SCENE: NAOFUMI and MELTY are riding on top of FILO, slowly making their way into the square. NAOFUMI makes air shields appear out of thin air, giving FILO platforms to stay above the sea of greenery below.
NAOFUMI throws a sorrowful glance back at the entrance into the square, almost misplacing an air shield due to his distraction. MELTY snaps at him.
MELTY: Naofumi, focus!
NAOFUMI: Sorry. It’s just… What are we going to do without Fredalia?
NAOFUMI’s shield starts to emit black smoke, quickly obscuring NAOFUMI.
NAOFUMI: Wait, no! Not now!
NAOFUMI loses consciousness as the black smoke recedes, making FILO almost miss a jump and drop them down to their deaths. She manages to revert their momentum with wind magic, and barely brings them back to the last air shield they were standing on. MELTY hops off her back and shakes NAOFUMI.
MELTY: Naofumi? Naofumi?!
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SCENE: Naofumi’s mindscape, flat featureless black plane. NAOFUMI materializes in front of DARK NAOFUMI, who is leaning back on a throne of smoke and shadow.
DARK NAOFUMI gives NAOFUMI a mock salute.
DARK NAOFUMI: Naofumi! Long time no see.
NAOFUMI scowls at DARK NAOFUMI.
NAOFUMI: Send me back, you genocidal maniac. Now isn’t the time for this, Melty and Filo need my help.
DARK NAOFUMI spreads his arms.
DARK NAOFUMI: Now is the perfect time for this. Last time you told me you planned to take legal power - how do you imagine that working out without Constance? She was the only one with experience to manage something on that scale. Whom will you rely on now? Melty, who is more interested in protecting her family than doing anything of value?
NAOFUMI: None of this matters in the context of this fight. Send me back now.
DARK NAOFUMI sighs exasperatedly.
DARK NAOFUMI: Of course it matters. This fight is a perfect opportunity for me to give you the mind control shield: you can use it on Melty and Filo to synchronize your actions in the fight, and keep Melty under your control for later. As long as she is in your party, the effect will be a dozen times stronger than usual!
NAOFUMI raises his eyebrows.
NAOFUMI: It’s real?
DARK NAOFUMI: Of course it is. Now, what do you say? It’s a perfect solution to all your problems.
NAOFUMI: I say you should go fuck yourself and die, in either order.
NAOFUMI starts looking for an exit out of the mindscape, tipping DARK NAOFUMI out of his throne to look underneath it. DARK NAOFUMI summons a second throne and sits down on it a distance away, his lips pursed.
DARK NAOFUMI: Come on, you have to see sense. Consider this: what happens after this fight? How will you put down an entire pogrom? With a mind control shield, you can get the demihumans and the humans to cooperate perfectly. They will finally be working together.
NAOFUMI: Have you considered sucking off a horse? I feel like it’d be a better use for your mouth.
DARK NAOFUMI: What do you expect to achieve with this petulance? It will take you hours to figure this mindscape out. You need my cooperation.
NAOFUMI turns back to DARK NAOFUMI and spits on the ground in between them.
NAOFUMI: No I don’t. Real socialists never fight alone - we have comrades. Even if I am not there, I trust in Melty and Filo - they’d find a way to kill that damn plant.
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SCENE: Melty is shaking NAOFUMI, who appears to be insensate, in mid-air on top of his large air shield. FILO is protecting them both.
MELTY: What the hell is wrong with him?!
FILO: Oh, he is probably activating the curse shield thingie. It’s super strong!
MELTY: And how long is that going to take? We only have minutes. The others are already attacking their tendrils, and we need to destroy them at almost the same time!
FILO: Oh. No idea.
MELTY throws a glance at FILO.
MELTY: What do you mean, “no idea”? How do you know it’s powerful if you haven’t seen it before?
FILO manages to look bashful while punching away tentacles that are advancing on their platform.
FILO: Last time it happened I was, uh, a bit eaten alive. And a little bit dead.
MELTY: A little dead?!
FILO: It’s very different from completely dead! Can’t come back from that one.
MELTY stares at FILO in shock.
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SCENE: Back in NAOFUMI’s mindscape. DARK NAOFUMI stares at NAOFUMI in shock.
DARK NAOFUMI: Seriously?! You will bet your collective survival on two people succeeding where the three of you were struggling?
NAOFUMI scowls.
NAOFUMI: Oh go shove your head into a blender. You don’t give a single rat’s arse about their survival, you just want to get more of your hooks into me.
DARK NAOFUMI puts a hand against his heart, looking hurt.
DARK NAOFUMI: Of course I care. I am you, just different! You are the one who is going to watch them die due to irrationally refusing my help.
NAOFUMI: Help? I won’t take anything from you.
DARK NAOFUMI: Really? No matter the circumstances?
NAOFUMI: No.
DARK NAOFUMI folds his arms.
DARK NAOFUMI: So you have abandoned socialism then.
NAOFUMI: What?
DARK NAOFUMI: You evidently don’t care about outcomes. Here is a great opportunity for some harm minimisation - mind controlling both sides of a pogrom to stop it - but you are refusing to do it. Instead, you just want to virtue signal about how good and upstanding a person you are, not willing to shake the hand of the Big Bad Naofumi, while people die.
DARK NAOFUMI stands up from his throne of smoke and points an accusatory finger at NAOFUMI.
DARK NAOFUMI: But you don’t care about any of that, do you? You are more than happy to be a class collaborationist, working together with Melty, because of what? Because she throws us a superficial bone or two? You really think the goddamn symbol of the feudal class is going to do anything substantial at all to help us? Mind controlling her is a kindness compared to killing her! Anyone rational would have realized this already, but you are too tied up in pity for the wee wittle pwincess who wanted to be an engineer, just like you. You would rather do what feels good than what is necessary!
DARK NAOFUMI spreads his arms wide, gesturing around the empty mindscape.
DARK NAOFUMI: If not us, then who? Who else can accomplish the abolition of the feudal and capitalist systems? Who else can lead the path forwards for a socialist future? Who else knows modern socialist theories? We are the only ones who can do this! And we have the strength for it - with the shield at our side, what couldn’t we do? It is not only right, but necessary that we take a personal hand in this! Without us, this whole edifice falls apart - and the more control we have over others, the better we can help them better themselves!
DARK NAOFUMI stretches out a hand towards NAOFUMI.
DARK NAOFUMI: So what will it be? Will you take the side of socialism? Or will you remain a weakling?
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SCENE: MELTY pulls on her ponytails in frustration. She kicks NAOFUMI in the stomach, which he ignores, then scoffs.
MELTY: I am not going to simply wait for death. We’ll kill it from here, with or without Naofumi.
FILO glances at MELTY curiously.
FILO: I thought you couldn’t do that? Can’t cut with water from far away, need to get up close?
MELTY runs a careless hand through her hair, before kneeling on the air shield and rolling up her sleeves.
MELTY: I wouldn’t be the greatest mage of my generation if I couldn’t do the impossible, once in a while. I will need three minutes of complete focus.
MELTY’s hands flash through several signs, and a low wall of water encircles the air shield, spinning impossibly fast, and slicing through anything that comes close.
MELTY: That’s the best I can do. Now keep everything away from me. I can’t afford distractions.
MELTY [WHISPERING]: Let’s hope this doesn’t kill me.
FILO salutes MELTY and lands back on the air shield, but MELTY isn’t looking at her anymore. Instead, MELTY starts a low chant, takes out a dagger, and slices through the palm of her hand. The blood flows freely out of the wound, beginning to form shapes and sigils in mid air, as she shuts her eyes to concentrate better.
FILO turns back to the battlefield, her six rifles slowly spinning in mid air, as she tosses up bullets and powder, threads of wind quickly reloading them. Her face is uncharacteristically serious.
FILO: Everything, huh, all by myself. Y’all really think I am a miracle worker?
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SCENE: Back in Naofumi’s mindscape. NAOFUMI is staring at DARK NAOFUMI, before he sighs in annoyance, baring his teeth.
NAOFUMI: You didn’t believe a single fucking thing you said just now, did you?
DARK NAOFUMI blinks.
DARK NAOFUMI: Pardon?
NAOFUMI: You know, after the last time, I thought long and hard about exactly what you said and why you said it. Why, back during the duel, did you say Raphtalia would abandon me? In retrospect, that was complete bullshit right from the start. And why would you offer me power with no strings attached? You clearly think I am a waste of space, so what exactly was your angle?
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
NAOFUMI begins to walk towards DARK NAOFUMI. DARK NAOFUMI dismissed his throne and backpedals.
NAOFUMI: But one thing has been bugging me worst of all. During the fight with that dinosaur, when you unlocked the curse shield skill for me, you said “I was never going to refuse power”. Not “I was never going to refuse granting you power”. I was so sure I misremembered it - so much happened that night that I could have forgotten my own name - but I didn’t, did I? My memory’s just fine. What did you mean by that, hm?
DARK NAOFUMI: Hey, if I misspoke -
NAOFUMI: Misspoke? What a mysterious failure of rhetoric you are usually so good at. Try something else.
DARK NAOFUMI scowls.
DARK NAOFUMI: Are you really going to get on my ass about two words?
NAOFUMI: And then there was the genocide thing. Was that also misspeaking?
DARK NAOFUMI: Look, it was just a suggestion. I was just asking questions to point your thinking in a different direction -
NAOFUMI lunges forwards and catched DARK NAOFUMI by the lapels.
NAOFUMI: Who the fuck do you think you are speaking to, shithead? I’ve mastered all the same tricks. It’s never just asking questions.
DARK NAOFUMI breaks out of the grab and scowls at NAOFUMI.
DARK NAOFUMI: Oh so what, you think I just lie for fun? I am just trying to be helpful here!
NAOFUMI laughs.
NAOFUMI: No. I think that the only thing you believe in is power, and everything else you say is in service to that. You want me to take your power because, on some magical level, every time I do you get more control over me, and eventually you’d have it all. So why the hell should I help you?
DARK NAOFUMI crosses his arms.
DARK NAOFUMI: Of course I believe in power! Socialist analysis is all about power!
NAOFUMI: Please, you couldn’t analyze your way out of a paper cup. You say the words, but they mean nothing. It’s like talking to a dictionary - pure and vacuous rhetoric, built for the explicit purpose of convincing me to shake your fucking hand. You believe nothing, you stand for nothing, you are just like a liquid piece of shit shaping yourself to the contours of whatever shitter you find yourself in! If I was a monarchist, you’d talk about how the divine right of kings means we should use the mind control shield; if I was a nationalist, you’d talk about how I could make my nation great with it; but because I am a socialist, you start to use words like “class collaborationist” and “harm minimization”. The bottom line is to justify yourself holding onto power, right, so what does it matter what particular rhetoric you use to do it?
DARK NAOFUMI: Oh so what, you are saying Melty is going to be the next revolutionary hero? What material interests -
NAOFUMI gestures wildly with his hands.
NAOFUMI: Fine, you know what? You want to do analysis? Fuck it, let’s do class analysis! Class is defined by common interests and common conditions in relation to some topic at hand. So are Melty’s interests the same as that of the overall feudal class? Obviously they fucking aren’t you muppet, her entire political agenda concerns itself with pulling power away from the other nobles by establishing a robust civil state apparatus. Nobility doesn’t want that! By virtue of being placed at the peak of the pyramid, royals are always in direct competition with the rest of the leeches on a whole host of topics. It is stupid to use a simple two-class split between nobility and the working class, when a three class structure would be much more appropriate!
DARK NAOFUMI: More appropriate to justify your coddling with her? There are always competitions within any class - this doesn’t make it any less of a goddamn class. Melty’s material interests remain the same, she isn’t a socialist, and never will be!
NAOFUMI scoffs.
NAOFUMI: When the hell did I say she was a socialist? Obviously she isn’t one. But that wasn’t what we were talking about. Yeah, Melty has no direct material interest in improving the conditions of the working class, but to claim that she is a mere “representative” of the nobility is a complete failure of marxist analysis. There is a massive and obvious fissure between her and the rest of the fuckers, much broader than any old intraclass conflict, one that can - and will be - exploited for our purposes.
NAOFUMI makes a dismissive gesture.
NAOFUMI: But enough about that - let’s move on to the question of using the mind control shield to save people. Have you lost your mind?
NAOFUMI rubs his face.
NAOFUMI: What am I saying, you never had it in the first place. Even admitting we have such a shield - let alone publicly using it on thousands of people - would thoroughly fuck all our organizing efforts. Who would want to work with Naofumi “Mr Mindrape” Iwatani? Nobody, that’s who - you would create a mother of all morality panics and soil the name of socialism for centuries to come. If we did that even once then the only thing left for us would be to keep power exclusively by force of arms - which, I suppose, is all you want.
DARK NAOFUMI: I do not -
NAOFUMI interrupts DARK NAOFUMI.
NAOFUMI: And finally, you had all that bullshit about our singular importance. “If not us, then who?” Which fucking part of materialist analysis, of looking at incentives and wide social forces, lead you to the impression that a singular leader is key to determining the course of history? That ain’t socialism, that’s vozdism, personalist rule of the stalinist variety. If all our work with the workers, the peasants, the demihumans hinged on our singular persona, then that wouldn’t be organizing at all - just an orgy of everyone sucking our dick while achieving nothing of import.
NAOFUMI’s scowl turns into an evil grin.
NAOFUMI: But of course you aren’t a socialist, you are a pathetic tankie, so you are incapable of understanding the difference. It’s somewhat unusual of you to want your own dick serviced as opposed to slobbering over one of the already pre-existing Great Leaders, but at the end of the day it’s all the same.
DARK NAOFUMI: I am a tankie? You didn’t even call Itsuki that!
NAOFUMI: Itsuki is a Leninist. You are a tankie. The difference between you two is like between the sun and a burnt out lightbulb - he believes in a flawed, fundamentally broken and unworkable theory of socialism, but ultimately still strives towards the same overall goals. Meanwhile, you believe in nothing.
NAOFUMI’s grin grows wider.
NAOFUMI: But let’s make this official, right? I may not be able to find my way out of this place, but I can at least change some things about it.
NAOFUMI focuses, and the costume on DARK NAOFUMI changes until he is wearing a tank top, with a picture of a T-54 tank on it. DARK NAOFUMI looks down at it and crosses his arms.
TANKIE NAOFUMI: Now you are just being petty.
NAOFUMI flips him the bird.
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SCENE: Dozens of PLANT MONSTERS lie down on the ground around the air shield. The shield itself is covered in sap and ichor, with the only clean spot left in the middle, where MELTY is casting. FILO is bruised and bleeding all over, her dress torn up, but still grinning at the onslaught. Two of her rifles have been shattered in the fighting, and only four remain.
An enormous tentacle covered in bony spines rips itself out of the ground and smashes down on the air shield. FILO leaps up to meet it, transforming into her bird form on the way. It’s not enough: she is tossed back by its enormous momentum, only managing to stop herself when one of her claws clamps down on the edge of the air shield. The other claw grinds against the spikes on the tentacle, sending out a shower of sparks.
Her rifles fly through the air and form the bones of a tent all around MELTY, their stocks lodging themselves against the air shield and their bayonets just barely pushing the tentacle back. Bone grinds against metal mere centimeters above MELTY’s head, disturbing her hair, but she ignores it, too focused on her work.
A low rumble comes from FILO’s chest, as her beak grinds out words.
FILO: Stay. Away. From. MY FRIENDS!
FILO bites into the tentacle with her free beak, twists, and with a roar pushes it one meter to the side, safely away from MELTY’s head. Her rifles fly down towards the base of the tentacle with a crack of air, orient themselves in a circle around it and all fire at once, before plunging into the exposed flesh. FILO roars again, straining against the shield, and with agonizing slowness tears the tentacle off at the base. With a disgusting squelch, it rips in half, and with a heave, FILO supplexes it away from the air shield, breathing heavily.
MELTY opens her eyes, bringing her chant to an abrupt end. Blood gushes in liters from her palm, and her skin immediately turns bone white. The sigils in the air all come together, entwine, encircle the new blood and push into it. The blob of blood shines for a moment before reshaping itself, turning into a red, featureless figure of a human child, curled in a fetal position. MELTY only has the strength to point at the enormous STALK in the distance before her eyes roll back in her head and she collapses.
The red child figure flies through the air towards the STALK. Curring rings and rays of water appear out of the air around it, before it cuts into the body of the STALK. Ichor, blood and water gush like a fountain, as a thin red line encircles the STALK, and the two halves slide against each other for a moment before the enormous tower topples over onto the town with an ear-shattering crash.
FILO turns back into a human, and wipes off her sweaty forehead before going up to MELTY and force-feeding her healing potions, occasionally slapping her across the face.
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SCENE: Back in the mindscape where TANKIE NAOFUMI is confronting NAOFUMI.
SYSTEM MESSAGE: Creeping Rafflesia area raid defeated!
TANKIE NAOFUMI: What?! How?!
NAOFUMI: Told you, you piece of shit. Actual socialists never fight alone.
TANKIE NAOFUMI scowls as the mindscape slowly begins to dissolve.
TANKIE NAOFUMI: This isn’t over!
NAOFUMI ironically salutes DARK NAOFUMI.
NAOFUMI: Hope you choke and die!
The mindscape dissolves, and NAOFUMI wakes up.
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SCENE: Back on the air shield. NAOFUMI groans and opens his eyes, looking around. Down on the ground, various vines are lying still, withering slowly, with no mind left to move. FILO gives him a short salute, going back to checking up on Melty.
NAOFUMI: We won.
FILO: Yep.
NAOFUMI: Is Melty okay?
FILO shrugs. NAOFUMI slowly gets up and approaches MELTY, starting to cast healing spells on her.
FILO: She’s breathing.
NAOFUMI: How did we win? The stupid shield pulled me in again.
FILO shrugs, grinning. NAOFUMI finishes with MELTY, and starts healing FILO.
FILO: I kept punching things to keep the two of you safe, and then Melty cast a spell, it was all whoosh and slice and it was awesome and then the stalk fell over.
MELTY cracks open one eye, laughing softly. Her voice is very weak.
MELTY: My spells do not “whoosh”.
NAOFUMI: How did you do it from here? I thought we needed you close because those cutting rays dissipate in the air, and you can’t create them far away from your body.
MELTY giggles. NAOFUMI raises an eyebrow at her.
MELTY: What’s a body, really? God, I actually did it. Myne would be so jealous.
NAOFUMI: Did what?
MELTY: There’s long been theories about attaching spells to a temporary construct of blood, one that could last long enough to make magic happen far away from a caster. Pretty sure I am the first one in the world to actually manage it and survive.
MELTY tries to lift one of her hands to her face, but can’t manage it with how weak she is, and winces.
MELTY: Takes a lot of blood though.
FILO: It looked awesome!
MELTY giggles.
MELTY: Thank you. I guess all of us are awesome. Except Naofumi, who just took a nap.
NAOFUMI: Hey! That wasn’t my fault!
MELTY giggles harder. FILO joins her in laughing at NAOFUMI. NAOFUMI pouts.
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DRAMATIS PERSONAE
NAOFUMI IWATANI, THE SHIELD HERO. One of the socialists. Entirely useless in a fight.
DARK NAOFUMI / TANKIE NAOFUMI. The worst kind of socialist - a fake one. Believes in nothing.
PRINCESS MELTY Q. MELROMAC. First heir to the throne of Melromarc. Claims to be the greatest mage of her generation.
FILO. Is in it for her friends. A predator on the verge of death.
SYSTEM MESSAGE. Voice of the system.