That hat.

That blasted hat.

“She has it on whenever she visits Murkwell, and naturally she’d still be wearing it on her return.”

“So... how are we going to get it off?”

* * *

The spike flew through the air, and it slipped between the threads of knots and marbles, burying into Merry’s head from behind. The witch wobbled and fell forward, and in the last moment, her leg stepped forward to keep her upright. Blood bubbling and skin twisting, the piece of steel was pushed out and fell onto the ground.

“Cyg, what are you doing?” she asked, turning with a furrowed brow, surprised she was attacked as she got ready to leave.

A second spike shot forth, and as soon as it struck the hat’s veil, it vanished, the only trace of its existence being the slight rustling from the air being pushed.

* * *

“It even goes down to her chest. I can’t hit her head or her heart while she’s wearing it.” Striking anywhere else would be pointless too, given her regeneration abilities.

“Do you think you can sneak in an attack when we’re outside of the domain?”

“Fat chance. She’ll be on alert as soon as we leave.”

“What if you struck the hat first instead of aiming for her head?”

“That is an idea. I don’t see a string or strap or anything like that. But, she flies around at ridiculous speeds, and still it doesn’t come off...”

* * *

The spike flew through the air, piercing the upper part of the hat, and the hooked end caught and dragged it off her—but only just a little. Merry snapped to attention, and before the lowermost marbles could even rise above her neck, the garment snapped back onto the top of her head.

Practically snarling, Merry turned and said, “You...”

* * *

“Okay, what was that?”

“Her third Aspect, it must be.”

“What about making my attacks disappear? Her entire hat is cloaked in her mana.”

“My first thought would be to engrave runes on individual strands before bundling them together into strings, but...”

“That sounds absurd, yeah. You can’t even come close to that level of precision, right? I’ve never heard of that level of craftsmanship, and she doesn’t even have that kind of magic.”

“But what if she does?”

“...Then what about her flight?”

“She could’ve used the same trick I’ve done with the breastplate—layer it so none of the runes are exposed.”

Cyg rubbed his chin. “No, it can’t be. Her mana’s always there and consistent; she’s like a fountain. If she had runes on her, they would all be automatically triggered. Even the bombs we throw at her get activated.”

“What if... what if you did a triple swap? One angled downward to get close, and one sharply upward to hit her heart, going underneath the ‘veil’.”

* * *

The spike flew through the air, and before it landed, Cyg ballooned his mana into a sphere. Previously, he could get away with slight angle changes without much effort, but here he’d have to carve out a much larger space. In the heat of the moment, he misaligned the edges and the swap never materialized.

Clicking her tongue, Merry spun around and lashed out with her arm. It extended forth and Cyg dodged the first strike as he reached for his second try.

“Damn... it!” the thief grumbled.

Without the breastplate to aid him, Merry caught Cyg in a matter of seconds, a newly formed hand gripping his boot. More fingers branched out, shooting up into his calf where the cloth was thin enough to make decent enough contact. As one last bit of resistance, he steeled himself as she poured mana in, and all the muscle and bone from his foot to his knee were pulverized. Everything higher, however, was untouched, Merry failing to completely overwhelm him.

“Ha!” he said through the pain, “How’d you like that?”

Raising an eyebrow, Merry asked, “What are you on about?”

With her other hand, she reached out and crushed his chest.

* * *

Sarabat shook his head. “A weapon is useless. You’re not trained, and you don’t have the muscle for it. You can bring something heavier so you can use its weight to cleave through things easier, but you tell me that you’re too busy escaping this ‘monster’. In that case, dragging some heavy slab of steel would only make things worse.”

Cyg threw his arms in the air. “So, I’m screwed?”

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“No, you bring a shield! A small one. Put some runes on it so you can push away whatever’s trying to grab you, but make it weak enough so errant mana can’t activate it and manipulate your forearm. Then, you can focus your efforts on your magic attack. Simple, right?”

More to himself, he grumbled, “But still, I really wish I could still use that chestplate.”

Alicia spoke up. “What if I use it for you?” she said, “We can key it to me, and you can carry around my domain. We can communicate entirely through mana since it’s an extension of me and all.”

* * *

Merry’s limb chased after Cyg, and he reached into his buckler with his soul. He poked Alicia’s mana that surrounded the hidden gemstone and her domain bubbled in a half-dome before a blur of flesh collided. Cyg took the blow with a grunt and the arm bounced off, entirely deflected.

Wide-eyed, the witch said, “...Alicia? What’s going on here?” Her attention drifted as predictably she started scanning her forest for any trace of her apprentice, and she found three miniature dense domains inside—Alicia was hiding, and she’d have to crack each of them open one by one to get to her.

No matter, the witch thought. How could a little sapling like Cyg get the best of her?

Not bothering to hold back, Merry brought her arm into the air and split it. Like rainfall, flesh streamed down in hard lines, driving into the earth. His plate pushed him fast enough that he managed to escape the net Merry wove before it closed fully.

Then, having fully primed a shot, Cyg slung out a stick and swapped it. Merry didn’t even bother dodging the projectile as it would hit the marbles. Right before making contact, it split into two smaller parts connected by rope, slinging apart horizontally.

The center seemingly disappeared, but the ropes were still anchored in place, and it wrapped around her veil, managing to “squeeze” it a little before it was torn to shreds.

Cyg said, “What the...!?”

He then looked down and saw the end was inevitable. Below, Merry had tunneled through the ground, and a forest of bone bloomed.

* * *

“It’s not fast enough.”

“I’m trying! We have to factor in both our reaction times, you know. Plus, I have to read where you want me to push.”

Cyg tugged at his hair. “Forget landing a hit, I can’t survive five minutes against her. She’s faster than me, and she always fences me in. Not even a full burst from the plates can get me out in time,” he said, “I need to be able to teleport out. I need to be able to swap myself.”

Scowling, Alicia replied, “Are you thinking of swapping only your head or something? Because there’s no way I’ll be able to rebuild you from that.”

“No, I need to swap bigger things! But each time I try, the seals I make break really quickly.”

“What if you poured in more mana?”

“Theoretically I can push everything into a giant ball that would never deform, but I don’t have your reserves,” he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I have been trying my entire life, and I haven’t gotten a single bit closer. My mana diffuses too easily outside of my body when I spread it out like that.”

Tapping her knee, the apprentice said, “This is troubling...”

* * *

The spike curved upward and slammed into her chest, the subsequent explosion billowing her veil and covering her upper half in flame and smoke. For the first time, Merry fell onto her back, hacking at the fumes. The dust all vanished when the veil settled back down, like a broom sweeping away debris.

“You’re still conscious after that?!” Cyg shouted as he primed another shot.

Without giving a proper reply, Merry snarled and sent her arm into the ground. But, the thief never stopped moving. He circled and dodged, running out of breath as she refused to relent, and it all came to a close when her domain deformed. The mana around him thickened and collapsed down, repeating the move that downed him months ago.

It tried to squeeze his soul, but he held firm, the thief gasping as he repelled it. With his body pushed to the brink, Cyg tripped over his legs, and what followed after was a given.

* * *

“Have you thought about terrain?” asked Sarabat.

“The only cover I have are the trees. There’s a river and a cave, and the former slows me down while the latter doesn’t lead anywhere.”

“I think I get the picture; you gotta avoid open ground. I know you need to run, and running somewhere full of roots would only get you killed, but you need to separate yourself from your opponent as best you can,” he said, patting Cyg’s shoulder. “Listen here, it doesn’t matter that your weird fucked-up monster can pierce through trees. All that matters is that it slows it down more than it slows you. Smooth out the place before you bait it in.”

“I see...”

“You said it could sense it when you activate traps, but didn’t you just tell me you can swap things? You can send whatever nasty surprise you want at any angle around it. Make it regret it doesn’t have another head on its back!”

* * *

She saw his mana zip out, but he swapped and activated the bomb before she could crush it. Smoke covered the forest immediately, blocking everyone’s sight. But, through her domain and mana, Merry could still see where Cyg was going. Another bomb was released, and she shielded herself by crouching, and her hat swallowed most of the nails.

Cyg frowned as he watched her blow away the smokescreen with each wave of her hand. He stood still for a moment, trying to get a better look, when he saw a burst of mana from the Sea. A large stone shot out from where Merry was, hitting his head.

* * *

“What the fuck was that?!” Cyg recalled the rock that almost took out his legs months ago.

“...” Alicia played with a gemstone in her palm, spinning it around and around.

“Did she just dig into the ground and pick up a rock to throw at me? Her aim is insane.”

“Cyg?”

“I have to keep looking at her this entire time, too. How many things am I supposed to juggle?!”

“Hey, Cyg, look at this.”

He stopped pacing around. “What?”

She placed the gem on the ground and activated the domain to form a fist-sized sphere. “Can you try wrapping your mana around this?”

Crossing his arms, he did as she asked. It was simple enough, and there were no gaps in it. “Now what?”

Then, focusing, she grew the domain bit by bit. “Pour enough mana around to maintain it.”

His eyes narrowed, seeing where she was going with this. Holding a hollow sphere was difficult, but surrounding and pressing down on something was far easier. It grew and grew, and it was far more stable than anything he’d made of this size. He couldn’t have done this with regular objects because they wouldn’t repel his mana. Eventually, it reached the size of a human curled up into a ball. “No way.”

“Surface area grows slower than volume, so naturally, this would be more efficient. How many times do you think you can swap like this?” she asked.

“Maybe three, but even once might be enough!” he said, his breathing growing heavy as he realized what he was about to do. He crouched down with some hesitation. “Wait, I’m going to be swapping myself. What’s going to happen to me?”

Alicia replied, “If it’s any consolation, I’ll pray to the Gods for you.”

“Forget it, I don’t have a choice.” Dropping down, he surrounded himself in a bubble of his mana. He poured in enough that a seal formed for an instant, and he plunged in.

Reality warped, his senses disintegrated, and he was swallowed by noise. The Sea embraced him in an ice-cold chill, filling his reserves full like a cup being dropped into the ocean. Unlike at the end of each loop, there was nothing to guide him. Instead, it was as if there was only his will, tugging himself along a rope, and that the slightest lapse in attention would mean oblivion. Then, as fast as it disappeared, the forest welcomed back Cyg, and he fell onto the ground having exchanged places with her domain.

It felt like five seconds, but he knew it must’ve been an instant. He looked at himself, the gem, and then at Alicia. It worked, and he was still in one piece.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“It felt like I almost died,” he said, clutching his chest with numb fingers. “Let’s do that again.”