It was the next day, and we were feeling a little bit better. Orlean gave us a tour of her house base, as she told of how her apocalypse had been. We walked up to the front of her place, and the electric fence guarding it hummed and turned off upon her command, at least in part. We quickly squeezed into the gap created, and I got a clearer view of the place. The uniform spikes sticking out and countless markings along the walls indicating enchantments really sold a strong image. Thick wiring ran across the ground, and I felt a zap when I stepped near one of them. A look towards the roof revealed antenna and tower-like things that just sung with power, as if ready to bring forth the wrath of the heavens.

Orlean talked more, as she bragged all about setup, with all the enthusiasm of someone that doesn't realize that the people they were talking to barely had context for the hobbies they were very passionate about. Not that I wasn't impressed.

The subject returned to her experiences so far, and it made me really happy when I learned that the rest of my friends survived, with Darkvoid being the sole casualty that matters. I grew excited when I heard of how well they'd done for themselves, a fucking superhero and an overlord. Though the former did make me a little nervous, for it might not be too difficult to paint me as some sort of villain. As a lie or a misunderstanding, of course, for I can do no wrong.

I marveled at the inside of the house, once we finally entered. It looked nothing like what it once was, instead now fully converted into a workshop. There were plenty of metallic gear that looked to be enchanted, I could feel it in the magic, but others yet seemed to only be charred. Failed products, I presumed.

I pointed at them, and looked questioningly at Orlean. We spent an uncomfortable hour, or at least what felt like hours, with Orlean being purposely obtuse and misunderstanding my gestures.

"What was that? You want scritches?" She reached into my mane and scratched. I nearly purred from how good it actually feelt, but I quickly snapped my teeth in her direction.

No! I neighed. I made the mistake of looking to Flaze for help.

"I think he wants a different spot to be scritched." She said to Orlean with all the seriousness in the world. "Try..." She made a gesture of listening to my protesting neighs, nodding to herself as if I'd just revealed the secrets of the universe. "The belly. Try under the belly."

We fought in the close quarters of Orlean's home, and no amount of knocking over her things did anything to dissuade the woman.

Eventually though, she did give me the information that I asked for, once we were both bloody and on the ground.

[Blessed Heal].

"The enchantments... yeah. There's compatibility to consider, and you really have to tune it to someone. It could take a lot of training to even learn how to use one enchanted weapon. Not that I ever have that problem, since I create my own shit, and most of the time I keep it simple with abilities that are really just offshoots and/or scale ups of my own."

I thought about that, and then remembered the golems that could move on their own. I drew a little illustration of it on the floor using my hellfire. What I ended up with was something that could barely be understood as golems, showing me just how impressive Orlean's own enchantments actually are, despite how they look a lot more... free.

I suspect that I just don't have the Intelligence for it. And by that I mean the stat! I'm not... I'm not dumb.

"Slender man? You want to learn Slenderman? Aliens?" Orlean laughed, making fun of my drawing before finally answering the question. "Yeah... Golems. My enchantments, what they do actually is release lightning or electricity, have the atmospheric mana react to that resulting in more lightning-like mana, particularly those close to my own, and then they absorb it back into themselves. A rather ingenious idea, if I do say so myself. I even have a big generator further in the entire top floor here." I recalled the antenna's and the towers atop the building, and I could totally see them be part of some badass magical generator thing.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"That being said, what I'm making is basically a reactor of sorts." See? I was correct! It is a reactor! "The golems, the naturally occurring ones at least, are a different beast entirely. They just run off ambient mana. No conversion, no bells and whistles, nothing. It's wild."

Nerd. I laughed at her and she swatted my hand away.

"I can't make something like that. My enchantments are already tinged with an element, and it has my signature of sorts on them. Hell, I don't even know if that's what I want to do, those golems aren't exactly inspired. If nothing else, I can say for certain that what I'm doing right now works far better with my own abilities than anything else would, although a more generalized one could be easier to use for other people. Not to mention producing different effects than just lightning, or magnets in connection to metal. I've got a specific skill for that, actually." Orlean took a deep breath, and stood right up, right as rain after the healing I'd been flowing towards the both of us the entire time. "All in all! It's all tradeoffs and bullshit, and I think I've found my path. I'd still like to support you guys as I always did, make you stuff, but I think... I wish more to prioritize my own personal power."

She said the last part as if almost embarrassed. I stood up as well, and was weirded out for a moment by how I had to look at Orlean because she was so short now. Though her overall mass may not have changed, given how wide she had become.

I'll have it no other way. I can find my own power. I smiled and neighed at my friend in reassurance.

"What Jackal said." Flaze nodded sagely, knowing full well that I uttered not a single human word.

Orlean smiled wide. "Thanks guys! I love you all, and you know I'll always support you. That's what I was thinking, you know, at least at first, when I was just making weapons and improving the defenses here. I thought I'd just arm you, and I would've have had enough fun doing that. But then I got my second Class, I felt how strong my enchantments made me, and especially me." She fidgeted in place. "I just... You know that same burning desire that told you to be at the center of the spotlight and perform on stage?" She asked us, and both Flaze and I nodded. "I think... that was the first time I felt something similar for myself. I realized... that I want to take the center stage like you. And I'll rock it harder than any of you ever could!"

I found that to be perfectly understandable. Except for the last part.

Flaze scoffed. "I don't know about shining brighter than me, but definitely Jackal. Oh, he's so dim..." I pushed her lightly by the knee, which just caused the woman to laugh harder. We exchanged banter for a while longer, before Orlean clapped her hands twice, very loudly, to get our attention.

"Well then, on that note. I'll grab my LEVEL ONE HUNDRED evolutions right now. I got it that last fight when you... oh, what's your levels... Level Not-even-close, and Level Even-lower?" Orlean guffawed. It took a few minutes of I and Flaze rolling our eyes over and over until Orlean finally calmed down enough to continue. She took a deep breath and looked right at the both of us with a more serious expression. "In all seriousness, I'd just be over here evolving. And guys, don't rush. Don't feel pressured to chase after me. Don't get yourself killed. Because then you'd forever be lower than me! Gahahahaha!"

"Just go." Flaze pushed her good-naturedly, and I also gave some neighs and noises of my own.

Once Orlean was sat in the middle of the room, positioned as if in meditation, I entered into an uncharacteristic moment of quiet. Flaze too was the same, and much as we tried to brush it off earlier, I knew that Flaze was just as bothered by Orlean's words as I.

We were weak. Weaker than Orlean, and I bet weaker than Halbert too, as of now. Orlean spoke a little about Briella's abilities as well, a focus of illusions and singing. She'd always been very enthusiastic about the costumes and other aesthetic details of our performances, and she always, without fail, managed to worm a musical into every play she was a part of. It was good fun, and I can see that she's following her passions even well into the actual fucking apocalypse. Good for her.

That said, she probably won't leave us in the dust, combat-wise. She had just gotten her second Class last time Orlean saw her, after all, so that's good. Not that I wish for her to be weak, but I just don't want to be the weak link. It bothers me on a deep level, and much as Flaze had always been the very nice sort of person, she can be very competitive too, or at least her attitude was always one that sought to be the best she can be.

I think we've both just realized, that we weren't quite reaching for our potential, to the best of our abilities. Our potential that had just gotten a boost, perhaps to be actually near infinite, and yet we squander it in our complacence.

The answer is simple. Solo battles.

Orlean was definitely right to warn us in the end, but she did it herself, so she'd be a hypocrite to ask us to do otherwise!

I shared a look with Flaze, just as we spared a glance towards the evolving Orlean. The lights were bright, the magic was alight, and her power just rose ever higher as I was forced to face the gap that had formed between me and my friend, short of a month into the apocalypse.

I'll close that and surpass it.

I and Flaze nodded at each other, a fire burning in our eyes. Flames that will one day envelop the whole of the continent, and then the world!

With me in the lead, because I'll make sure to surpass her too.