Serenity ended the spell, and as Alan’s consciousness returned to reality, he fell over his back.

“You were right. I was lenient with you. I would have destroyed your mind if you had lied to me,” Serenity leaned forward to whisper in his ear. “After all, we are experts in creating truly nightmarish scenarios.”

She rose while maintaining a smirk. Her eyes shone silver and her hair reflected the moonlight.

“That nasty grin doesn’t fit your angelical persona,” he said crawling back, as he could feel the ground below him getting muddier.

“This mouse chase has prolonged for too long,” she said while half of Alan’s body sank. “See you on the other side, Alan War--”

“I failed,” Scarlett said to her through Party Chat. Serenity turned to his left as a burst of blue fire impacted her.

The incandescent flames made the shadow surrounding Alan retreat for a brief instant, leaving him buried in the ground.

“Master Alan!” Bella called as she pulled him out.

“Bella, did you do that?”

“No, Master. This is Master Amelia’s magic.”

“Amelia?” He looked at a distance where a figure suspended in the sky surrounded by blue fire observed them. “What?”

The figure descended in an instant and stretched out her hand to show Scarlett’s detached head.

The unharmed Serenity did not twitch an eyebrow at such a sight. “Scarlett,” she communicated with her privately. “Why didn't you warn me earlier?”

“She would not let--!” Scarlett’s inner voice disappeared at the same time as her head got consumed to ashes.

“Good luck regenerating from that,” Amelia said softly, making her best Ashley’s impression.

“Amelia?” Alan called through Party Chat. “Is that you?”

“Alan,” she whispered as she slowly hovered towards him, getting followed by a series of blue will-o’-wisps. “You’re safe,” she said faintly, stretching both hands to take him by the cheeks, pull him closer and kiss him on the lips. Alan could not feel the heat of the fire surrounding her, only the warmth of her mouth and delicate fingers. “I don’t know what I would have done if I'd come late. Maybe burn the entire Novus until finding you.”

“Amelia… You…”

“What is it?” she tilted her head to her left side. “Are you hurt? If that’s the case, I’ll make this bitch pay too.”

“You took my first kiss!”

She opened her eyes wide and her pale skin got slightly red. “I-I didn’t know that! And why did you say ‘took’?! You make it sound like I stole it from you!”

He looked deep into her eyes and spoke in a lower voice. “I liked it, though. Nice blue lipstick, by the way.”

“S-shut up, it’s part of my current form! And I won’t kiss you ever again, you heard me!”

Serenity’s giggling interrupted their moment. “Do you remember what I told you before, Alan Warden? It seems that in the case of my partner, her human side was her downfall.”

“Human side?” he muttered as Amelia got in front of him.

“Get back, Alan. I got this.”

“No problem,” Serenity continued while her shadow transported her away from them. “We have plenty of test subjects. We will perfectionate humanity eventually.”

From the sea of darkness sprouted human figures, and for a brief moment Alan thought they would be more doppelgangers. But they’re too unique for that.

“Alan, what’s the current status?” Amelia asked, returning to a calm tone of voice.

“Unus Town’s residents have been evacuated, Anastasia fell in battle, and Ashley is currently looking for Serenity’s real body.” He swallowed. “What you see can’t be harmed. That enemy in front of us is a fake.”

And yet, when she touched my forehead, it felt very real.

“Is that why she survived my blue flames?” Amelia asked, before taking a deep breath. “So everything is in Ashley’s hands, right? I’ll be the distraction from now on. Retreat, Alan, your work here is done.”

“But…” He glanced at the human figures strolling to them until recognizing a face among them. “Richard?”

“Who?” Amelia asked as Alan stepped forward.

“Richard?! Are you okay?!”

“We are a unity,” Richard muttered.

“What?”

“Isn’t that the guy that tried to steal your rusty sword?” Amelia asked, frowning while watching the other four approaching them. “The baker is there too,” she muttered, getting anxious. “They’re acting like being under her… Get back!” She pulled him from the collar of his shirt, just before Richard could stab him with a dagger. She then crafted a wall to stop their advance.

“Combined, we are one…” Richard said from the other side in an absent tone of voice.

“They’re not shadow clones!” Alan cried as Serenity could be heard laughing at a distance.

“That is right! But would it be a good idea to put them out of their misery?!”

“If you insist,” Amelia said, enlarging one of her will-o’-wisp, but Alan grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Don’t hurt them! Something’s wrong!”

“Why not? They’ll respawn anyway. I have seen this countless times, it’s a Dark Conjure, one of Marco’s favorites. Trust me, I’m doing them a favor.”

“Serenity wouldn’t have said that if it was that easy. Please!”

Amelia looked at the distance, where the entirety of the black shadow was concentrating around the enemy.

“Miss Pyromancer!” Serenity called. “Would you be able to protect him from me and my new brothers at the same time? If my Eye of the Sage is correct, you don’t have any mana left! How can you control those fire orbs then, I wonder? Could it be that you can’t produce new fire in that state?!”

Amelia clicked her teeth. “Bella, keep protecting this fool, please.”

“I will, Master Amelia.”

“I’m counting on you, Guild Master,” Amelia said, giving him a determined look.

He half-grinned. “If you said it like that, I can’t fail.”

Amelia flew upwards, taking the wall with her, crafting it back into being an orb of fire. As she took off, she looked like a bright blue star, while Serenity took the form of a giant, dark wolf.

“Master Alan!” Bella called, blocking another attempt of the brainwashed Richard. “We can’t stay here!”

Alan quickly glanced at her body. I didn’t notice that her fight against her doppelganger left her gravely injured. The other four citizens of Unus dashed towards them, but Alan easily dodged thanks to the still-active Fire Buff that Amelia’s clone had cast.

“Let’s go, Bella!”

“Oh, the plot thickens!” a feminine voice cried, making him grimace. Alan looked to a distant sink house, where Clara Dominguez was standing, a drone hovering by her side. “After losing another precious teammate, our hero’s spirit has not faltered, for the kiss of her beloved one has invigorated him! Now Amelia Laflamme, the strongest of his guild, has parted to finally defeat the evil witch! An epic fight, I bet... But we’re not focusing on that!” She grabbed the drone and pointed it to her face. “If what you really want is to watch another boring max-level battle, then switch channels, you bastard! There're thousands of streams of that already! But how many channels depict the struggles of the underdog? Have you, my dear audience, forgotten what being powerless used to be, back when--”

“What the… hell… are you doing?!”

Clara turned to Alan and pointed the drone in his direction. “Hey, here it is! Alan, a quick commentary for the audience, please?”

“Are you streaming?!”

“Yeah, why? We’ll talk about the revenue later, okay?”

“Why would you--?!” He shut his mouth, coming to a realization. Maybe recording this is not a bad idea after all. He glanced back at his pursuers just a few feet away from attacking him.

Alan jumped, carried Clara over his shoulder, and escaped, with Bella following him closely.