“What do you think you’re doing?” I cried out in surprise.

Deedee had suddenly activated a skill I never would have expected her to use. It was a destructive spell that used herself to cause extreme damage. The worrisome thing about the self-destructive skill is that it actually was self-destructive. It was a Monster Tamer skill intended to be used on a monster as a last resort. Deedee was not a monster, but she was still going to use the ability on herself. There was no saying how much damage it would do.

It was nothing like the Final Blow. Final Blow used all of your life into a strike. It left you extremely weak, but you were still alive. Self-destruct was exploding your body to do massive damage, and that explosion was not contained. Furthermore, it’d do some damage to the soul as well. You could still be resurrected, but compared to other death spells like being crushed by a meteor, it’d be more damaging.

However, if she did do this, she’d give me a chance. If I leaned on Last Chance to survive it, I could wipe her out for good! As she launched self-destruct, I cast Protect and then summoned the silvthril sword.

“Final Blow!”

My hit would land just as her self-destruct triggered. It’d be a hair’s breadth of time to decide who was the winner. We’d both die, but only one of us would be able to be resurrected after this. As she saw the glowing sword in my hand, her eyes widened as she realized her mistake. She had thought I wouldn’t account for a kamikaze attack, but she was wrong!

“Stop!” A voice boomed out just as we were about to hit each other.

A suppressive force slammed down on us, and the wind blew between us, shoving us apart. The skills were seemingly interrupted, causing us both to experience backlashes as we were tossed away, spitting out blood. The backlashes were less destructive than had the skills landed, so I was able to get back to my feet. I immediately cast heal, planning to attack again. Deedee was no different. She jumped back up as well.

Stolen story; please report.

“No!” As I took a step forward, Lydia Carmine, and Miki suddenly jumped in my way.

The group grabbed onto me, hugging me tightly and keeping me from taking another step forward. As Deedee tried to do the same, Terra, Celeste, and Shao did the same to her. The fight between the two had seemingly stopped as quickly as it started and they raced to stop us. I glared at Deedee, and she glared back, but the girls wouldn’t let us move.

“Just stop fighting!” Lydia cried into my chest as she hugged me tightly.

“We don’t want it anymore!” Terra cried at Deedee.

I lowered my head, and so did Deedee. The girls looked on hopefully. Perhaps, we’d finally unite.

“I’ve changed my mind.” Deedee spoke out loud enough I could hear. “Take Deeksville. It won’t be so easy claiming Chalm though.”

“This was never going to be settled with one-on-one fights. There is a reason kingdoms make decisions with wars, not duals.”

The expressions on the girls’ faces dropped when they realized nothing changed.

“Then… bring your army! I’ll take you on. The fate of Chalm will be decided on the battlefield. I won’t even hide in the city. I’ll come out to meet you!” Deedee declared.

“Heh, your arrogance will be your downfall. Very well. Then I will tell you when. One week from now. In one week, we will meet outside of Chalm, and we will have our final confrontation. In the end, the fate of Chalm will be decided.”

“I see… then, we’re in agreement? This ends there? There will only be one Deek.”

“You’re mistaken.” I shook my head. “There is only one Deek.”

She grinned. “We’ll see.”

She raised her hand and created a portal before turning to the citizens of Deeksville. “Let him into the city and do as he says for now.”

She stepped through the portal, and the girls on her side had no choice but to leave. As Astria started joining them, Elaya frowned.

“You’re switching sides?” Elaya demanded.

“Does it matter which side I’m on? I’ll be on my daughter’s side from now on.” She looked at me and then bowed. “I’m sorry, Master.”

“Just go.” Her loyalty had already been cut off earlier during the battle.

When their portal closed, everything was quiet. This skirmish was over, but in one week, the true battle would begin.