When I first started first grade, I had no one. Well, no one except Hei.
When no one came to talk to me, when no one tried to understand me, Hei called my name. Sophia, Sophia. He invited me to play together in the mountains at the edge of our city. There, we chased each other across the fields and dirt trails, and together we explored the wild, green-maned slopes. There we were free. When we exhausted ourselves by dusk, Hei took me to his home to play Final Fantasy 7. Our party’s mage-girl died, I got upset and cried, and we called it a night at that point. Since then, we had kept each other company. And eventually, in middle school, we beat every boss in the game.
Ruby Weapon, an optional superboss, was the last one that remained undefeated. It was a giant tentacle monster with ridiculously overpowered offense and defense, and it easily steamrolled through our party. Hei and I put our heads together to come up with multiple strategies on how to beat it, but nothing worked.
"Just level up more," I suggested. I mean, it seemed quite obvious if not intellectually underwhelming.
"That's cheap," he said, twiddling the sticks on his controller.
"No it's not," I protested. "Raw effort is the least cheap strategy there is, don't you think?"
He pursed his lips. "Hm. I can kind of see that."
So we leveled our party to level 99, and then we beat the Ruby Weapon. And Hei ended up taking my endorsement of raw effort to heart more than I myself ever did. From then on, he had a habit of level-grinding every game where level-grinding was viable, be it Pokemon, Final Fantasy, anything. And in some ways, he adopted the same philosophy of raw effort in real life as well.
One time in middle school, I accidentally let my Samoyed puppy run out through the door on a rainy evening. I had bolted out after her, shouting in pursuit, but she only ran farther and farther. I was so afraid, and I told Hei before I told my parents. Back then he still lived nearby in the same neighborhood. He called the police. And he rode out on his bike, clad in a rain-poncho, in search of the puppy. Almost an hour later, he walked back to my house, one hand pushing his bike along and the other cradling the soaked dog. And he had been thoroughly drenched himself. I thought he'd catch a cold for sure.
"What the heck," I said, taking the puppy back into my arms, my voice shaking with relief. "You actually found her. But you called the police, right?"
"Oh, right," he said. "Guess I'll need to dismiss them."
It turned out he had combed through the neighborhood three times before spotting the puppy. And when he approached, she had run away. But the next time he found her, a thunderclap distracted her enough for him to grab her. It honestly sounded like a futile effort that somehow managed to work out in the end.
"But you could've just left it to the police," I pointed out. "You really didn't have to go by yourself..."
He shrugged, his silver poncho glistening. "You looked like you were about to cry. I couldn't just sit and watch."
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
That was the Hei I knew.
And it looked like he hadn't changed much, for better or worse.
In the present, Hei charged full speed ahead toward the fallen 6E12, his spear raised to strike. 6E12 staggered up and gathered shadowy energy in his palm. I recognized that as Reality Rend.
"Hei!" I screamed. "Stop, that's a one-hit kill!"
6E12 launched a blast of darkness at Hei. But it missed – Hei made a sharp turn to the right to narrowly avoid the attack. And before 6E12 could fire a second spell, Hei closed the gap and plunged his spear into 6E12's chest. But 6E12 remained unfazed.
I checked 6E12's HP.
[HP: 4350 / 6E12]
6E12 fired blast after blast at Hei. Hei danced between the beams of destruction, his turns so rapid and fierce, I thought his legs would snap. His footwork was just like Saber's, erratic and dance-like, but accelerated to a blistering pace Saber's heavy plate mail couldn't have allowed her. His spear weaved back and forth, thrust after thrust, its point flashing silver. The spear grazed against 6E12's neck, opening a bleeding scratch. It tore off a piece of his clothes and shaved off a lock of his hair. And then the spearpoint stabbed through 6E12's leg, and then his torso, and then his shoulders…
[HP: 4020 / 6E12]
6E12 backed away to dodge the flurry of blows, but they came too fast and too numerous. Hei was chipping away at his defenses, slowly but surely.
"Synapse, Break!" 6E12 shouted. A white light flashed upon his fingertip.
"Back off!" I screamed at Hei. "One meter range!"
Hei leaped backwards, narrowly avoiding the attack. But 6E12, with his other hand, took a chance to fire Reality Rend.
Two simultaneous attacks, one melee and one ranged, proved too much to dodge.
The shadowy wave of Reality Rend blasted Hei. But he faced it straight on, unrelenting. He pushed the point of his spear through the torrent of darkness, parting it, until the spear-tip emerged on the other side and pierced 6E12's palm.
[HP: 3350 / 6E12]
That was right. Schwarzschild Trident granted Hei 30% damage reduction. Even an attack that dealt over 100% HP damage became survivable. The blast had bloodied him, but nothing worse. Though at this rate, I wasn't sure he could take another hit.
6E12 cursed beneath his breath as he yanked his hand free from the spear. He turned his back from Hei and ran. As he ran, his footsteps soared airborne, and he took flight into the sky. Hei managed to hit several more spear throws before 6E12 ascended out of range.
[HP: 2970/ 6E12]
In the air, 6E12 took time to catch his breath. He managed a scoff, before aiming his palm once more toward Hei, who stood helplessly upon the ground still.
What now? Do we run? Hei's Voidstep was likely coming off of cooldown. If he could use it to teleport and break line of sight, there was a chance we could…
In that moment, a golden aura rippled across Hei's body.
Wait. Did he just hit Level 6?
But how?! Don't tell me, that exchange of blows gave him all the XP he still needed…!
Hei lifted his face to the skies. Upon his back, there was a pale and surfacing glow, as though something grand and magical was about to sprout out of both his shoulder blades. It felt powerful. And in some ways, it felt familiar.
A pair of wings burst out from him.
They were a dazzling white and made entirely of ice, and they were covered with translucent scales instead of feathers. Their countless, crystalline facets refracted the cold light of the moon into an iridescent, multicolored flame. And they certainly looked big enough to fly upon.
"Ultimate ability," Hei announced. "Wings of the Ice Priestess."