Admiration

Kosuke, for the first time in two lives, finally did something to earn my admiration.

He got to the Behemoth first.

"Snuggle Punch!"

Invalid Target

There was a weird buzzer sound, like when someone gets something wrong on a gameshow, after Kosuke leapt two and a half meters into the air and punched the Behemoth in the face.

"Seems like someone wants to duel!" said one of his sycophants.

"Yeah Reems, put this little girl and her gross doll in their place!" said another.

Reems? That was this guys name?! My anger almost subsided enough for me to start bursting out laughing. 

Almost.

"I'm not that gross!" growled Kosuke. "I was at made with clean socks, at least. Right Minori?" He turned to look after I didn't answer. "...Right...?"

"Quiet!" I demanded. I needed to think...

We couldn't attack them because we belonged to the same faction, unless we both first agreed to a duel. 

However... I focused on him and his stats appeared.

Reems, Lvl 19

Race: Behemoth

Class: Geomancer (Seismic)

Kraft: Brewer

He was level 19, almost four times higher than me. And he was a Geomancer, an extremely versatile class that was powerful in nearly every situation—unless you could somehow get them far up off of the ground (which I currently had no way to do). To top it all off, the Seismic spec was currently the best suited to the environment, being that he could manipulate the very ground on which we stood.

This was not good, no matter how I looked at it. Beating him in a duel simply would not be possible.

"Well, how bout it?" asked Reems, sneering at me with his arms folded over his broad, bestial chest.

"There's no wa—"

"She accepts!" roared Kosuke, cutting me off, like the unthinking idiot he was.

"What?! Kosuke, he's level 19 and fully geared. He'll one-shot us and force us to kneel in humiliation!" I growled in his face, as I picked him up and turned away so the others couldn't hear us.

"We can't let them get away with treating Leilei like that!" he growled back.

The boy was sweet, and his heart was certainly in the right place. And I couldn't help but admire his courage and righteous indignation. Yet, being as analytical and logical as I was, having a brain molded by endless hours of academic grinding, I couldn't help but be equally appalled by his stupidity.

"Kosuke, we can't—"

"It's okay, Minori," he interrupted again, with his soft socky hands grabbing my cheeks, "I'll do the fighting. You just hang back and let me take care of it."

"No Kosu—"

"Minori, listen. I'm the man of the party, so I'm calling the shots now. We aren't leaving here without a fight."

Suit yourself, jackass.

I dropped Kosuke on his backside, and turned back to the Behemoth. "I accept your challenge!"

"Oh yeah, now we're talkin'!" roared the rooster headed sycophant.

Why the sudden change of heart from my end? 

Well, Kosuke immediately dissolved any pride and admiration I was beginning to feel toward him with his typical, insufferable behavior. So, if he wanted to get obliterated, that was his choice. I tried to stop him, not only because I didn't want to kneel before that brute in defeat, but because his life was on the line.

That was how dueling worked in Witch Kraft: although players couldn't kill each other (the duel ended when one combatant fell to 1 HP) they could destroy each other's minions. That meant that Kosuke was about to be annihilated, and there was currently no possible way to resurrect him.

Thus, my Kosuke problem was literally about to solve itself.

Again, it didn't have to be this way, and it wasn't my first choice, but you heard him: he insisted on this.

"Then let's begin," said Reems, cracking his knuckles but otherwise not moving.

Just then, one of those janky patchwork birds landed on a nearby tree branch and wound itself up to announce the duel: "Minori, the Pixie Night Witch has challenged Reems, the Behemoth Geomancer to a duel!" 

Its squawk was ear-splitting. It seemed like everyone in Faunhaven had heard the message and was now gathering around. 

Great...

Well, there was no backing out now. We had to fight this giant creep.

The bird wound itself back up then let out another deafening squawk: "Duel starting in—

3

2

1

Fight!"

The Behemoth didn't move. 

Kosuke, however, jumped right in: "Snuggle Punch!"

The impact made something like a kawaii anime sound.

1 damage.

Huh? I thought it did zero damage... oh wait, I forgot about my racial perk: Childlike Fascination (all doll minions get +1 to all stats). So actually, he did zero damage, plus 1.

Yet Reems' HP bar didn't seem to budge at all. Not only was he four times my level, but he also had his own racial perk, Thickheadedness, which increased his HP by 10 percent.

"Heyyyyyaaaaaa: Super Snuggle Flurry Punch!" roared Kosuke.

Did he just unlock a new ability?!

1,1, Miss, Dodge, 1, Miss, Dodge, 1, Miss, Dodge, Miss, 1, Miss, 1, 1, Miss, Dodge—

So read the combat log, appearing as ephemeral numbers and words, bouncing into existence from the point of impact before disappearing just as quick. 

It really seemed as if Kosuke, through his fury, had unlocked another ability.

Well, now Reems' HP seemed to be missing a hair's breadth of its fullness. If I had to guess, it was still at 99% at least.

As I thought that, the actual percentage showed on his health bar. Apparently, I'd just the switched settings.

Kosuke unleashed another Snuggle Punch: 

Crit! 3 damage.

Reems' eye twitched as his HP fell to 98%.

Could we actually win this? 

Maybe if he just keeps standing there—sneering, without fighting back. 

Either way, it was time to give Kosuke a little back up: "Ice Shard!" I cried as an icicle shot from my outstretched palms.

"Arg!" it stuck into his chest, right beneath the nipple.

95% HP.

The Ice Shard finally wiped that stupid sneer of his face, at least. But now, he was angry.

"I think that's enough fun for now..." He set his heavy brewer cask down and started rolling his shoulders.

"Super Snuggle Flurry Punch!" roared Kosuke.

"Bestial Slash!" roared the Behemoth.

Oh no... 

He used his racial ability. Behemoths had a devastating melee attack they could unleash upon anyone dumb enough to come within range. They used their massive claws, which made bear paws look like dainty little highborn maiden fingers, to tear through their opponents. Indeed, each of his nails were sharp and long as knives.

They tore through Kosuke's socky flesh like a rake through a wet sheet of paper. The tattered shreds of his now lifeless body fell to the ground, with cottony entrails spilling out of him.

I could do nothing but stand with my mouth open in shock. Of course I wasn't surprised, but I was still shocked that it would be over so easily; that Kosuke could be a vibrant little fluff ball of unrelenting energy one second, and be reduced to a pile of shreds open the ground the next.

"Moonbeam!" I shouted, targeting Kosuke, in hope of healing him. Yet, as I feared, I just got an error sound.

The dead could not be healed.

The Behemoth then turned to me. Oh no...

The duel was still ongoing.