Xavier exhaled sharply. "So it's true. The World Will's last move."
"Yes."
"And the cost?"
Alvin swallowed.
"It's sacrificing itself," he said. "To buy us a year."
Silence.
Xavier stared at the table, knuckles whitening where his hands rested.
Alvin hesitated, then nodded. "We bickered. Constantly. It complained. I mocked it. It even trembled alot when I scared it."
Xavier blinked. "Seriously?"
"I carved a mana array into a fault line in retaliation."
"…You're both insane."
"Yes," Alvin said serenely. "Anyway. Now it's gone. Or going."
Xavier's voice softened. "And it left you holding the mess."
Alvin shrugged. "It always does."
Xavier stepped closer.
"You don't have to do this alone," he said.
Alvin smiled faintly. "You say that, but you're still human."
"So?"
"So this isn't something I can delegate," Alvin replied. "I'm Half Divine, remember? This is… my scale of disaster."
Xavier frowned. "That doesn't mean I'm useless."
"I didn't say that."
"You implied it."
