Final Gambit

Mana, the immortal witch, the one who got tricked into summoning us to this world. Ever since I first saw her in that prison, I knew that I had to save her no matter what.

Because she reminded me of myself.

And later—because I thought she might be the only one who would accept me.

“Hah, you’ll do no such thing,” I said calmly. “You need her to get to other worlds, don’t you? Because hers are the only spells you can’t learn.”

“I don’t give a fuck about that right now,” the boy said. “I have an entire world out here, too. It’s not like I have to keep expanding. Besides, who said I can’t learn it with enough time? Or invent it? Time is not something I lack. …She’s not my type anyway.”

This was bad. He really was thinking of just finishing this fight.

He might still want me—the fact he mentioned just Mana was telling—but the other girl was in real danger now.

“You’ll have to get through me, then,” I said, feeling my eyes blazing.

He actually smiled and laughed. “White knighting for her, are you? Such irony!”

Such a stupid term. How did that even apply here? Three was way too terminally online.

I saw his fingers move and had the feeling he was going to use a devastating blow. I leapt to the right and rolled.

As I expected, a bolt of lightning shot out and struck the spot I had occupied a moment ago. And as he moved his fingers again, I knew to dodge another one.

I had to thank Sage Jarred for that one.

Most mages use their fingers to direct their spellcasting, he’d told us during their strategy meetings. It helps us focus and direct our spells. I doubt even Three is free from this habit.

He next raised his hands for another attack, but I had a hunch about that.

Leaping, I swung Tarisha just in time to absorb a lightning strike aimed at Mana. She shrieked even as I blocked it, obviously slower than any attack.

Mana was no fighter. She simply had her unique magic, and no more.

I had to protect her.

I knew how difficult this would be from the very beginning, but I wasn’t going to give up on her.

“Mana!” I called out. “Run away!”

“Eh? But…”

“Run away, I said!”

“Do you really think I’ll just let her?!” raged Three, waving his hands again. This time he didn’t aim for Mana, but I knew what he was trying to do—he shot yet another pillar of flames at me.

A moment before the mogage tip shattered, he waved another hand.

“MANA!” I shouted as I quickly pulled something from my pocket and threw it away.

It was another mogage fragment—my very last one. My aim was true and it absorbed the attack aimed at her just in time.

Exchanging one final glance—I could see her entire body was shaking with worry even as she did what I told her—she opened the door and vanished into it.

A moment later, a section of the earth pounded into me from the side, throwing me away. It was a moment of inattention due to my relief.

“You’re annoying me so much… just stop resisting!”

The important thing was that Mana got away. I didn’t even care that my sides hurt very much and that I couldn’t feel one leg. Nor about the fact my head was bleeding, dyeing one side of my vision in red.

“Three… it’s time for us to finish this,” I said, spitting some blood. I rose to my legs, though I could barely stand. I somehow balanced myself on my numb leg.

“Where did you send her?” he asked me.

“Hah, do you even care? You can just look for her later. She’s powerless alone,” I told him.

He actually smiled. “That’s true. Yes, we should finish matters between us. First… let’s make sure you can’t resist.”

He snapped his fingers but there was no preparing for this attack—a great gust of wind engulfed the area, blowing my hair back.

“Oh?” he said, sounding surprised as the wind died down. “Was that all the mogage you had?”

I was somewhat confused about this attack that didn’t even make me stumble, but those words explained it. He was probably trying to overwhelm my remaining supply of mogage by overloading it with a useless spell.

But yes—I carried no more mogage.

It was now just me and Tarisha.

“Three—no, C. There’s something I want to ask you,” I said while taking a step forward. I had to drag my leg with a doddering gait.

Seeing my condition and knowing I was out of options, Three seemed to relax a little. He floated a little closer to the ground, though remained wary of any desperate attack.

“Ask me? At this stage?” He actually looked confused. “You sure are talkative today, Saga. Go ahead.”

“Are you glad to have come here? Do you enjoy all this?” I asked. “Inflicting all this suffering… having as many women as you’d like… conquering the world? Do you derive pleasure from this?”

It was similar to what he asked me before during the early stages of our journey. I now directed the same sort of question at him.

He remained oddly silent, so I continued.

“Were you always like this?” I muttered, taking even more steps forward. I was getting closer and closer to Three, though he didn’t seem to mind this. “Did you always have the potential to become like that, even back in class… or was it this world that made you become so? The situation? The power?”

“What a philosophical question,” he said with a grin. “Trying to psychoanalyze me or something? Trying to sound smart, Saga? That doesn’t really work when you look like a dumb blonde right now. You don’t even have your glasses anymore.” His smile was waning more and more by the moment. “Do you expect me to have some sob story, about how I was always ignored and ridiculed in class, with everyone looking down on me, until I finally managed to achieve something worthwhile and felt like I deserved to have everything for it? That it’s all because of my deep-seated inferiority, blah blah blah?”

I gave no answer. I just readied Tarisha and tried to ignore the pain racking my body.

“Well, fuck that. You’re wrong. I don’t give a damn about all that. Why do you think I became a game dev in the first place? To have a world of my own. That’s all I wanted!”

“…Do you think you’re special?” I asked.

He smiled. “Of course I am. Isn’t Avallux the proof of that?”

It was true that he was special—but that wasn’t what I meant by my question. I, too, was special.

I couldn’t really claim to be any more moral than Three.

If I was set on the same path as him, perhaps I would have made similar choices. If I’d been in this world alone, it was possible I’d end up just slaughtering whoever and whatever crossed my path.

But I wasn’t alone. Not even now.

“So anyway, what I—”

“Hah. Shut up already, idiot.”

I slashed, getting repelled by the usual defensive barrier and nearly stumbling as a result.

“…Is that all you have?” Three asked, sounding bored. “Just that stupid sword? No more tricks?”

I slashed again. He made no attempt to dodge or even attack back. I stabbed and I struck, but it all ended the same.

“Hah, don’t call Tarisha stupid,” I whispered.

“It’s a freaking sword!” Three said. “You’re starting to bore me. Can’t you just pass out already? That’s some horrible bleeding. Oh, don’t worry, I won’t do anything untoward to your unconscious body… not yet. The only thing that sucks is that I have to go back all the way to the castle before looking for Mana… what a pain. I really should have kept a spare Two or two. Hehe. Hahaha, get it?”

I jumped. I slashed. I even tried tackling him, but his defense was absolute. And I knew I wasn’t going to deplete his energy any time soon.

Three yawned. “Why even bother?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Because of Mana.”

“Hmm? You mean buying time for her escape?”

He was wrong.

“C,” I pointedly said. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t want to kill you. Even I… wanted to have fun in this world. But we can no longer go back. We have to finish this.”

“Right,” he agreed, frowning. “We’re going to end everything.”

He reached forward—probably intending to blast me with some spell or other. My arms already felt so weak that I knew I wouldn’t be able to parry any sort of spell. My vision was growing blurry as well.

One side was obscured by blood, and the other only had the barest of flames within it.

“Hah. You’ve made just one mistake, Three,” I said.

“The only mistake I made was not finishing this off way earlier.”

“I guess that too, but that’s not what I meant. —You underestimated Mana.”

Three frowned, but before he could say anything—a door opened up right above him and the pink-haired girl appeared from within. Wielding the largest chunk of mogage we had remaining, she simply struck through the barrier and made a satisfying crack on the boy’s head.

Grabbing Tarisha for one final thrust, I stabbed Three straight through the chest.