I will show you the power of a real witch!

My body exudes an oppressive purple aura. And the disguise spell begins to disappear. I begin to walk toward the throne. The skeleton soldiers rush toward me, but before they can reach me, I set them on fire without even lifting a finger. 

Now the necromancer sends the undead regent forward. He slowly rises from his throne, positions himself with his sword in a fighting pose, and begins to run toward me. He makes a swift slash toward my throat. But I block his attack with a barrage of purple flames that he cannot pierce with his blade.

He steps back and attacks again with multiple quick blows. I dodge but get some cuts on my arm and face. He is really fast, and It's difficult to dodge. The cuts hurt, but as they begin to heal instantly, the pain fades fast. 

But then the regent changes his tactic and sprints in Lionel's direction. This damn necromancer noticed that I wanted them to ignore him and only concentrate on me.

"That's enough, you damn puppet!" I say.

I have no time for this shit. With my purple-looking magic, I press the regent, who was trying to run past me, on his knees. I walk in front of him and say,

"Do me a favor and just die!" Then I set the regent in a light purple flame, which burns the skeleton instantly to the ground. I feel like a real wicked witch now...but I don't think that's a good thing...

Then a magical energy ball nearly hits me. I narrowly manage to dodge. My heart stopped in shock for a moment. That was really close. Now my gaze is directed towards the necromancer.

"Now to you! If you hadn't upgraded and put on such a huge show, we would have reached the final boss long ago. You delay the happy ending... You are in the way."

This enemy really pisses me off. But it has one good thing. I can test my powers to the fullest without burning a forest down or being seen by anyone.

With a hand move, I send a beam of flames that glides through the air toward him. But the necromancer uses his seals as shields in front of him and reflects my attack back to me. I did not expect that and jump to the side. Roughly, I hit the ground. Next to me was the burning flame, which should have hit the enemy. I didn't know that he could do that...

Lionel isn't far from me. I have to be careful that he doesn't get hurt. I should finish this quickly.

I quickly stand up and run towards the necromancer. I am trying to hit him while I run around him with my fire. But at the same time I have to dodge his attacks. Suddenly, his attack crumbles while he tries to cast a new spell. 

"Got you!" I shout. 

A seal begins to glow beneath him with a purple aura. During the fight, I drew a seal on the ground to imprison him in a magical cage of flames. He didn't even notice.

"You're not the only one who can use seals!" I say and set him and his book caged in my seal into fire.

The necromancer's form is engulfed in flames. However, his blurry figure begins to speak.

"You are on the wrong side! He will come for you..." he says with a creepy laughing voice.

"What? "Who?" I ask.

"The great mage of the nor…" he says. But then he crumbles as the flames die down, and nothing remains but ashes before he is even able to finish his sentence. The smell of burnt bones and ash hangs in the smoky air. 

But you don't need to be a genius to know what he was about to say. The great mage of the north seems very angry that I am on the hero's side. … When he knows me that much, could he also be the figure of my dreams...?

Suddenly, I hear clanging. I turn around and see that Lionel starts to move. Oh crap.

I activate my disguise spell and walk to him.

"Lionel, are you ok?" I ask, out of breath.

"I think I am fine... What happened? "Where are the enemies?" he asks, kind of irritated.

"Most of them were smashed by the rocks, and the others burned down after the book of the necromancer got damaged!" I say. It's no complete lie. To be precise, they burned down. How doesn't really matter.

"I am sorry that I passed out and left you alone with the enemies," he says with a feeling of guilt.

"There is nothing to apologize for. Most of it was already done. I've already healed myself. What's more important is that we find a way to the others. They were trapped in a room below us when the ceiling collapsed. We have to get back to them somehow."

I could try to destroy the stones with magic, but that would require knocking him unconscious again. But what if I accidentally kill him? No, that won't work.

Lionel looks around the room while I consider the most elegant way to knock him unconscious.

"Aria! Behind the throne is a passage. Let's follow it. We can't move the rocks to get to the others. But there is a high possibility that we will meet them in the boss room. That is the only option we have!"

"You are right! Then let's go!" I say and follow Lionel.

As we walk down the long path without a sign of enemies, I try to start a conversation with Lionel to break the unpleasant silence.

"What do you want to do after we finish our mission and rescue the princess?"

"I don't have the right to decide what I want to do. I have been chosen as a hero by the priests of the land, as the one favored by the gods. There will always be another task I must fulfill for the benefit of the kingdom."

"I know you're very conscientious, but do you really want to give up your own life just because others expect it of you? You don't define yourself solely by the title you received from the priests. There's much more to you than that. I also see how carefree you are with Caspian at times. Are you just the hero in that regard too?"

"We've known each other since we were little children, and he's one of the only people who treats me normally, regardless of my title. Nevertheless, I must behave in accordance with my title!"

I'm slowly starting to see through him. He acts dutifully and tries to live up to people's expectations. But in doing so, he suppresses his true self, which only occasionally emerges, for example, in his interactions with Caspian.

In the novel you only see the characters from one perspective, but now in this reality they are more complex individuals. They have versatile character traits, fears, wishes, and hopes... Somehow his attitude makes me a little sad.

In the novel, the priestess Rosa encouraged Lionel to do his best, and he always did his best to live up to the people's expectations and live for their good.

But honestly. As someone who has been isekaied from one bad life to the next, I disagree. Sorry, Rosa, but since there are already deviations, I can also offer him some realistic advice.

"Life is short, and sometimes you have to take your destiny into your own hands to achieve happiness. Don't let others force you into a role. Be selfish sometimes, follow your own desires, and do what you think is right."

He stares at me, somewhat surprised, but then quickly looks away.

"Take my fate into my own hands?..." he talks to himself.

Then he says nothing more. Well, maybe my advice will help him someday, or he'll ignore it. It probably won't make a difference for the  mission anyways.

"What will you do after our mission?" he asks and breaks the silence.

"I want to live a life in freedom and live a happy life without sorrows. That is my wish. This may sound silly for you..." 

"No. But I think that I now also have a goal for the future."

"Really? What is it?"

"That's a secret. Probably I will tell you some time!"

Why is he making such a show of it now? I poured my heart out to him, and now he's just blocking me. 

Now we're approaching a large door. As we stand before the door, the others come from a different direction to us.

Sisli runs to me and jumps into my arms with relief.

"That was really nerve-wracking. Don't leave me alone in a dungeon again!" says Sisli, exhausted, as she hugs me.

"Don't worry, I won't leave you alone!"

Suddenly, I notice Lionel staring at me. To be more precise, he stares at Sisli.

"Wait a minute! Can you see Sisli too?" I exclaim, startled.