At that moment, Emi… finished off the creature. A true silence, heavy and complete, fell over the field. She turned, and her golden aura began to dim, receding to its usual glow. But something had changed. In her eyes, in her bearing. She had crossed a threshold.
She walked toward them. Her steps were firm, but her face showed a deep, serene fatigue. She stopped in front of Alex and looked at him.
"Thank you," she said, and the simple word resonated with immense weight. "What you did… wasn't just a boost. It was… different. I felt… complete."
Alex nodded, not knowing what to say—since he knew perfectly well that Emi said that just to make him feel included and that his support power was useless for her, but it had always been reinforcement in her eyes. But what had flowed from him in his moment of desperation, and what now resonated in Emi, felt like something more. As if he had activated something inside her that had always been dormant.
That's when he noticed it. A dull, persistent pain in the center of his chest, where he had felt that renewed energy well up. It wasn't a physical injury. It was like a… mark. A resonance.
Emi extended her hand to help him up. At the contact, a faint golden spark jumped between their skins. Both shuddered.
Aria watched the scene, and her smile became more thoughtful than playful. The rivalry was still there, but now she understood that the battle wouldn't be for Emi's "protagonism," but for something within Alex himself, something his power seemed to have unveiled.
The field was clean. The immediate threat, eradicated.
The power of the protagonist wasn't just hers.
It was a fire that, once shared, could end up consuming the one who fed it as well.
Emi lowered her weapon of light. Then, with visible effort, she turned to Aria.
"Thank you for your help," she said, and after a pause, "And… I'm sorry for my attitude before. It wasn't fair."
Aria, surprised, straightened up a bit. The princess in her responded before the rival.
"The apology is accepted. I also must apologize for my… intrusion."
They both looked at Alex, the unwilling catalyst of it all. He let out a sigh that seemed to come from his boots, looked at the sky as if asking for patience, and then, with a gesture that was half resignation, half affection, he raised his hands and gave each girl a soft tap on the head.
"Easy there. It's over."
Emi made an annoyed face, but her eyes shone. Aria, on the other hand, smiled openly, as if she had won a small prize.
"My daughter!"
Duke Alaric's voice boomed across the clearing. He appeared among the rubble, his elegance intact despite the dust on the edges of his cloak. He embraced Aria with palpable relief.
"You're safe!" Then, he addressed the heroes. "You… I have no words."
"It was nothing," Emi repeated automatically, though her posture said otherwise.
Alex, unable to help himself, murmured under his breath:
"Things just keep getting more interesting… in the worst possible sense."
---
The opulence of the hall contrasted brutally with the battlefield. Emi and Aria sank into a velvet sofa, while Alex remained standing by the window, watching as servants methodically erased the traces of chaos. It was a terrifying efficiency.
The Duke broke the silence, a glass of wine in his hand.
"For your exceptional service, an exceptional reward is in order."
"Oh, no, Your Grace, it's really not necessa—" Emi began, but was interrupted by an elbow from Alex.
"Excuse me, Your Grace," said Alex with suspiciously sudden politeness. "Could you quantify 'exceptional'? I'm asking for a friend. The friend is my stomach."
"ALEX!" Emi hit him on the arm.
The Duke laughed, the smile of an old wolf.
"For the heroine Emi, one hundred thousand gold pieces. For saving my home and my people."
The sound Emi made was a cross between a hiccup and a squeak.
"ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND?! That's a fortune! I can't…!"
"With that," Alex whispered, leaning in, "you could buy smoked dragon bacon. And fairy-honey pastries. For years."
Emi's stomach rumbled with devastating eloquence. Her eyes turned into golden coins.
"I… ACCEPT!" she declared, grabbing a sofa cushion in excitement.
The Duke nodded, satisfied, and then turned his gaze to Alex.
"And for you, young Alex. For saving my daughter…"
Alex straightened up, mild curiosity on his face.
"Yes?"
"I offer you…" the Duke continued, making a dramatic pause.