We finally arrived at the base of the tower. All along the way, some waifus were trying to stop us. We had fought against demons, sorcerers, high schoolers, etc. The last fight had been against some mermaids. Honestly, I felt sorry for them. Whoever thought to make mermaids fight in a burning city must not be right.

“Main-Kun, look! Otaku-Kun is coming here.” Trash-Chan pointed in the distance. Sure enough, Tanaka-San and Raphine were walking toward us. They were joined by a third, someone I recognized.

“Isn’t that…” I said even though I had seen her name appear on the Mirage Map. I was still surprised to see her in person.

“It’s that one plane waifu!” Trash-Chan exclaimed.

Beaufighter walked up with the other two to where we stood.

“Um, Tanaka-San, I see you made a friend along the way.”

“Oh, you’re that one trash waifu that we fought!” Beaufighter said in surprise.

“You guys know each other? Good, that makes introductions easy.” Tanaka-San said.

It seemed like Beaufighter was helping Tanaka-san and Raphine. We didn’t have much time to go back and forth about why she was assisting, so I nodded to them, and then I looked up at the tower.

“I’m sure he’s at the top,” I said.

“No problem, Main-Kun, we will get there in no time.” Trash-Chan charged into the building. It was a generic enough looking lobby. It consisted of a welcome desk, a path to a staircase, and elevator doors. The center had a small, round fountain. Trash-Chan ran up and pushed the button for the elevator.

“Trash-Sensei, I don’t think they would leave the elevators running. If he is at the top, we probably need to climb the stairs and fight a waifu on each floor,” Tanaka-san said.

The elevator door beeped, and the doors slid open. Trash-Chan leaned in to look around.

“It seems safe enough to me; let’s go!”

“That’s my Trash-Chan!” Raphine shouted and ran into the elevator after her.

The rest of us stepped into the elevator as well. Although, we did it more cautiously than the two waifus that entered before us.

“Juyo-San, don’t you think this is too easy?” Tanaka-San asked.

“Possibly, it might be a trap,” I said as the doors slid shut.

“Well, he honestly might not have been smart enough to do anything to the elevator,” Beaufighter said while shaking her head.

The elevator began to go up. We stood in silence for a moment as we realized how easy it was to the top of the tower.

“This has got to be a trap; he’s going to end up being on the second floor or something when we get up there,” Tanaka-san said.

“Perhaps there are teleporters scattered around the floors, and we have to find the one that leads to his room, Beaufighter said.

“Or the elevator will fall when we get to the top,” Trash-Chan said.

“Or maybe, it will stop and open on a different floor than we expected, and there will be a large group to attack us,” Raphine added.

I held back a comment of why Trash-Chan and Raphine were talking about it being a trap now when they walked in before without question.

Beaufighter sighed.

“Look, that guy is just not smart enough to think of that.”

“What about that Firestorm? She seemed capable,” I said.

“Hmm, but it didn’t seem like she was thrilled to be with him either. I could see her just letting something like this go,” Tanaka-san said.

“Speaking of that fire waifu, do any of you know how we are going to fight her? She seems like a lot of trouble,” Beaufighter said.

“You fought her?” I asked.

“Yes, sort of, she attacked me before she started to burn down everything in the arena. I ended up being hit and crashed into this city.”

The elevator dinged, and the door slid open. The room was wide open, with a high ceiling. The wall opposite the elevator door was made out of large, clear glass panes shaped together to resemble a glass mosaic. It covered the whole wall from the floor to the ceiling. One side of the room had a small kitchen, and the other side had a spiral staircase to some kind of loft area.

The guy was sitting comfortably in a lounge chair that sat in the middle of the room while a waifu rubbed his shoulders. Several other waifus were doing various things in the room. One was cleaning, and one was cooking something. It was all things to that extent.

Firestorm floated in the air high in the middle of the room, staring out of the glass window. The other waifu’s seemed to notice us and looked our way.

“Why did you stop the massa- ah. Ah! Firestorm! Intruders!” he sprang up from the chair and took a couple of steps away. We stepped out of the elevator into the room.

“Um, pardon the intrusion,” I said with a polite bow. Despite the mannerism, I meant it to be a slight taunt. The guy seemed to pick up on this but was too surprised to retort.

“Wha- What are you doing here? I had guards on every floor! Why was the elevator running? Firestorm!” Firestorm spun around in the air and looked down at all of us.

“Don’t blame me; you were the one responsible for laying out the tower’s defenses. I had nothing to do with them.”

The man bit his lip. Then he shook his head. He took a deep breath, stood up straight, and put his arms behind his back.

“Hahaha, you did well to come this far. I have to commend you for-“

“Main-Kun, are we just going to let him pretend like he wasn’t scared a moment ago?”

“Shh, Trash-Chan, let him have his sad villain moment.”

The man sighed.

“Whatever, just kill them, Firestorm,” he said softly.

Firestorm smiled. She did a shoulder stretch for each arm while floating midair, then shook her arms. She threw a fireball at our group. We all scattered to avoid the blow. The fireball smashed into the floor. The floor immediately caught fire and dissipated in a flash where the fireball hit. Only a scorch mark was left in the spot.

She began rapidly throwing more fireballs like that all over the room. Not only did our group have to run around to avoid them, but the guy and other waifus in the room began to try to avoid getting hit frantically.

“Firestorm, you’re going to hit us too!” the guy shouted.

She sighed and stopped throwing fireballs. The floor and walls were now covered in scorch marks.

“What do you want me to do then? I can’t exactly fight in such an enclosed space.”

The waifus did not wait for the man’s response. Beaufighter immediately took to the air above our heads and began firing a barrage of bullets at Firestorm. At the same time, Raphine shot a volley of arrows at her. Trash-Chan summoned a Trash Whip and grabbed the nearby lounge chair. She tugged it to spin the chair around her and threw it in Firestorm’s direction.

All the attacks: the bullets, the arrows, and the chair, harmlessly passed through Firestorm. The window behind her was immediately destroyed, leaving an opening that was large enough for Firestorm to pass through. She flew through the hole and began to hover outside the building.

“Firestorm, wait! Don’t leave me!” the guy yelled. The other waifu’s in the room began to run away. They ran down the stairs to the floor below us.

“Why don’t I just burn everyone up in that room!” she yelled from outside the window.

“No! You can’t do that! I’m in here!”

“Tch.”

Beaufighter flew out of the room after Firestorm. She crashed through the glass, shattering more of the window. Firestorm’s head followed Beaufighter as she flew in circles in the open area. She threw several fireballs at Beaufighter, which zipped right behind the plane waifu as she flew around the sky.

Beaufighter turned her guns onto Firestorm and began rattling off bullets, which just whizzed around and through the fire waifu. She chuckled as they had no effect. Firestorm took the form of a large fireball and flew in Beaufighter’s direction. Beaufighter flew out of the way as the ball of fire crashed into our building’s decorative window. The flames seemed to spread all over the window, then recollect themselves back into Firestorm’s form. She flew after Beaufighter, all while throwing fireballs at her.

Beaufighter gracefully dodged each blow as they crashed into the ground and buildings of the city. Each fireball made a small explosion as it collided. Beaufighter was on the run as she flew frantically across the sky, weaving in and out of buildings, with Firestorm chasing her.

“This isn’t good, Main-Kun, I don’t think she’ll be able to defeat Firestorm,” Trash-Chan said. She had a trash whip in her hands and was looking down at it. I imagine she was unsure of what she could even do given the situation.

I was aligned with that sort of thinking. As I watched the two waifus fly around the city, I was unsure what we could do to defeat Firestorm. I turned to the guy who was happily watching Firestorm chase Beaufighter around the city.

He wasn’t prepared as I broke out in a sprint to him. I threw out my fist at him as he just turned his head to look in my direction.

“Wha-“ was all he got out before I knocked him to the floor.

“If we take him down, he can order her to stop,” I said while cracking my knuckles.

“That might work,” Tanaka-san said to himself as he walked up next to me.

Raphine and Trash-Chan joined us, and we all looked down at the guy on the floor.

“Wait. Wait! Even if you beat me up, Firestorm wouldn’t stop. She’s not listening to my orders!” the man pleaded.

“It doesn’t look that way to me,” I said as I took a step closer to the guy.

“It’s true. She’s just helping me out because she was told to cause havoc. I’m not the mastermind here!” the man hid his face behind his arms.

“Main-Kun, I think he might be telling us the truth…”

“Unfortunately, I think your right, Trash-Sensei.”

I put my fists down. I had punched the guy, so I was satisfied, but it seemed like Firestorm would keep going on at this rate.

“Fine then, who is she?” I asked. If she wouldn’t stop by his command, maybe finding out who she was would help us find a weakness.

“That is something I can’t tell you,” he said smugly.

“Raphine,” Tanaka-san said. On queue, Raphine shot an arrow next to the guy. She drew another arrow back and pointed it at him.

“Hold on there a minute. I can’t tell you anything. I swore to keep her origin a secret when I-“ he suddenly shut his mouth and turned away.

Raphine shot another arrow next to him, but he didn’t flinch.

“It doesn’t seem like he plans to talk,” she said.

We looked out the window. Beaufighter was still on the run from Firestorm as a flurry of fireballs went flying around her. She weaved around in the sky, trying to avoid a blow.

I looked back at the guy who still turned away from us. He was staring off into space at the wall opposite the window. I looked at the wall; it was a plain wall that was painted a light blue. I kneeled next to the guy.

“What will it take for you to give up?” I asked. The guy didn’t say anything. I looked back to the others. Tanaka-San was whispering to Raphine, and her ears drooped on top of her head.

“Do you think that will work?” she asked in a hushed voice. Tanaka-San nodded. Raphine walked up to the man.

“It- It’s not like I want you to tell us anything! Baka!” she blurted out. What did Tanaka-san say to her? The man shuddered as she spoke but did turn to look at us. I turned back to look at Tanaka-San, who was giving an approving nod. Trash-Chan did a palm-fist tap and then walked over to the guy as well.

“Ara-Ara. Why don’t you tell us?” Trash-Chan said.

“Se- Senpai, notice me,” Raphine stuttered.

“Onii-chan, won’t you help us?” Trash-Chan said.

“Okay, I’ll tell you everything I know,” the guy gave in and turned in our direction. We all looked at him with sad expressions.

“Okay, how can we beat her,” Tanaka-san asked. The guy took a deep breath.

“I don’t know how to beat her. She never told me any weakness.”

Raphine looked down at the floor with tears in her eyes.

“What was the point of saying all that?” she said with a red face.

“What I do know is that she is a special waifu currently being researched at the lab.”

“Special how?” I asked.

“Hmm, they are looking into creating waifus without any source material. I guess that is the best way to describe it,” the guy said.

“Create a waifu without a source? Is that even possible?” Tanaka-san muttered to himself.

“Is that a big deal,” Raphine whispered to Trash-Chan.

“I’m not sure,” Trash-Chan whispered back.

“It would be a major discovery. We still don’t fully understand the process of creating a waifu, it was done mostly through trial and error, but there are still some mysteries involved. However, making waifu without a source… would mean some discovery has been made but not announced to the public.” Tanaka-San rambled.

“I don’t know much about the process. They said something about a waifu’s potential or something,” the man said as he tried to rack his brain of what he had been told.

Trash-Chan let out a sigh.

“Even if he tries to help us, he still is no help,” she said while shaking her head.

“Hold on, maybe he said something useful,” Tanaka-san said while rubbing his chin. “I’ve researched a little bit into Waifuology.”

It was no surprise that he read into the subject. It seemed like something up Tanaka-San’s alley.

“Way to go, Otaku-Kun,” Trash-Chan said with a thumbs up. Then she leaned over to me and whispered, “What’s Waifuology?”

“Science pertaining to waifus,” I whispered back.

“Main-Kun, I could guess that much.”

“Sorry. I don’t know too much. It’s studying things like how waifus are created and where tiers come from and discussion around those topics.”

“Oh, that seems right up his alley!”

We turned enthusiastically at Tanaka-San, who was still rubbing his chin. He was deeply engaged in thought. I turned to look back out the window. The situation had not changed as Beaufighter flew around desperately trying to avoid Firestorm. On occasion, she would quickly spin 360° in the air to fire off a couple of rounds at Firestorm before avoiding the next barrage of fireballs.

“Well,” Tanaka-san began to speak. I turned my attention back to him, “typically, the creation of a waifu has two components. The labs make the shell, and the spirit of the waifu enters it. What exactly the spirit of a waifu is… is still something that is debated in the field.”

“Oh, I see,” Trash-Chan said with a nod and an expression that conveyed she did not know what Tanaka-san was talking about. Raphine, on the other hand, did not try to hide her confusion and looked back and forth between us with a lost expression. I couldn’t blame them, I think I followed Tanaka-San, but this was not something I ever cared to think about before. I couldn’t claim I followed what he was saying as well.

Tanaka-San let out a disappointed sigh before continuing.

“One theory is that a waifu’s spirit is the collective understanding of that character. The fans thoughts of the waifu are what forms the spirit. This is known as the Fan Theory, and that is where the waifu’s base tiers are believed to be influenced from. Another theory is that the waifu’s spirit is the projection of the creator or creators. This theory is an offshoot of the Fan Theory, where only the spirit comes from the authors understanding the characters. This theory is the Author Theory. Both theories follow a similar line of logic that the people’s thoughts influence the waifu, and they debate whose thoughts do it.”

Tanaka-San stopped and looked at us. Trash-Chan and I nodded like we followed. Raphine just kept looking back and forth at us. He continued, “Right now, the Fan and Author theories are the two most popular and debated, but what is known is that waifus adapt even after their spirits enter the shells. An author publishing a new chapter can give a waifu a new ability in the wars. Similarly, a big enough meme can give a waifu a new ability as well. We know for sure that a waifu’s spirit is influenced. But, what if the waifu was not from a source. So, there would be no fans and no author. That would throw both theories into question.” Tanaka-San began to rub his chin again.

“Waifuology seems very wordy, Main-Kun.”

“I think it’s as much a philosophy as it is a science,” I said.

“What is he talking about!” Raphine finally yelled out.

She wasn’t given an opportunity to get an answer. Just then, Beaufighter came crashing through a portion of the window that had not been previously shattered. She flew across the room with shards of glass raining in every direction around her before she smashed into the wall. She laid on the floor with swirls in her eyes.

“Go get them, mates,” she muttered to no one.

We turned back to the window. Firestorm gracefully floated in through the hole made by Beaufighter and landed on the floor. She looked at us. Then she looked at the guy she had come with. Firestorm shook her said with a twisted smile,

“Oh, I guess it was pointless to expect much from him anyway.”

She turned to us, and the flames around her seemed to grow in size.

Raphine drew her bow and pointed it at Firestorm. Firestorm chuckled as she began to walk in our direction slowly. Trash-Chan snapped her trash whip at Firestorm, but it quickly burned up before it even reached her. Firestorm chuckled. Raphine let her arrow go. It flew at Firestorm and exploded in a burst of flames.

Firestorm took a step back from the flames.