Between the rocks and the sunlit road, under the sparse shade of a sturdy tree, Mr. Atlas bled out. I held him up as he struggled to remain on his knees. Blood gurgled down his leaden body and pooled beneath us, staining the grass red.

I trembled by his side, helpless, as the wisps of his hair grew translucent.

"Mr. Atlas," I murmured. "No…"

Even his steel armor began to feel immaterial, as though my grasp could sink through any moment.

"ATLAS!!" I shouted.

He merely pointed at the tree next to us. I clenched my teeth and dragged him over, until he could lean against its trunk.

The halberd's shaft stuck out of his back, extending to the side of the tree trunk. The halberd's tip jutted out of his chest, horrible and slick with blood.

No, please. It was happening again. Anything but this.

"You can't," I told Atlas. "Don't go."

The gaze of his eyes had gone blank and distant.

"It's fine," he said in a quiet, raspy voice. "I think I'll see Becky again."

The wind, warm like a spring afternoon's, carried motes of light away from his body.

Mr. Atlas managed a shallow breath. "Couple years ago, during Christmas, I went to church to hear her sing."

I touched his face. It was no good. He had gone cold.

"She was a toddler back then," Atlas said. "She sang with the sweetest voice."

Not Atlas too! I knew death was inevitable. I had seen it happen over, and over. Still! Not Mr. Atlas, too!

"Come and go with me," he sang, "to my Father's house."

His voice repeated in a hoarse whisper. "Come and go with me, to my Father's house."

I clung on to him, hugging his armored body tight. I fought back tears, fought back the urge to scream. This was just like how we started off, when Becky lay dying in the flower-field. How Saber begged for a way to heal her. How she cursed herself that she couldn't; how she cursed the world.

Mr. Atlas raised a shaking hand and combed through my hair. "After I lost Becky, I had nothing left to live for. Except you. And Saber, Hei. We had just met. But still I thought, let's see how far I can get them."

I nodded, against his chest.

"Look where we got, Sophia," he said. "Is this alright?" He breathed out a sigh. "Did I do alright?"

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Far away, from the river banks, a flock of birds took flight, cooing.

I reached up to his hand and gave a squeeze. "You were splendid."

And he was. Mr. Atlas, I…

I…

Wait, the river, and the river cove.

I gathered myself, then aimed my metal detector in the direction of where the birds came from. It picked up the equipment of Anastasia and Lore, the two enemies that survived. They were around the area of the river cove, fighting something together.

The Zombie Giant. A neutral monster camp that would spawn in the cove. That must be it. Saber, in her frequent lectures, had drilled it into my head: After scoring a kill, go for objectives. Take down towers, or even better, kill the Zombie Giant. The usual strategy involved sending at least two players to bring it down. And the prize for killing the Zombie Giant was a Death Ward, awarded to whoever dealt the finishing blow.

Possibilities raced through my head. Would it even be possible to…

"...Wait here," I told Atlas. "I'm taking the Giant for you." I took his hand, and with a firm tug, I slid off his gauntlet. The one with a shotgun barrel mounted onto it. He looked at me in a daze, as though he couldn't comprehend. We were running out of time.

"Wait for me!" I shouted, before sprinting off towards the cove. Regardless of how unlikely things seemed, regardless of how absurd my plan was, I must try. I raced through the forest, my gun in one hand, and the gauntlet in the other. I trampled through the grass, so fast that the trees blurred past me. Every ounce of strength I still commanded, I forced into my legs.

I hadn't told anyone besides Hei, but I hated Final Fantasy 7. We first played it together as children. When our party’s mage-girl died, I got upset, and cried, and made Hei play something else. It wasn't until much later, in middle school, that the two of us finally finished the game.

"Well, that was kinda crappy," I said as the credits rolled. This was the game that had semi-traumatized me since childhood, and frankly the final victory didn't make up for all the suffering it put me through.

"What's the point if the mage girl stays dead, no matter what you do?" I had asked Hei. "What's the point of playing if we can't even change anything?"

He didn't give me an answer that satisfied me.

It's been years since then, and I never got the answer I wanted.

But I wasn't that child anymore.

I wasn't the girl who'd sit by and cry.

Hei, wherever you are, watch me.

The forest cleared near the shore of the river. A border of tall rocks separated me from the river cove, but I could hear the roar of the giant as it slammed at something near its feet. And I could see the top of its bloodied, decaying head, rising tall above the wall of rock. Its HP was nearing zero by the second. I ran up to the foot of the stout, sloped wall, as close as I could get.

I took aim with my gun, at the spot right above the zombie's head. I waited for the precise moment, for the split second before its HP could reach zero.

And then, I launched a Cold Grenade.

The bead of frost magic arced over the stone wall surrounding the cove. It landed on the other side and erupted. The zombie stopped thrashing as the frigid blast froze it solid. For the first time, its HP stopped going down. If my aim was right, the Cold Grenade would've frozen Anastasia and Lore too.

The Zombie Giant stood two hits from death. I nailed its protruding head with a Frost Missile, then dropped my gun. With both hands, I aimed Mr. Atlas's shotgun gauntlet. Near the wrist was its trigger.

It was big and heavy, even as it grew translucent. A weapon not my own. An ability not my own. If there was ever a miracle, please, let me have it. Just this once!

Bang.

The shotgun blast carved through the skull of the monstrous giant. The creature leaned away, for a moment, before collapsing into the river's waters.

「Green team has slain the Zombie Giant.」

With a poof, Mr. Atlas's gauntlet vanished from my grasp. I searched my pockets, fumbling to look for a Death Ward. But there was no Death Ward.

Not on me.