Bren was tired, bruised, and bleeding. He wiped his face, looking around to see the razed and slashed buildings around him. Any visible adventurers were dead or in hiding. Good. This wasn’t something they could deal with. Sending them out was equivalent to sending them to their graves. He might be going to his own soon.

He’d taken his suit off and used it as a makeshift bandage for his bleeding arm, but he still couldn’t use the injured limb. He desperately wanted to use mana recovery, but that would just lead to his death. He would’ve used a potion, but he’d used it on an injured adventurer earlier on. He was starting to half regret that decision now. Obviously, saving lives was important, but it was possible that a lot more lives were going to be ended if he lost here.

“Where is that girl?” Bren muttered, clenching his dagger in his left hand.

There was a shift in the air behind him, forcing him to drop back down into the shadows. Thirteen appeared, slashing wildly, then disappeared once again. Thankfully, these monsters weren’t very intelligent. They didn’t learn. Bren could pull the same trick over and over, and they’d never learn.

He had to deal with at least one beast. The spider like one. He could beat that one. The thin one didn’t leave a shadow, and it didn’t leave a presence, so he couldn’t fight it. But the spider one was dying. It was close. He’d stabbed it twice now.

Surely, one more attack would do.

A skittering noise snapped him out of his thoughts. The chimera was roaming around, spraying acid everywhere, looking for him. The green liquid coming out of that abomination of a face made him want to hurl, but he held it in. His mana core was about two thirds empty. He hadn’t thought to bring mana potions. No, even then, what would it do? Let’s say, hypothetically, he managed to succeed in his task and drink a mana potion. Then what? How would he beat the other one?

No. Now wasn’t the time for hesitation. He slid through the shadows, making his way over to the monster. Half a dozen shadowy tendrils rose up from the ground as he chanted, restricting the beast’s movement. The chimera roared as a seventh tendril rose up from the ground, striking right through its stomach.

Using a large chunk of his mana, he made a large shadow jump, teleporting from his current location to the shadow of the chimera, then rose up from the ground, swinging with his dagger.

He missed.

The monster still somehow had enough strength to dodge his blow. It broke free from its shackles and roared, raising all eight appendages, ready to strike.

“Dammit!” Bren yelled. He didn’t have time to dodge or block.

He didn’t like it, but he had to do it. The attack passed through him harmlessly, his body shifting like mist as it turned into a shadow. He swiftly moved around the monster and turned back into flesh and blood, plunging his knife into the creature’s back.

The thing screeched and flailed around, but Bren held steady, wiggling the knife around to make sure to do as much damage as possible. Eventually, the blade broke off from the handle and remained in the creature’s body. Bren watched anxiously. If this didn’t do it, it was all over. That last spell had exhausted him of nearly all his mana.

The creature continued to flail around, but it seemed to be getting weaker. Bit by bit, it slowed down, until it finally fell over with one last cry. Bren didn’t hesitate and took his other knife out, slicing the creature’s head off its neck.

“One down,” he muttered, panting. He wiped his brow, looking forward to a shower and a fresh change of clothes.

Unfortunately for Bren, that wouldn’t be happening. The chimeras hadn’t learned to mask their killing intent just yet. He slipped into the shadows again just in time to avoid an attack, but was immediately forced back out as his drops of mana were finally exhausted. Powerless, he stood and watched, waiting for his death.

“...shit.”

~~~

“Albert! One more time!”

“What?”

Fate and Albert were still struggling with their own chimera. However, the roles here had been reversed. If their chimera had feelings, it’d probably be feeling pretty shitty at this moment. It’d been bashed, slashed and hit over and over. The only thing saving it was its stupid shells. It was surprising that the thing hadn’t given up at this point. Maybe it didn’t have the brainpower to do so.

“We need to time it right,” Fate panted. The will in his blade was getting weaker and weaker. At this point, his ability was only working at around a two percent capability.

It wasn’t enough to cut through the shells, but it would be enough to cleave through the body. Multiple souls or not, there was no way this thing could survive a dissection.

“Time it… you’re some kinda crazy, aren’t you?”

“We don’t have another option. That thing has multiple souls. It’s gonna keep regenerating until one of us dies.”

Albert clenched his axes in his fists as he stared at the chimera, seemingly considering Fate’s proposal. Finally, with a sigh, he nodded. “Fine. Let’s do it. On my mark.”

Fate closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. His blade began to glow as he put everything he had into it. His will. His desire to win. All of it. The blade wasn’t just a weapon. It was a means to the end of his goal.

He would win.

“Fate! Now!”

Albert charged forward, leaping at the chimera with both axes raised over his head. He turned them around and brought them down, full force, onto the chimera’s head. Before Albert even landed, Fate was moving. He leapt up, making up for the physical strength he didn’t have by pushing himself forward with wind magic, propelling himself through the air at incredible speeds.

Magic wasn’t a cure all. But it was still a tool. A powerful tool. How many times had he imagined himself as a magician as a child? How many times had he done things that only his imagination could do?

Imagination was the key to manipulating mana. The chants were just there to help with it.

A large gust of wind drove Fate forward, changing his direction midair, and he flew toward the chimera just as the shell on its head shatter. With a mighty cry, he brought his sword down, piercing through the broken armour and cleaving the beast in two. Unfortunately, the fat was just a bit too thick. Fate’s blade was sharpened by his ability, but this chimera was built for defense and raw strength. Fate pulled his blade out, panting, but the beast was still breathing.

“What the- look out!” Albert yelled, throwing himself toward Fate. He tackled the boy out of the way in time, then jumped, landing a considerable distance away.

The chimera threw itself at them like a giant bowling ball, decimating a row of trees along the way. It was like an unstoppable wrecking ball of destruction, even with its body nearly cut in two. Thankfully, it appeared that the attack had been a last ditch effort, because it stopped moving soon after.

“...is it dead?”

“There’s no way anything survives a wound like that,” Albert grunted. “Look at it.”

Fate did look at it, although it wasn’t a pretty sight. He turned to Albert in awe. The man’s strength was simply incredible. Fate easily understood why this man was the leader of the Adventurer’s Guild.

“Come on, let’s-”

The chimera wasn’t dead. With a rumble, it started getting back up, its claws reaching out for Albert.

“Look out-” Fate started, but someone else got to it first.

Danjo came flying out of nowhere, his gauntlets practically dragging him toward the chimera. Metal met flesh and Danjo squeezed, a shock of electricity stunning the chimera, causing it to fall down once more. Fate didn’t take any chances, and revved his blade up once more, cutting the head off.

“That’s insane,” he panted, wiping his blade on the grass. “...is it still alive?” He prodded the chimera to make sure, but it didn’t react.

Albert just stared with disgust. “That’s a rebellion against nature itself. Something like that shouldn’t exist.”

“No kidding.”

Everyone stared at the dead monster, tired.

“...let’s take a break.”

~~~

Bren could feel something stalking him. It was close.

Death.

He wasn’t sure why he wasn’t dead yet. He’d made his way to one of the houses that hadn’t been nearly as damaged, but he could still feel something watching him.

Waiting.

“This is it, huh…”

He let himself fall onto a sofa. There was no point in fighting it anymore. He just wanted to rest. He’d done enough, right? He could feel the presence getting closer. The mana around him was getting stronger. He closed his eyes.

“...I guess I’ll be going first, old friend.”

But death never came. Suddenly, the presence he was feeling got weaker. He opened his eyes, shooting up from his position of rest and ran to the window, looking out. Standing in the middle of all the rubble was a single small girl, her long white hair blowing in the wind.

“She- the girl came.” Bren let it all out in one breath, falling to his legs as the tension in his body melted away.

He wasn’t sure what a single B rank adventurer was going to do. The girl was strong for her age, but that didn’t put her at the same level as him. It wasn’t pride; it was just the facts. In a fight, she simply wouldn’t win. He was stronger.

But Prota wasn’t fighting against Bren. And she didn’t know anything about being weaker or stronger. She was fighting against her natural prey. A chimera with thirteen souls. She could feel it.

The chimera was invisible, but she could see the souls anyway, floating through the air. The monster was moving quickly, but it wasn’t impossible to track. Prota was currently at her peak. Before the battle even began, she’d been repeatedly casting mana recovery, and her core was still full. She’d drawn so much mana from the chimera that her staff was filled to the brim.

An infinite amount of mana for her fight with.

The chimera was moving like a cat stalking prey, but Prota remained unaffected. The monster didn’t know that she knew where it was, what it was doing. Its main advantage had been lost.

As Doctor had said, the thing was unpredictable. It wouldn’t automatically follow orders. The combination of thirteen souls was a bit too much for any flesh prison to handle, and so it acted sporadically.

This was better for Prota.

The chimera finally struck, leaping in from above, but with the element of surprise gone, the attack was pitifully slow. Prota raised a barrier of ice, and the attack was cut short. Thirteen briefly appeared, a look of shock on its face, before vanishing once more.

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Prota’s attacks weren’t hesitating anymore. She wasn’t fighting against another person. She was no longer second guessing herself. This was a beast, and she was fighting with an advantage here. Of course, this didn’t mean that she was just going to win. Her opponent was still incredibly strong. But her opponent didn’t know what Prota was.

It didn’t know how to deal with her.

It began attacking from all sorts of angles, but Prota’s reflexes were faster. She didn’t have to think about blocking each attack; her body did it for her, her core naturally expelling mana as if it were a separate entity from her. The thing wasn’t taking her seriously. It was toying with her as a cat toys with a mouse. She was surviving, but she wasn’t doing any damage, either.

The chimera was too slippery.

They were fighting a war of attrition when neither party was capable of running out of juice. A single mistake would determine the outcome of the battle. Suddenly, the monster backed off. It seemed to understand that Prota knew where it was. It started circling around, giving Prota time. That was fine.

All she needed was time.

“Blossom of Ice,” she whispered, the flower blooming in her hands. She let it down gently, the spell hovering just over the ground.

She repeated this process again. And again. Each spell drained about a quarter of her core, but all she needed to do was take more from her opponent. The energy consumption was great, but she simply cast mana recovery. The taxation on her mind was tiring, but she couldn’t afford to give up. Soon, the ground was covered in icy flowers, all floating prettily.

Apparently, the chimera was intelligent enough to know that the flowers were dangerous because it wasn’t stepping on any. That was unfortunate, but Prota hadn’t planned for that anyway.

She closed her eyes and focused. A Frozen Flame began to gather in her hands, slowly but clearly. The mana being gathered was incredible. A single Frozen Flame was enough to deplete her entire core, but once again, all she had to do was take more. Mana recovery was being continually recast, allowing her body to keep up with the strain of casting so many spells.

Prota wasn’t normally this strong, but a week of depression and inactivity had driven her to the brink of complete closure. Her body had been sitting still, resting and gaining energy. Now that she was recovered, her newfound vigour had nowhere to go but to the battle.

Her most powerful spell was halfway done when Thirteen reacted to it. The chimera wouldn’t let her finish the spell. It was too powerful. It had to stop it. It rushed forward, its souls speeding toward Prota. The spell wouldn’t be finished. Unfortunately for the chimera, Prota never had any intentions of finishing the spell in the first place. A barrier of ice surrounded her, keeping her safe from what would come next.

“Blossom.”

Prota’s hand reached out and closed as the Blossoms around the field exploded, the shards of ice flying into the air. Prota’s hand opened again, and the shards all hovered, ready for their next command.

They vibrated, tinkling against each other, causing a beautiful noise to ring out. It was like a choir of crystals.

A symphony of frost.

“Go.”

The hundreds of shards all flew directly at Thirteen, swirling around like a tornado. Bits of flesh began to fly everywhere, all frozen solid as the spell took place, chasing the chimera relentlessly. It tried to get to Prota, but she was safe in her thick ice cage. It couldn’t appear and attack without taking massive damage.

It needed all of its energy to survive. It fled, flying away, but the ice was unrelenting. Prota wasn’t pinpointing her attack based on a visual cue.

It was based on the location of the souls.

The toll of casting so many spells was starting to take effect, though. She’d depleted her mana core so many times, just to keep this spell up, that it would’ve never worked in a battle against another person. They simply wouldn’t have had the mana to provide. Ironically, she was only able to be this strong because her opponent was even stronger.

She had to finish things now.

She closed her eyes once more, her mind straining to keep up both her current spell and the Frozen Flame she was currently building. She wanted to collapse. She wanted to give into the allure of the unconscious, to fall down and close her eyes.

But she would never attain her victory if she did that.

The ice around her melted upon her command, and she burst out. It was all or nothing here. She let the shards of ice drop, leaving Thirteen alone. At the same time, she stood still, arms wide open, her spell hovering in front of her. She was vulnerable.

So was the chimera. It was all or nothing from both parties. One would live. The other would die.

But only one of them knew they could always come back.

The monster charged at Prota, driven by its instincts. There was no plan. No tricks. Just a straight charge, right at Prota. She didn’t waver. She stared the monster down, right into its souls. Her frozen flame floated over to her finger tips, where she’d formed a finger gun of sorts. She closed an eye and aimed at the chimera, the energy compressing into a tiny but incredibly powerful spell.

Victory would be hers. She needed to get back to John. Victory was winning the war, not the battle.

She wasn’t the queen. She was the pawn.

It didn’t matter what others told her. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, but she knew that victory wasn’t sitting around and doing nothing. Victory wasn’t moping around in her room, closing herself out. A queen was just as useless as a pawn if it sat still and did nothing.

Even though this was all technically for her, she’d be the queen who protected John until he made his way to the end of the board. She’d make her way back to him. After that… she didn’t know. Just like in the chess game, things were easier when John took over.

But John needed to be here for him to take over. So she had to make her way back to him.

Her mouth opened, her soft voice speaking but a single word.

“Bang.”

She fired her spell, the tiny ball of mana catching the chimera midair. The ice shattered as the blue flame exploded, creating a beautiful firework of sorts in the air. Thirteen’s flesh splattered everywhere. It had been turned brittle from the ice, causing the explosion of the fire to be even more potent.

The explosion knocked Prota flat on her back, but she didn’t bother to get back up. She just closed her eyes, letting sweet rest take over.

She’d won.

She wanted to sleep now. But she couldn’t. Her goal hadn’t been accomplished just yet. With a grunt, she forced herself to get up, casting mana recovery one more time. Her brain felt like spaghetti. She couldn’t process any thoughts. She didn’t have the means to think, to plan. Her body felt sore all over despite being physically fine. And even if her brain couldn’t think, her body knew what to do. The will to go to the dungeon was so deeply engrained into her that her body began to move without her needing to think.

“Hey! Wait!”

Bren rushed out, hobbling and broken. “You- are you going after them?”

Prota nodded.

“You can’t-”

Prota glared at him. She wasn’t going to listen to him, and it didn’t look like he could stop her.

“At least rest a bit. You need it after all that. I don’t know how you just did that, but surely you need a break!”

Bren was still in shock from the performance he’d just watched. That was a B class adventurer? Those were sixth circle spells at the very least. And what was with that level of mana? How had she casted so many spells? No, forget the mana. Her body should be in tatters after all that. How was she even standing?

“I’m going.” Prota was so exhausted that she didn’t even care that she was talking to someone other than John. This man would keep stalling her unless she did something about it.

“Wait. If you’re so insistent on going… one last thing.”

Prota turned back one last time.

“If you meet them… tell them- no, warn them. There’s still a spy.”

“...?”

“It’s timed too well. It’s only been a few hours since they left, and the village was immediately attacked? It’s not a coincidence, young girl.”

Bren fixed his tie and looked at her grimly.

“They’re walking into a trap. You have to warn them.”

Prota nodded.

With that, she turned and walked toward the dungeon. Her gait was unsteady, forcing her to use her staff to help her out, but she was making her way step by step. She didn’t turn back as she left the rubble and the bodies behind.

She wouldn’t let anyone take this from her. She would keep pushing forward, even if she didn’t know what forward was.

All that mattered was that she attained “victory.”

~~~

“Yes, yes, everything is going very well.”

Doctor was fiddling with a scalpel, tracing lines on his hand. He observed with interest as drops of blood formed and grew.

“It’s all coming together. The fires are burning. The chaos is growing.”

“That guy just told us that two of your chimera things made it to the village instead of one,” John said through bloodied lips.

Doctor had ended up hitting him more than once during their waiting period.

“No matter. It’s all going to end up fine.”

“Even if your chimeras lose?”

“I hope they do. It’ll be boring if they don’t!”

John just sighed. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?”

“You’re going to lose. I don’t understand how many times I have to tell you this.”

“You’re still delusional, aren’t you? That’s fine. Keep your false hope. It’ll just be all the better when I kill them.”

John laughed. “If you kill them, I’ll kill you myself.”

“You?” Doctor burst out laughing. “You’re the weakest of them all!”

John just grimaced. It was true. But his role wasn’t to be the victor here. He’d been removed from the [Plot] in a way that was against his will. [Infinity] had been forcefully disabled in order to prevent him from winning the fight. So the only thing he needed to do here was watch.

Here, he wasn’t the [Character] nor the [Writer]. He was just the [Reader]. Watching the scene unfold before him.

John shook his head. “You’re from Earth, right? You ever play chess?”

“Undefeated.”

“Then you know what happens when a pawn reaches the end of a board, right?”

“What, are you the pawn? Are you going to make a heroic play at the very last minute? That would fit the story you seem to believe this world is.”

“No, no. Nothing like that. For me to step in would mean something’s gone really wrong. But if something’s gone really wrong, then I’d be able to do something fun for the first time in a while, so I guess it’s not all that bad.”

Doctor tilted his head, curious. “Oh? And how would you step in?”

John shrugged as best as he could. “Take a guess, laughing boy.”

A tendril shot out from Doctor’s cloak and smashed him in the face.

“I do so want to turn you into a doll.”

“Do it.”

“I’ll break you soon enough. You’ll experience the joy of living inside a body controlled by something other than you. Your soul, trapped inside a prison of flesh, yelling to be let out but forced to be nothing more than a robot for the entertainment of others. Continually suffering in agony, watching as your body breaks itself apart while you hold no control over it.”

John puffed his cheeks up and spat at Doctor. He didn’t even get close, but the intent was clear.

“I’m already used to being controlled. You’ll have to try a little harder than that.”

Doctor grinned. “Very good, then. A gamble. You, betting your sanity, and me, betting my life. Personally, I think I’ll win.”

John shook his head. “You’re yapping way too much. You need to learn how to shut the fuck up.”

“You-”

“Like, really. Do you always talk this much? The [Protagonist] isn’t here yet. And don’t come complaining to me when the power of friendship beats you, because I’m sick of it too. But watch. Just you watch. You’ll lose. So sit down and wait for your death like a good little villain. Got it?”

Doctor seethed in rage, but there was nothing he could do. John was baiting him. He knew it. It was just that John said it so smoothly, so confidently, that there was a tiny bit of Doctor that believed it. He himself didn’t realize that the doubt was there, but it was.

The possibility of defeat was present.