Just like that, the unstoppable woman had died. She had left the safety of the ship for two seconds to get the vuls. Now, her vital signs had flat-lined. The system registered her death.

For a few, quiet moments, eX-0281 blinked at the screen. He almost expected the battle assistant to trigger an error and display the Disco Menace on the screen again.

After all the incredible feats that the Disco Menace had achieved, it seemed impossible that she could die to a squad of twenty sub-dragons with two mages. Yet a [Fireball] to the face could probably wipe the rest of her vitality off with that one spell.

"No," eX-0704 muttered in shock. "That's impossible." His friend had asked such a simple task of her: [Glitch] down, grab the vuls, [Glitch] back up.

Time seemed to suspend in that moment. eX-0281 tried to conceptualize what they would do without the Disco Menace. Despite all the criticism they gave her, she kept their mission on track and could pull them through the tough fights.

"We just… have to keep going." eX-0281 had regained enough strength to sit up thanks to Josie. They would need to get her back to the town where both Charlotte and Marcel awaited a healer.

It was what the Disco Menace would want: somebody to look after her brother. Knowing her, she would not want them to dwell on her death for another second.

"But our vuls…." eX-0704 said. "What about the Disco Menace? I just asked her to get the vuls. I didn't ask her to die!" Panic fell over him as he was left to contend with the glaring absence from their party.

The colors of reality refracted into some hard lines, almost like a digital space. A [Glitch] happened, and a woman appeared.

In unison, both eX-0704 and eX-0281 cheered, "The Disco Menace!"

Her helmet must have gotten sensors dislodged or smashed that resulted in simulating her death. The various signals in their own gear were able to assess a new estimate for her lifeforce.

Member: Victoria "Vickie" Carabotta [Human]

Vitality: 3%

Mana Reserves: 0 Mu

Without ceremony, she dumped three crying, mewling creatures across the ground.

The vuls scampered away from her, but eX-0704 collected every last one into his arms. "Y-You really saved them." He clutched all three of the fluffy kits against his chest, bowing his helmet down to them as if to snuggle them. "Thank you so much, Disco—I mean, Victoria! I-I thought you were dead." The way his voice broke, eX-0704 sounded like he was almost tearing up.

When eX-0281 turned his own glimmering eyes up to the unlikely hero of the baby vuls, he saw the Disco Menace in worse straits than before.

One arm folded over her injured side, struggling to stand from multiple bullet wounds. She clutched at her face with her other hand, contorted like a claw. There was a new injury since she had left.

Her disco fencing mask had shattered. Its dazzling pieces had pierced into the flesh of her face, including her eye on one side. Some licks of fire danced around the electronics. Unfazed, the Disco Menace tore the mask over her head and revealed some of the flames in her hair.

"I'm not dead. I'll just need a new helmet and a new eye once this is over." A cruel laugh prattled past her lips. She swatted at the fire in her hair on the damaged side of her face. "And a haircut plus a shit ton of conditioner." The Disco Menace would have danced while trying to snuff out the fire if she had the strength, but she ended up crumpling to the floor.

eX-0281 moved to help her, but three baby vuls were thrust into his arms.

It was eX-0704 who rushed to her side. He immediately held a chunk of ice in his claw from [Manifest Ice]. As it melted into water, the fire was put out. Half her head was left damp. "Victoria," he whined, "are you going to be alright? You can't die—!"

"Don't worry!" Josie said hastily. "I can heal her too." While she moved to tend to the Disco Menace, the pilot turned his attention to them.

"I hate to interrupt this touching moment, but we're under severe fire. The next [Fireball] is going to breach the engine and ignite the mana tank!"

"Thanks," the Disco Menace muttered to eX-0704 at her side. "Help me stand." Nearly all her weight leaned into his broader frame as she clambered up. Her shaky fingers dug something out of her pocket: a syringe filled with an eerie green fluid. The needle jabbed into her leg with a hard thrust, and she slammed the plunger down.

Member: Victoria "Vickie" Carabotta / "Disco Menace" [Human]

Vitality: 3%

Mana Reserves: 5,000 Mu

eX-0281 stared on in mortification. The mage sub-dragons were supposedly issued mana replenishers to use in cases of emergency. While the drug performed the miracle of its namesake, it also corrupted the ley system and ran the risk of getting hooked on the highly addictive substance. Mana replenishers were only used if death was the alternative.

This was indeed an emergency.

A wince twisted up the Disco Menace's face. Her eyelids failed to stay closed, and her good eye lolled to the back of her head. An obscene smirk lifted to her lips, but that soon fell away. A look of emptiness was cast over her intact eye. "Alright, everyone, huddle up."

eX-0281 with the three vuls in his arms limped over to eX-0704 and the Disco Menace. Likewise, Josie joined their circle and put an arm around each of the two sub-dragons.

"Sir," Josie said, reaching her hand out to the pilot, "come with us!"

Since one more [Fireball] would make this entire ship explode into an inferno, he got up and ran to them. Just in the knick of time, the pilot grasped her hand.

The [Glitch] carried everyone out of the hovercraft. Their transient form beamed through the layers of steel and metal that divided Grandesia from the outside world.

"Wait," eX-0281 gasped. A stinging mouthful of the mana-polluted air rushed down to his lungs. The impulse pet purchase could have been the worst mistake of his life. "Are the vuls going to be okay out here?"

Member: Vul 1

Member: Vul 2

Member: Vul 3

All were in perfect condition at the moment.

Vitality: 100%

"They're magical creatures. They're fine," the Disco Menace barked. "If not, they would end up like that."

The random pilot had doubled over. Both hands clenched around his tenuous throat. Though he tried to breathe, his wheezes could neither reach his lungs nor successfully leave his chest. Tipped over on one side, blood began to trail from the corner of his lip.

"No," Josie breathed in horror. "No! Oh no." The [Cure] spell illuminated across her palms so that she could prolong the man's life and, consequently, his suffering.

eX-0281 did not even need the numbers on screen to tell that the pilot was dying quicker than she could heal him.

"It doesn't matter. We don't have time for this!" The Disco Menace tore herself free from eX-0704's arms and fell back to the ground by the pilot and healer. On her hands and knees, she swatted at Josie's hands.

"How can you say his life doesn't matter?" Josie screamed. Softer in tone, she whispered down to the pilot whose head she held in her lap. "I'm sorry. I don't have enough mana to cast a [Purifier Net]."

Her chin lifted up; a new light entered Josie's eyes. "Victoria!" Desperately, she began to search the injured woman for more mana replenishers.

"Shove off!" The Disco Menace said while fighting her the entire time. "Unless you can raise the dead, it ain't gonna do anything. He's already dead."

The painful gags and wheezes had been replaced by an eerie solitude.

The bundles of fur squirmed around in eX-0281's arms. When he squeezed the vuls tighter, some soft yips lifted from the small bodies.

Josie closed her eyes for a long time and drew in a deep inhalation. "There's so much mana out here. If only mine could've regenerated faster...."

"Can you stop crying over the dead man and heal me?" The Disco Menace sat back on her heels, still in a lot of pain if her shaking shoulders were anything to go by. Her previously paralyzing look became all the more terrifying given the shredded eye.

The agitated tone of her voice rose up with all the fury of her near-death experience. "Immediately after I saved your worthless lives, you begged me to save some animals—literal animals! Did you guys have a fun time, arriving late to our rendezvous point to pick these vuls off the street? Vuls are worthless—a dime a dozen. You could find them in any back alley or rundown schoolyard around the city. Besides, they're just a few weeks old. They could've died and went right back out this world like they came! Nobody would care!"

The Disco Menace was crying. Glistening tears streamed down from her intact eye while blood dripped from the other. "Nobody would've cared…."

The green glow of Josie's [Cure] spell caught the dull sheen of her hair. The Disco Menace ducked her head while her shoulders continued to wrack profusely.

The constant current of tension and the outburst of emotions seemed to affect the vuls. A kit squirmed free around his elbow and bounded up to eX-0281's shoulder. An odd yowl came from its tipped-back head and sounded directly in his eardrum.

"Ugh, I know," eX-0281 whispered with a repilitian whine slipping into his speech. Just like when Charlotte had started crying, he had no idea what to do. It was made worse by the fact that it was the Disco Menace this time.

They could not have her, the commander of this mission, breaking down.

Thankfully, eX-0704 crouched at the Disco Menace's side once again. "I cared." He picked out his simple words with great care. "It meant a lot to me that you saved them. When it feels like nobody cares, it's extra important that we look out for each other."

That did nothing to staunch the Disco Menace's tears. Her cheeks were stained like crystals and rubies. Some hiccups broke between her words as she said, "But nobody would've cared if I died trying to save them!"

eX-0281 sat down a little ways away, petting the vuls while he created a little curtain with his wings. On occasion, he let his eyes dart over to observe the Disco Menace, Josie, and eX-0704.

If the Disco Menace wants us to treat her nicer, maybe she should be a bit nicer to all of us.

The solution to her dilemma was really that simple.

By this time, Josie had moved to the Disco Menace's side. Hands awash in the glow of a [Cure] spell, she also rubbed them along her back and shoulders. "You're speaking nonsense. Of course we care about you. I wouldn't be healing you right now if I didn't."

"I care about you too!" eX-0704 shouted stubbornly. "You might've been mean when we met, but you said you were going to apologize to me. And you just saved the vuls. That's the best apology I ever could've asked for!"

"Yeah," eX-0281 decided to chime in. "It was really amazing! You were like a hero."

"I'm not a hero, and I'm not invincible," the Disco Menace said between an odd hiccup. "I don't know what everyone expects from me!" Her face was flung into her hands and she sobbed harder.

eX-0281 withdrew back into his wings. The vuls could discern that her emotional torment had increased, and so too did his own discomfort.

I didn't mean to make her feel worse. I'm really not good at this type of thing.

The two vuls in his lap tried bounding up for attention. The third vul draped itself over his neck with the big, fluffy tail brushing against his helmet. "Yes. Hi. Everything's fine," he whispered softly to them.

Meanwhile, Josie finished healing the Disco Menace and consoling her at the same time.

"Sorry," she mumbled at last. "I'm just tired. It's been a long day... and night." The Disco Menace gave a final sniff and swiped at her tears.

The glass shards had been pushed out of the membrane of her eye and the lens was restored to its proper shape and coloration. The process would have looked quite painful if eX-0281 did not already know the anesthetic properties of a [Cure] spell for himself.

"I'm just not as strong as you all think. I make mistakes. I bleed. I even cry, apparently." Drawing in a deep breath, the Disco Menace gave a shaky laugh. "I wasn't even done yelling at you guys yet."

"Er, you really don't have to," eX-0704 said. "We should keep moving."

That was a truth if one were ever spoken. For the second time that night, the group had managed to escape from Grandesia. They just needed to cross the treacherous landscape one more time, and then they were home free.

The first appearance of the stalker behemoth plagued his thoughts and made eX-0281 proceed with dread.