Present. The battle at the capital.

"Arkosh? No, my name is Low-Crap, you rude little shits!"

“HAHAHA! What a shitty name!” Albert couldn’t find anything better to say.

I, however, had a grim premonition. That ridiculous name had a familiar twist to it.

The room was carpeted with bleeding corpses, mutants, and humans alike. In a corner of the room, princess Tanya was curled up and not moving an inch. She seemed uninjured, thanks to her brother’s valiant efforts. Still, Lilliana rushed to her side to confirm her safety after healing Rich’s cheek.

“She’s only unconscious. She’s not wounded, though, so she’ll be fine,” Lilliana said calmly.

Lilliana, as expected, was accomplishing her duties remarkably.

I also had to do my job. It was to kill that motherfucker.

The wood furniture was still burning strong from the mana ray I discharged a minute earlier.

**Flight!**

A flaming desk left the ground and dashed swiftly at our enemy.

“You’re annoying!” he shouted, sweeping the mid-air projectile with his arm. It passed through the furniture, lifting a curtain of smoke and ashes.

Albert utilized this smokescreen to his advantage. He brought down his greatsword on Low-Crap’s right shoulder.

The momentum on the massive blade should have been able to cut straight through any obstacle. Yet, Albert’s greatsword was stopped in its tracks when it hit the bone, preventing it from inflicting a serious injury.

“Arkosh uses reinforcement magic!” notified Lilliana. “It’s going to take more than that to cut him down! However, this is the only magic he can use. This makes him powerless against ranged attacks. Lynch, that’s your cue!”

“That’s what I’ve been doing for a while now! But I’m almost out of furniture to throw at him! I guess indirect magic worked earlier, but I doubt he would get tricked by the same spell twice…”

“Then just create new ones, my little prodigy! Be creative!” Lilliana tried her best at pep talking.

“Very well! Now, witness the new addition to my arcane repertoire! Stonefist!”

A large fist emerged obliquely from the ground and punched forward. Low-Crap managed to block it by crossing his arms on his abdomen, but he was nonetheless pushed back, testifying for the cataclysmic strength of the new chapter of my grimoire.

“Wasn’t that the same spell you used last time? The stone pillar thing?” The princely ingrate I just risked my life to protect requited with a stab to the back of my pride.

I had to retaliate the mature way. With a calm explanation worthy of an adult.

“Hey, kid, Pillar, and Stonefist are fundamentally different. You see, Stonefist has the shape of a closed fist linked to a forearm, unlike Pillar which has a simple cylindrical shape. And by the way, the point was to surprise the opponent. As you can see, the spell landed, so he must have been surprised. Otherwise, he could have dodged it. Do not judge a book by its cover.”

Surely, a child wouldn’t be able to see through my flawed argumentation. And hopefully, he would learn something from the little moral I slipped in at the end. Because I wouldn’t.

This banter didn’t slow me down in the least.

**Flight!**

What flew wasn’t furniture, nor me, but Albert. I directly launched him in Low-Crap’s blind spot. Our enemy noticed it, of course, but when he tried to turn around, an arrow pierced the back of his knee and forced him to kneel momentarily.

Albert landed and raised his greatsword high.

**Acceleration! Titanic Might!**

I buffed Albert, and his blade struck down. Arkosh’s look-alike had great instincts and attempted to defend himself even though his assailant was behind him. He first tried to deflect the greatsword with his dagger, but he failed to do so, as some of his tendons had been cut by Albert’s previous strike. He couldn’t raise his arm above his shoulder. Then, he tried to dodge out of the way, but his knee didn’t answer him. An arrowhead was stuck to his rotula.

Thus, the greatsword struck with great momentum.

A satisfying crack resounded throughout the basement. The blade continued its descent and tore off Low-Crap’s arm.

Blood flew.

It was red.

It was a human, after all. It was hard to admit, but these atrocities had been committed by a fellow human.

“Lynch, come here. We need more juice.”

I turned around and noticed Lilliana kneeling beside Ana’s corpse. Both of her palms were on top of Anastacia’s chest. I could feel the incredible amount of mana Lilliana was pouring into my wife.

If she hadn’t given up, why would I?

I rushed to their side.

“If anyone in this world can save her, it's gotta be us, right?” I spoke.

“Let’s do what’s… never been done before.” I didn’t like Lilliana’s hesitation there. It felt like it had a meaning.

I put my right hand on Ana’s left-side ribs and the other on her sternum. Lilliana put both of hers on top of my left hand. This seemed like the optimal configuration.

I started the mana surge and cranked up the power progressively. My kid was just down below, in her belly, but I figured he or she would be fine. It was my kid, after all.

“How do you tie up someone that only has one arm?” Élise couldn’t read a room.

“YOU’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!” Looks like someone else couldn’t read a room. That psychopath just screamed his lungs out for seemingly no reason.

Albert intervened, “Come on, loser, just give up… But seriously, how do I tie up a guy with only one arm?”

I just ignored them and kept the mana surge going. I filled her cells with energy, but I still had to restrain myself. Otherwise, her organs would melt under the mana.

Now, she only needed one strong zap to restart her heart.

“CLEAR!” I shouted.

Rich, who was checking for vital signs, backed off. Lilliana too.

“No pulse, do it again!”

“CLEAR!”

“My troops will storm this place any minute now!” The delusional madman was still spouting his nonsense.

“Just kill him already, Albert! He’s pissing me off! CLEAR!” I couldn’t fathom why they were trying to take him as a prisoner. I forced another surge through her heart.

“I can bring her back to life! The madman was desperately clinging to his pathetic life.

“Yeah, now that really sounds like a guy desperate to live for one more minute!” spoke Albert. “I guess he was just bluffing about his troops.”

“Should I check it out, just in case?” offered Rich. “I’m not really helpful here anyway.”

He didn’t wait for an answer and just ran out the door.

“There’s more at stake than you could ever imagine! Just wait here and die, Lynch, for your people’s sake!”

“Albert, what the fuck are you doing? Kill him already! CLEAR!”

“Beheading a man is harder than you think! I want to cut it cleanly, so I need the right angle! But that worm keeps wiggling!”

“Just hack off his neck to shreds. Who cares? CLEAR!”

“What you killed earlier were mere illusions! Everything was arranged to set up your demise!”

“Bullshit!”

“Humm, about that,” started Élise. “When I was shooting them earlier, I couldn’t feel any life force out of them… I figured they were some sort of summons, but illusions would give off the same effect. The bats were real, though, I’m sure of that.”

“It’s true. They were brimming with mana, but they didn’t feel alive somehow,” supported Lilliana. “This battle is over anyway, so you might as well follow after Rich, Lynch.”

“I can’t leave Ana like this. I’m the only one that can save her.”

“How presumptuous. I’m the number one healer across the continent. You stay out of this, rookie, and I’ll save her. But before you go, just fill my mana pool.”

“Hmm, alright, Lilliana.”

I grabbed her hand and poured some mana into her.

“Ahh!” she moaned.

“Could you female in heat stop lewding this? It’s making this pure and ethical process uncomfortable for me. Anyway, I’m out. See you later. Teleport!”