turn-based combat

It would be real strange to have a bad end in which he died at the hands of another love interest, huh. But unfortunately for Orion, he’d learned from Halie last night that sometimes otome games were Just Like That. So he was ready. Sort of. Ready to die fighting at least, if he really was going to die here.

“This is probably a good time to tell you,” Orion yelled across the room, as one of the security guards swung his metal bat at him again. “But did you know Aries’s affection for you is at zero percent?”

“How do you know that?!” Halie screamed back at him, armed with nothing but a pair of bamboo chopsticks—one of which had snapped in half when she tried to stab a man in the leg. Despite it all, she was truly breathtaking in that moment, hair wild and eyes flashing, teeth bared like she wasn’t intending to die here at all.

“The Entity told me!” he said loudly, tearing his gaze away from her.

“What the fuck is that?”

“Is this the right time to have this conversation?”

When else would be a good time to have this conversation? He was staring death in the face, against three men armed with primitive metal bats, and the Entity couldn’t even offer him any cool attacks like in a video game or something.

“I’m an otome game system!”

“Then give me a choice that I can use,” he hissed, tumbling backward and narrowly avoiding getting his skull smashed open. “You can do that, can’t you?”

“I’m trying! I can’t have you dying here either.”

“Then try harder!”

Orion heard a grunt of pain, looking up just in time to see Halie tripping a guard with a hard yank on the strap of the strawberry backpack tangled with his foot. She had adjusted so well to this situation that he’d believe her if she said she was playing a fighting game. She fought dirty though, not befitting of an otome game heroine at all.

Well, if that was what it took.

“This is an obstruction of justice!” Aries bellowed. He was rushing at him with the metal bat, and Orion was starting to get why he managed to evade his attacks so far. The sheer weight of the weapon made that guy’s movements slow and janky. And each of the council guards took turns trying to take a swing, instead of beating him up all at once. The consideration was much appreciated.

“Is justice beating up your citizens with metal bats?” Orion countered, watching Aries smash the weapon into the floor. The impact sent vibrations through the ground, and he was positive everyone in the building was going to come running sooner or later. But the guards wouldn’t let him near the door, and they were slowly cornering them against the far back wall.

“She attacked us first!” the guard lying on the floor wheezed, clutching at his leg. That was the guy Halie had stabbed, unprovoked, at the very start. He never got up again, but he was clearly still fine if he could talk, right?

“So would you have heard us out?” Orion asked, and Aries paused where he stood.

“There is nothing to hear if you stand against Mayor Mahogainy,” he said at last. “You defend the traitor’s sister. You defend an insurgent group threatening to destroy the order of our city. Have you any idea of the gravity of your choice, old friend?”

Well, it didn’t matter at this point because Aries was still trying to crack his skull open so they were even, right? He jumped nimbly out of the way when Aries brandished the bat at him again.

Orion had led a sedentary office worker lifestyle before he died, but Magnaolia had enough agility and stamina to dodge around. And Halie fought tooth and nail (and chopstick) like a feral cat. When he took a step backwards and felt her shoulderblades press against his back, a surge of adrenaline rushed through his veins.

Maybe he was actually losing his mind, but this was the most fun he’d ever had since dying the first time.

“Did you die a second time?”

“If you have time to be snarky with me, then help me figure something out!”

“I’m thinking.”

The story was falling apart at the seams, the Entity told him wordlessly. Because of that, there was little it could do as a mere overseer of the world.

“Easy for you to wash your hands of any responsibilities,” Orion grumbled, barely dodging another hit. “Argh, you’re not the one fighting for your life!”

“Lure Aries to the window,” the Entity said abruptly. “This guy can’t aim for shit. Make him break the window—and there’s your escape route.”

His knees were aching, and Aries’s swings were slowing down. But he still forced himself to move closer to the duct-taped windows, where he could see the faint, orange light streaming through the cracks. If he took a closer look, maybe he could see the sky. In the corner of his eye, he saw Halie waving her arms around wildly. She was mouthing something, and maybe Orion should’ve told her that he couldn’t read lips—

And then he heard a sickening crunch before he felt the explosion of pain as Aries’s metal bat collided with his ribs.

Orion crumpled to the floor, retching, barely able to think through the pain that spread from his chest like wildfire. He heard the Entity saying something urgently in his head, but his brain was too hazy for it to register. His consciousness blurred in and out in the unbearable agony, flickering into darkness.

But then he thought he heard Halie’s high-pitched scream, and her voice cut through the buzzing static. It was the only thing he could hear, and it sounded like she was right next to his ear. Who…was she talking to…?

“Oh my god. You’re Actaeus, right? You’re definitely Actaeus. I recognize your voice!”

“The window? Okay.”

“Over here, you stupid man! I never liked you in the game anyway!”

The sound of glass shattering cut through the fog.

“I’m not going to grab him by the jaw this time, who do you think I am?”

In the daze of pain, Orion felt someone hoist him to his feet, an arm supporting his slumping shoulders. His ribs throbbed, and he thought he heard Halie murmur softly in his ear.

“You’ll be alright, Orion. I promise.”

A deep breath. “Now, all I need to do is jump out this freaking window.”

And then her voice grew clipped and business-like, as if she was talking to someone else again.

“Hey, hey, think the scarf will be long enough?”

“You know what, it’s just the second floor. I think my knees can take it.”

“Shut up, you were never there when I needed you! You’d better have an explanation later as to why Buragandy is trying to kill us.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault now?”

Arms wound snugly around Orion’s waist, and pain shot through his ribcage again. In his daze and against Halie’s crystal-clear voice sounding in his ears, he felt a fresh breeze blow through his hair.

“Three, two, one—”

There was a wrenching feeling in his gut, and then he was falling, falling, falling, and then there was nothing at all.