“She’s still not back yet,” I said.

Despite being given the easiest task of the three, Xara still hadn't gotten back yet. I was starting to get worried.

“Do you think something bad happened to her?” Roy asked.

Flynn put his hand to his chin.

“It’s possible. Even with most of the dangerous wildlife cleared out, there could still be some creatures that could’ve been overlooked.”

We sat in silence for a moment as we thought about what could've happened before I finally stood up.

“That’s it. I’m gonna go look for her.”

Not wanting to sit around and do nothing, I was about to walk back into the woods when someone grabbed my shoulder.

“Roy?”

Turning toward Roy, he gave me a gentle smile.

“You shouldn’t go searching for her alone. We’d be safer traveling together.”

Flynn stood up and walked behind Roy.

“Agreed. I feel concerned for our missing teammate as well, so I’m coming along too.”

“Flynn.”

I was glad to see Flynn was coming along, but Roy surprised me considering how poorly he had been acting just a few hours ago. Is this what being forced to work as a team does to people?

Well, whether that was the case or not didn’t matter, I was just glad to have some backup. Thus, we started walking toward the woods when a voice stopped us.

“Are you all insane!? The forest is dangerous this late at night,” Ella snapped.

“And that’s exactly why we’re going. Miss Femashito could be in danger,” stated Flynn.

“Er…”

After hearing that, Ella went silent. Contemplating her current position before coming to a decision.

“Geez! Then let’s go get her then!”

Clearly not wanting to be left alone here at the campsite, Ella decided to suck it up and join us.

With that, all four of us made our way into the forest in search of Xara.

“Xara! Where are you!?”

“Miss Femashito! Are you here!?”

As Flynn and I tried calling out to Xara, Roy, and Ella looked at our surroundings for any clues to her whereabouts. But sadly, we didn’t seem to be getting any results.

“MASTER!”

“Wah!”

I felt the instinctive reaction to cover my ears as Nia’s voice shot into my head.

Moving a bit away from the others, I pulled the grimoire off my belt.

“Okay, first, ow. That hurt my ears. And second, where’ve you been Nia? I haven’t heard from you since this trip started?”

“Sorry about that. Also, I can explain later. But right now I need to warn you that I sense an abnormally dangerous energy coming from nearby! It’s reeks of dark magic!”

“Huh? Dark magic?”

I looked around confused.

“Something wrong?”

Flynn glanced over at me, confused.

“Er…Well…”

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I scratched the back of my head with an awkward chuckle.

There was no way I'd be able to get these guy's to believe me if I simply told them some kind of dark magic stuff was at work right now.

The only way they'd trust something like that would be if they themselves, could notice it as well.

That’s when it happened.

In an instant, all of us tensed up as we felt a deadly aura come from nearby.

“You guys feel that?” asked Roy.

Flynn and I nodded.

“It’s creepy. Like something from a demon,” Ella stated.

Cautiously, I began walking in the direction this feeling was coming from.

“Wait, you’re actually gonna go check it out!?”

Roy couldn't believe what I was doing.

I turned to him and nodded.

“Xara might be in danger. And considering we haven’t had any luck finding her, this might be our best bet.”

Plus, it was just a gut feeling, but I figured Xara and this dark aura were connected somehow.

So with that, I began making my way towards the direction the eerie sensation was coming from.

The others were clearly more hesitant than me, but I guess that made sense. I’ve braved countless struggles in my life so facing danger was nothing new to me. Though I’d be lying if I wasn’t a bit scared.

But even so, if Xara needed help, I needed to push forward. So that’s exactly what I did.

As the creepy feeling grew stronger, I began to see something in the darkness of the night.

I couldn’t quite make it out, but there were a few noticeable features.

It had giant black wings, massive purple horns, sharp claws, and hair that went all the way down to its knees.

I was a bit concerned about how to approach it, but then I caught sight of what it was doing.

While it was hard to see, it appeared to be holding onto someone.

“Kill them all. Kill all humans.”

What was it muttering? Kill all humans?

Whatever the creature was, it began opening its claw and lifting it high into the sky.

“Wait! Is it about to-!?”

Acting immediately, I jumped into the air and shot a ball of wind at the creature.

It was sent flying back and I caught the person it was holding before landing on the ground.

“Hey. You okay?”

The person seemed taken aback for a moment before responding.

“Uh…Yeah. Thank you.”

It was then that I got a good look at the person’s face.

This was Kimichi Romaiyozu. The heroine the MC’s supposed to be hanging out with during this trip. What was she doing out in this area?

“Miss Romaiyozu! Are you okay!?”

At that moment, a familiar face came running over.

“Ah…What’re you doing here!?”

The MC was standing there in shock. But now wasn’t the time for that.

“Forget about me for now. Get her out of here. That monster could be back any second!”

Snapping out of his shock, the MC nodded his head.

“Um…Right!”

With that, Kimichi and the MC ran off into the forest.

As soon as they vanished, I heard a whooshing sound enter my ear. Sensing danger, I jumped forward just in time to dodge an attack from the monster. Looks like it recovered quicker than I’d anticipated.

It tried striking at me once more. This time managing to scratch my arm as I jumped out of the way.

This thing was fast. There wasn’t anything like this in the game was there!?

Casting wind magic onto my feet, I shot into the air in an attempt to get a better view of the monster. But just as I flew up-

“Wah!”

-it appeared behind me and grabbed hold of my hand. Upon doing so, it began squishing it with all its might.

It was clearly expecting me to scream in pain. However…

“Hi-yah!”

Without another thought, I used a blade of wind to chop off my metal hand and landed on the ground with a tumble.

Getting back onto my feet, I looked up at the monster.

“...Wait a minute.”

And then my eyes went wide.

“No way. What happened to you?”

As the moon shined down on her. I recognized this monster immediately. Despite having larger wings and bigger horns, as well as almost an entire change in design, I could easily see who she was by her purple eyes and hair.

“Xara…Why do you look like that?”

Rather than answering my question, Xara appeared in front of me and tried grabbing me by the neck.

Getting a scratch on my cheek, I dodged her and rolled to the side.

“Xara! Answer me!” I shouted before gritting my teeth.

Wait a second, why did I sound so mad while asking that? I was shocked sure. But I didn’t think I was angry.

It was then that I remembered something important.

Not too long ago, I asked Nia to give me all the information she had on succubi. Despite the knowledge being burned into my brain, it took me a second to remember it. That’s why I was mad. Not just at myself, but at Xara as well.

“Did you really fall for their words Xara?”

As I asked that, she charged at me once more and I dodged out of the way before sending her flying with another wind ball.

“That’s disappointing,” was all I could say as I stared at her.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I wanted to help Xara. But as it was right now, I’d need time to prepare. Time I didn’t have. Not while she was attacking me like this.

Xara appeared before me again and slammed her claw down in an attempt to dig into my chest. However, I managed to duck to the side. Causing her to grab my arm instead.

I heard a small crack come from said arm, but I didn’t care. I was starting to get really pissed off.

“Honestly. You really are a hopeless clinger after all," I said before yanking my slightly crushed arm away.

I know I shouldn’t be saying this, but it was the only way I could show my disappointment.

After all, I knew she was easy to win over in the game, but I didn’t know she was just as easily manipulated.”

“Kill them all! Kill all humans!” Xara screamed out.

“Would you just shut up!?”

Using all the strength I could muster, I sent Xara flying into some trees.

She recovered immediately and tried jumping at me again.

Dodging her over and over, I felt like I was beginning to run out of stamina.

“Damn. If this keeps up, I won’t even have the strength to fight back. Much less cast any useful spells,” I muttered in frustration.

Dodging a few more times, my speed was dwindling more and more.

Another moment later and-

“Ah.”

-I slipped. I didn’t even glance at the ground below me. If I had both hands, I could’ve shot out some wind magic to send myself away. But since my metal hand was gone, it was impossible for me to avoid falling.

Taking advantage of this, Xara rushed towards me with one claw extended.

This was really it. Everything up to this point led here. And I didn’t even get to finish my time at school. Aw well. I guess it was a good life.

Closing my eyes, I prepared myself for death.

CLANG!

Suddenly, the sound of metal echoed in my ears and I opened my eyes.

“Flynn!”

Standing there with a sword in his hand, Flynn tried his best to hold back Xara.

“Get out of the way Savoncho! I can only hold her for so long!”

“Uh…Right!”

Getting up onto my feet, I ran out of the way before Flynn had to jump back.

“Wait a second, where’d you get that sword!?”

I didn’t see it on him when we left.

“I’ll explain later. But first, we have to deal with her.”

Flynn looked at Xara, concerned.

“Tell me, do you know of a way to fix whatever happened to her?”

Thinking back on what Nia had told me before, I nodded.

“I do. However, I’ll need at least two minutes to prepare it.”

Flynn gripped his sword tightly.

“Considering her speed and strength, I could probably only hold her for around thirty seconds.”

That didn’t sound good.

“Then we’ll help too!”

Suddenly, Roy popped out wearing a set of gauntlets that looked similar to the ones Riko wore during our duel.

“Y-Yeah! I’m sure we can!”

Ella stood behind him. Hiding from view. She had a staff on hand.

“You need two minutes right? We can manage that. But just to be certain, you’re sure you can save her right?” Roy asked.

“Yeah. I know I can.”

Roy and the others seemed satisfied by that answer.

“In that case, let’s do this!”

With that, Roy and Flynn charged at Xara with Ella staying behind as she started casting spells.

With them keeping her distracted, I opened up my grimoire.

“Nia, do you have the spell that lets me enter someone's mind?”

“I do. However, it’s not an easy spell to teach. It should only take about a minute, but can you withstand the pain?”

That's right. Every time Nia imprinted a spell on my brain, it sent shockwaves through my whole body. Causing me to wither in pain until it was over. It wasn't a fun procedure. However...

“That doesn’t matter right now. Just give it to me.”

Nia was silent for a moment before letting out a sigh.

“Understood. ”

After she said that, pain shot throughout my body. Pain that was far worse than anything I had experienced up until this point. It was truly awful. Like my whole body was burning and all I could do was let it happen.

Trying my best to hold in the urge to scream, my blood felt like it was boiling.

But after a minute that felt like an hour, my body began to cool down.

“It’s complete. You can now use the spell known as Mind Entry.”

Stretching out my arm, I winced in pain, and my mind started telling me how to do the spell.

“Man. Doing this is gonna be a real pain,” I muttered. Thinking about what I had to do.

Turning towards the fight, I shouted out to the others.

“I’m ready guys! When I give the signal, protect me so I can get close!?”

Roy glanced over at me.

“You got it!”

As he said that, Flynn and Ella both nodded and I dug my feet into the ground as I started channeling wind magic inside them.

“Now!”

With that signal, I dashed forward.

Noticing me, Xara tried to attack only for Flynn to jump in her way to hold her back. But due to how hard he’d been fighting, Xara easily pushed him away and tried to attack me once more.

But before she could, Ella shot fireballs at her leaving Xara to focus her attention on dodging.

Once she had finished evading all the attacks, Xara tried going for me one last time only to be stopped by Roy who grabbed hold of her arms.

“She’s open! Get her!”

Taking the opening he’d given me, a small purple orb began forming in my hand.

“Haaaah!”

Thrusting my hand forward, I sent the orb into Xara’s head. As I did so, a light flash shot out all around us before finally disappearing.

And after another moment, Xara's eyes went blank and she collapsed to the ground.

Seeing what happened, the others let out sighs of relief.

“D-Did we do it?” Ella asked.

Taking in a deep breath, I shook my head.

“Not yet.”

After saying that, I began to feel sleepy.

“Huh? Savoncho?”

Flynn looked at me confused.

But I didn’t have any time to explain.

“I’ll…be back…in a few…”

Before I could finish speaking, I collapsed to the ground.

It was dark. I couldn’t see a thing.

“So this is it. Xara’s subconscious.”

I looked around in the darkness for any signs of Xara when the sound of someone crying entered my ear.

I followed the sound before eventually finding what I was looking for.

“So this was where you were.”

There was a person sitting on the ground in front of me.

They stopped crying upon hearing my voice and turned to look at me.

“Axel?”

“Yeah. Hey Xara.”

Getting down onto one knee, I looked her in the eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“...”

Xara went silent. Clearly hesitant to speak to me.

“Y…You were right.”

“Hm?

Xara’s hands clenched into fists.

“Today, I saw Riko with another girl. I never once thought I’d be the only person he’d want to hang around. But when I saw how happy he looked with that girl, it made my chest hurt. And I couldn't help but let the voices take over.”

Ah. So that’s what this was about. It was all thanks to that stupid event at this point in the game. What a pain.

With a sigh, I rubbed my eyes.

“Well, I can’t really help you there. Romance isn’t my forte.”

“Heh. Yeah. I guess you can’t.”

Standing up on her feet, Xara looked up into the darkness above.

“In the end, I gave in to the voices in my head. Not like it matters. I’m just a dumb succubus who can’t even accept another's happiness.”

She turned to me and gave me a sad smile.

“You were right. I really am nothing but a weak, clingy idiot who wants everything to go my way. I’m completely pathet-”

BONK!

I gave her a quick chop on the head.

“Ow!”

Xara rubbed her head.

“What was that for!?”

I rubbed my eyes.

“I’m sick of all your blathering. Y’know, I thought you had at least had a decent head on your shoulders. But the fact that you can accept this just shows how weak your mind is.”

“I…I guess you’re right.”

BONK!

I chopped her on the head again.

“Ow!”

“And that’s precisely the kind of negative attitude you need to drop already!”

“Huh!?”

“You probably didn’t understand, but what I meant to say when I said your mind’s weak isn’t that you can’t have your own feelings, I meant it as you need to learn and grow.”

“Learn...and grow?”

I nodded.

“Let me ask you. Did you ever have any dreams before meeting Riko?”

“Dreams?”

Xara thought to herself for a moment.

“Only one. That one day I could find someone who’d accept me as a person. And Riko fulfilled that dream.”

“Okay. Then that’s one person down. So why just stop there?”

“What?”

“You said you wanted to find someone who accepts you. Why does that dream have to be fulfilled by one person and one person alone? In case he doesn’t want to always be around you, then find someone else. Hell, find lots of people. Don’t let that one person take control of what your dream is forever.”

That's right. I may not be one to talk, but finding multiple people who like you is the key to enjoying your life. So there was no reason to put all your focus on a single person. That was why I hated Xara's route. Because she had the potential to meet a ton of people. And yet she tied herself down to Riko. It seriously pissed me the hell off and I wanted Xara to understand my feeling and thoughts. However, it seemed she completely misunderstood what I was trying to say. And that's entirely on me.

But that wasn't important right now. What was important was getting Xara out of this situation.

Getting onto my feet, I was about to start the escape plan, when I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.

“Kill them all. Kill all humans. They’re the monsters. Kill them all. Kill the humans.”

Fear entered Xara’s eyes.

“No…the voices.”

Xara covered her ears. Upon doing so, grey shadows began forming around her.

“Kill them all. Kill all humans.”

With a sigh, a blue orb began forming in my hand.

“Would you all just shut up!?”

Slamming the orb into the ground, I instantly formed a barrier of water around me and Xara.

The shadows vanished instantly. However, they still whispered to us outside.

With my footsteps echoing off the walls of the barrier, I walked over to Xara and put a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at my face.

“Xara. Don’t let Riko control your future. Don’t cling to a single person for salvation. Don’t think there isn’t anyone else like him. There are plenty of other people in this world who will accept you. This, I’m sure of.”

Xara’s eyes went wide in surprise as tears began falling down her face.

“Do you really think…that there’s someone else?”

I nodded.

“I’m positive. So shake off this pain and keep moving forward. If you can do that, I know you’ll be fine.

Taking in my words, Xara gave me a light chuckle before wrapping her arms around my neck. Hugging me tightly as tears continued falling down her face.

Without thinking, I began petting her on the head.

As I comforted her, the voices slowly dissipated and the room began growing brighter.

About half an hour later, Xara finally stopped crying and opened her eyes.

“Thank you, Axel. I needed to hear that.”

Giving her a smile, I let out a relaxed sigh.

It was finally over.

Just then, I felt my consciousness beginning to slip. It was time to return to the real world.

So with that, everything went dark and I felt myself leaving Xara’s mind.

All while she continued to cry. Never letting her go until my mind left her own.

Slowly opening my eyes, I felt something warm on my body.

Looking down, I saw I was covered by a blanket.

Figuring one of the others had put me here, I attempted to pull up the blanket to get more comfortable. That’s when I noticed it was a bit heavy. Also, was it just me, or was my shoulder feeling warmer than everything else?

Turning my head to figure out the cause, I was immediately caught off guard to find Xara lying there next to me. Staring into my eyes.

“Hey.”

“Er…Hey.”

Crap. This wasn’t what I was expecting to wake up to.

Looking out into the sky, I saw it was still dark out and the other three appeared to be sleeping in the two other huts I’d made.

Suddenly, I felt something grab onto me.

“Huh? Xara?”

She was holding me tightly for some reason.

“Thank you…thank you for saying all that to me.”

Not sure what else to do, I chuckled awkwardly.

“You sure you wanna hug me like this? You’re gonna be stuck getting a big whiff of my weird scent if you do.”

Xara was silent for a moment before giving me a smile.

“That’s fine. It may not be as sweet as Riko’s but…I don’t hate this scent.”

Saying that, she hugged me tighter.

“...I see.”

After that, I leaned back and closed my eyes. Trying to hide how red my face was getting.

Still, I didn’t mind all this. So, with a grin on my face, I closed my eyes and before long, I fell asleep.