Episode Nine

Victory felt certain — but I didn’t stop swinging the dagger.

I ducked under a descending arm and drew the blade across a throat. Shifted to a forward grip and drove it into the forehead of the one in front.

From the way the tower had collapsed, Kiaran’s lightning must have been something extraordinary. And yet the monsters showed no sign of weakening at all.

I glanced behind me — Selene and the others hadn’t worked it out either, apparently. They were still casting without pause.

Better to regroup. I turned my back on the seething mass of monsters — and in that instant, my small shadow was swallowed by something larger and disappeared.

I spun around. Two legs, thick as logs, towered in front of me. Looking up, I met the eyes of a beast the size of a two-storey house.

“SION!!!”

Selene’s scream split the air behind me.

I threw myself instinctively toward her voice — and the ground where I’d been standing was gouged out, deep, taking the nearby undead with it.

I didn’t understand what had happened. Only that the situation had changed in an instant.

A massive bear-like monster. A Brute Bear — it had to be. A top-tier monster that had no business being in a place like this. Its body was rotting in patches, and through the peeling fur, white bone showed through.

“This one’s probably undead too!! The Shaman must be summoning it!”

I raised my voice so Selene and the others could hear. There was no other explanation for something this size appearing without warning — it must have come through the magic circle while my back was turned.

“I’ll handle this one — you two deal with the Shaman!!”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I turned my back on Selene and ran. The Brute Bear had eyes only for me. If I kept its attention, they could focus entirely on the Shaman.

I drove the blade into the undead blocking my path and threw myself desperately clear of the arm that came crashing down with a thunderous impact. The sheer size of it — and perhaps the decay — meant that as long as I stayed focused, dodging wasn’t as difficult as it might have been.

If I don’t let my concentration break, I can manage this.

And I don’t have to finish it alone. I just have to buy time until Selene and the others take down the Shaman. That much — I can do.

I wove between the undead and ducked under the log-thick arms and kept moving. When I couldn’t dodge cleanly, I forced my way through with magic.

How much time had passed since then, I couldn’t tell. My throat was burning, and the edges of my vision had begun to swim.

I was approaching the limit of what my body could give — when three, then four enormous white spears drove into the creature’s shoulders. Ice blocks, massive and relentless, hammered down one after another, pressing the spears deeper.

“Sion, are you all right?!”

Selene’s desperate voice reached me.

The situation had been about as bad as it could get — but hearing the voice I’d most wanted to hear made my cheeks loosen of their own accord.

“Just about!! We’ll push through from here!”

——Devour it!

A vast dragon’s jaw, wrapped in black light, tore into the Brute Bear’s leg and severed it clean. Ankle separated from body, and the enormous bulk crashed to the ground with a sound that shook the earth.

The fallen body didn’t twitch. The life had gone out of it.

“Is it over…?”

The strength drained from my whole body and I nearly went down with it — but I caught myself at the last moment.

“…Black Witch — just a little longer. Don’t let your guard down.”

Uno was there, holding me up. Her worried blue eyes looked up into mine. Selene and Uno were both safe — the relief of it moved through me.

Kiaran — lightning was still falling somewhere in the distance, so she was probably fine.

I gave Uno a small nod. Steadied my breathing to pull my focus back together, and shifted the dagger to a reverse grip.

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“It’s OVER!! I’m EXHAUSTED!!”

Kiaran flung her spear aside and collapsed flat on her back.

“…Kiaran, don’t let your guard down. The job isn’t done until we’re home.”

I called to her back as she lay there, keeping watch on the surroundings. Then I turned to Selene.

“Good work. That last spell — it saved me.”

The moment she saw my face, Selene looked down, her fists trembling.

“…Sion. I’m glad you’re safe. Truly — I’m so glad.”

She raised her head, and smiled at me — softly, the corners of her eyes dropping.

Seeing that expression, I felt the last thread of tension in me finally come undone. I took a step toward her — on the verge of throwing my arms around her — and stopped myself just in time.

Why had I just wanted to do that?

I’d just — somehow wanted to touch her. Something like that.

The adrenaline of the fight must still be moving through me. I cleared my throat quietly.

“…Anyway — I genuinely thought I was going to die. Without Selene, I might not have made it.”

“…Yes.”

For someone who’d just helped bring down something that size, she didn’t seem like herself. Selene must be exhausted too, even she had limits.

We exchanged a few more words, and I looked out across the settlement.

A few minutes ago this place had carried the smell of death. Now it was nothing but an empty lot.

“I believe the danger has passed, but we can’t know when other monsters might appear. Let’s return to the village.”

Selene looked around at all of us as she said it. Nobody appeared to have taken any serious injuries — but everyone’s mana and stamina had to be close to gone.

The road back to the village took longer than the road out. When we arrived, none of us had the energy to talk through what had happened, so we agreed to meet in the morning and parted ways immediately.

Selene and I returned to the room together, and she turned the key in the lock.

“Tired… bath can wait until tomorrow…”

I shed my robe and threw myself onto the bed. The softness of it was almost overwhelming, and sleep began to come almost at once.

“…Sion.”

Her voice, calling my name — thin and pale, unlike her.

“What is it?”

I fought down the drowsiness and waited for her answer, but the room stayed quiet. I sat up from the bed and looked toward her.

“…Tonight — will you sleep with me? In the same bed.”

The unfamiliar meekness of it made something stir, briefly, deep in my chest.

“Um… is this about the supply? Because — last night’s kind of thing — can we not, tonight?”

“You’re the indecent one.”

“Excuse me?! That’s absolutely my line—!”

“…Just holding hands while we sleep. That way I can give you mana too, can’t I?”

The same flat voice as always — but tonight it sounded softer somehow.

“But two people in that bed is going to be cramped. And I toss in my sleep.”

“I don’t mind.”

Apparently she had no intention of backing down. I didn’t have the energy to argue, and decided to just go along with her.

“Fine then. Just don’t complain if I smell like sweat.”

I said it carelessly, gave myself a minimum wipe-down, changed into my nightclothes, and settled into the bed.

I tried to stay awake until she came — fighting off sleep — but the minutes passed and there was no sign of her coming over.

“Hey — how long? I’m going to fall asleep without you.”

My eyelids were closing on their own. The soft pillow felt wonderful, and I was very nearly — at my limit.

“…—!”

A sensation of something soft enclosing my body brought me fully awake all at once.

“Wait, what are you doing — you said just holding hands—”

“Just a little. Like this.”

A pale voice, soft enough to dissolve into the quiet. It sounded like the Selene I remembered from when we were small.

She held me gently from behind, and through the places our bodies touched I felt her warmth.

So warm. So settling.

My feelings were calm, and yet my heartbeat quickened on its own, and a slow heat spread from somewhere deep inside.

“I thought you were going to die… I was so frightened.”

Her face pressed against my back, she spoke in a voice that seemed about to disappear. The voice, and the vulnerability in it — neither of them were like her.

“…I’m not going to die. You said you’d protect me, didn’t you.”

I still believe the words she said that night.

I hate magic, and I don’t fully understand Selene for compelling me to use it. But — just for a little while longer, I think I don’t mind not slipping free of this collar. That’s where I am, right now.

“I won’t let you die. Not ever.”

“…Mm.”

Silence settled over the room. I frowned against the heartbeat that wouldn’t slow, and waited for whatever words might come next — and eventually, a small, quiet breathing reached my ears.

“She’s asleep.”

I turned my head toward her. She was holding me, fast asleep, a look of perfect contentment on her face.

Long lashes. Well-shaped lips. Even her sleeping face was beautiful, this witch of ours.

No — sweet, perhaps. That suited the Selene of right now more.

I wish she’d just give me the supply like this all the time instead of doing strange things.

The bed was more cramped than last night — and yet somehow more comfortable. Whether it was exhaustion, or her warmth reaching me through the dark — before an answer came, I had already drifted into sleep.