Resistance: Fire]!"

She blinked. "What?" After lifting her hand, she could see a faint orange aura around her body.

Walter snatched her by the shoulders, yanked her between him and the nearby wall, and screamed, "[Fireball]!"

"Walter! Have you gone mad!" Elin wanted to yell, but her voice was blocked by the nearby explosion.

The fourth ability Elin manifested was [Sense Danger]. With it, she could determine the approximate location of evil intent and the power level of those around her. Of the five abilities a paladin demonstrated, Elin felt this one was the most useful. What good is being a fighter if you can't find opponents or judge them? Understanding is a must.

[Spirtual Mount] sprang forth at her desperation to be at Walter's side. [Turn Undead] and [Holy Sword] unleashed when an obstacle appeared to stop her.

Walter personally encouraged her [Sense Danger], and not the proximity of the nosferatu. She wanted to know what hurt him so badly that he believed he was a [Monster].

The mirror's illusion, the lie the Duke told, almost broke her heart.

Walter viewed his computer to gratify himself and imposed what he watched onto her. But, the image contradicted everything she learned about him. He suffered weeks of abstaining so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable and tolerated her impatience when it got rough. How could a man wear armor and risk death, because he wanted to follow a girl, waste his life in a world of peace? He was smart enough to do anything he wanted.

The mirror's reality, the truth the Duke missed, absolutely broke her heart.

He was alone. There were no paintings of a family on the walls, no letters of correspondence on his desk. He owned next to nothing, no heirlooms visible, except the computer he spoke passionately about, and she got the impression he earned that for himself. The only 'people' in his life were self-inflicted illusions.

The Duke of the Rotting Garden exploited a flaw in Walter's nature, one that Elin dismissed as annoying, his overthinking, and she hated it.

She regretted saying, 'Just get it over with,' because he must have felt incredibly lonely at her indifference. Elin demanded Walter undo the sacrifices he made to protect her to that point, so he must have felt like a man in an image. Her careless obedience, overwhelmed by the curse, certainly made it worse.

He said, 'This has to be for both of us, or it won't mean anything.' Why did I get so mad at that, then? I wanted him to do it, but I couldn't understand how much he was holding back because I was shouldering his lust too.

She knew saying, 'You're not alone,' wouldn't work, because he'd overthink it. So, she told him in an obvious way and let him conclude the point. His mana trickled forth, and, when he trusted her statement, then gushed.

He wants to be useful, to be needed, Elin thought, like me.

Anyone could tell, by standing near him, he overflowed with power. [Scan] wasn't necessary to realize it, his presence felt awe-inducing. Being near him was like watching a blazing forest fire, or a tornado, or a crashing tsunami. To call him a force of nature is an understatement. At any given moment, Walter could order reality to break its own infallible laws. It would obediently and eagerly do so.

Yet, when Walter seemed a moment away from acting, he continuously hesitated. No, he's not an archmage, he's still Walter, and he's trying to balance the primordial forces of nature. She might've confused him for a child trying not to hurt her with an oversized enchanted sword.

His grasp of magic is still immature, so all he can manage is unmitigated destruction. If he acts, then we die, but we'll die anyway if he doesn't.

"Walter," she said, "I love you."

He took her hand, and she squeezed it as tightly as she could. Her glove creaked, and she struggled not to shiver. She could sense him unbridle himself of his fear.

There's no escaping it, Walter. I prefer to die by your hand and not a monster's, so let's do something amazing.

"Elin, please don't be mad at me, but I have to use you as a human shield. [Elemental Resistance: Fire]!"

"What?"

For a moment, Elin believed she burned. The next, she realized she was unharmed. Walter's magic, reigned in as it was, managed to explode an exit in the stone walls of the tower.

She hooked him under the arms and jumped through the opening. Even as she landed flat on the ground, she grinned.

This moron. He keeps overthinking things.