The air in the ducal hall still smelled of burnt ozone and wounded pride. Alex slumped into a chair opposite Duke Alaric, slowly turning a glass of water between his hands. The liquid trembled with an almost imperceptible shake that didn't come from his fingers.
"It seems women give you more trouble than demons, my boy," commented the Duke, leaning back on his throne with a smile that was half-mockery, half-veteran sympathy.
Alex let out a sigh that seemed to come from his boots.
"I didn't do anything. Literally, nothing. Why are they like this? It's as if... as if they're playing a match and I'm the ball no one wants to pass."
The Duke laughed, a deep, resonant sound.
"Ah, but that's because you're the trophy, Alex! Both have their eyes on you."
Alex stared at him, incredulous.
"That's absurd. Emi is my partner. My... anchor in this crazy world. And Aria has known me since yesterday. The only thing I did was not let her fall to the floor."
"And there's the detail," said the Duke, pointing a finger at him. "For a heroine used to saving others, seeing someone protect her can be... disconcerting. And for a princess locked in a tower of protocols, a gesture of genuine protection, with no ulterior motives, is rarer and more valuable than a diamond. Feelings, young Alex, don't follow a script. Sometimes they sprout in the most unexpected soil."
Alex was about to refute, but the echo of those words resonated in an uncomfortable place in his chest. He remembered Emi's look when he told her he was just a "supporting character." It wasn't just anger. There was something else...
BANG!
The hall door flew open. Emi stood in the doorway. Her golden aura, normally radiant, pulsed with an irregular light, like an angry heart. She wasn't looking at Alex. She was looking at the exact spot where Aria had been standing.
"Alex. We talk. Now."
Her tone brooked no argument. It was the voice of the heroine giving orders. But before Alex could articulate a "What?", another figure appeared in the opposite doorway.
Aria. Her violet aura, once electric, was now a dense, cold mist swirling around her. Her expression was one of regal determination, but her eyes shone with an intensity she hadn't shown before.
"I also have something to say to you, Alex."
The two girls glanced at each other sideways. The air between them thickened, charged with a silent competition that made the chandeliers tinkle faintly.
Alex rubbed his temple. An epic headache was looming.
"Alright. But one at a time. This isn't a courtroom."
"Me first!" they said in unison, and instantly glared at each other again, this time with almost visible sparks crossing the room.
The Duke stifled a laugh into a fist, pretending to cough.
"You know what?" Alex proposed, raising his hands. "Let's all talk. That way there's no advantage."
Emi firmly crossed her arms.
"What is there to talk about? It's clear. We're a team. I'm his partner. We travel together, we fight together. That's not up for discussion."
Aria gave a smile that didn't reach her violet eyes.
"And that journey, according to my father, could include a royal escort. Or a wife. Alex is free to choose whom he fights with... and whom he protects."
"He already chose me!" Emi retorted, turning toward Alex, and for the first time, her voice held a hint of... uncertainty? "Right, Alex?"
Alex felt the floor opening beneath his feet. Choose? He hadn't chosen anything. He'd been dragged. He'd been summoned. His only "choice" had been not letting Emi get herself killed by recklessness. And now that gesture put him in the eye of an emotional hurricane.
"Wait, wait. No one is choosing anyone. This isn't a contest and I'm not a—"
KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK-BOOOOOM!
An apocalyptic roar cut off his words. It wasn't thunder. It was the sound of something massive breaking. The entire castle shook. The stained-glass windows clattered violently and a painting crashed to the floor.
The Duke jumped to his feet, all amusement wiped from his face, replaced by the coldness of a warrior.
"Defenses!" he roared, but his order was drowned out by a second, closer explosion.
Emi and Aria instantly forgot their dispute, running to the largest window. Alex joined them.
The view was a nightmare made reality.
On the horizon, where green fields once were, a black crack was opening in the earth, vomiting smoke and shadows. And from it emerged a figure horribly familiar to them: a demon with black scales and twisted horns, similar to the one in the cave, but twice as large. Its dark aura was so dense it snuffed out the twilight light around it, creating a circle of perpetual night.
And it wasn't alone. From the ground emerged, like worms from an infected wound, dozens of smaller creatures. Distorted humanoids, beasts with skin of molten rock, all with eyes glowing with the same sickly red light.
"It's... an invasion," murmured Emi, her voice laden with disbelief.
"How? We purged them in the cave!" exclaimed Alex, his mind calculating numbers, distances, the logistical impossibility.
The Duke approached, his profile outlined against the window like a general before a disaster map.
"This isn't a random attack. It's a coordinated assault. They've been waiting."
Aria, pale but with her jaw clenched, stepped forward.
"The outer perimeter has already fallen. Father, give the order. I'll lead the guardians of the north wing."
"No." Alex's word was sharp, cutting. Everyone looked at him. His usual expression of resignation had vanished. Now it was pure tactical assessment. "Aria, your place is here, organizing the evacuation of civilians to the fortified basements. That's your battle."
"I can fight!" she protested, the violet aura crackling around her.
"And I can think!" Alex retorted, and his tone silenced her. "This isn't a duel for honor. It's a war of survival. We need the castle not to collapse from within while we hold back the tide from outside. Can you do it?"
His gaze, through his glasses, was relentless. It wasn't a question. It was a test.
Aria held his gaze for a second that felt like an eternity. Then, with a jerky nod, she assented.
"...Yes. I will."
"Emi," Alex turned to her. "You're the heavy artillery. I need you to cause as much chaos on the right flank as you can. Distract them. Don't get bogged down in long fights."
Emi looked at him, and for an instant, the heroine disappeared, revealing the girl who trusted him more than she herself admitted.
"And you?"
Alex looked toward the approaching horde, then toward the colossal shadow of the leader demon. A desperate, reckless plan began to form in his mind.
"I'm going to go say 'hello' to the big one. See if we can... chat about why I'm here."
"Are you insane? It's ten times bigger than the last one!" Emi shouted.
"Exactly," said Alex, and a strange, almost fierce smile touched his lips. "It'll be slower. And more predictable. While I keep it busy, you thin their numbers. And Aria..."
He looked her in the eye.
"...keep this castle standing. It's our only fallback point."
Without waiting for further approval, Alex headed for the exit. Emi followed immediately, her golden aura bursting into a glow of pure determination.
At the threshold, Alex turned one last time. The Duke gave him a slight nod, pride and worry mixed in his gaze. Aria watched him, fists clenched, but with a new understanding in her orange eyes.
They weren't the looks of rivals.
They were the looks of allies on the brink of the abyss.
"Let's go!" shouted Emi, and they ran out into the bloodstained twilight, toward the tide of shadows rising to swallow them.
The Duke watched from the window as the first waves of dark creatures crashed against the outer walls. The fate of his duchy, and perhaps much more, hung by a thread.