The copy-Knot resisted.
When I'd willed the lagoon up in Iceland, the water had moved effortlessly. This thing pushed back with everything it had.
I crouched down in the shallow water and placed my hand down too.
"Down," I ordered again. Then, somehow, I expanded myself to the reflected Threads and willed them shut.
The copy-Knot shuddered. All around us, I felt the copy-Threads strain against my hold, but I was managing for now.
Shit, this was difficult.
Somewhere nearby, Penguin was chirping madly, and I could hear the hiss of steam and the crash of Llewellyn's attacks.
I couldn't really look, though. If I split my attention, I'd lose my grip, and I still had the regular Threads to flag. I just had to wait for Llewellyn and Penguin to take care of the current wave of copies while I stopped new ones coming out of the copy-Threads first and, once they were done, flag the Threads as I usually would.
"It's fine now," Llewellyn yelled after a while. "Start flagging!"
Thank goodness. Holding the copy-Knot down was even more exhausting than I'd anticipated.
I reached for a Metal Thread at a safe enough distance from me.
[System Notification: Elemental Thread flagged!]
The Thread tore open. I could hear the shriek of Metal creatures pouring out and Llewellyn and Penguin's attacks.
The fact that I couldn't jump into the fight was pissing me off, even though it was necessary for me to do what I was doing.
Through the bond, I could feel Llewellyn's focus—but also how tired he was. Still, we had to make sure to thin the Knot somehow.
Meanwhile, the copy-Knot kept trying to surge against my hold. My arms were shaking. My everything was shaking.
"Flag another!" Llewellyn yelled.
While he fought the Elemental creatures coming out of the Threads, Penguin seemed to be focusing on catching the rogue creatures coming for me.
Shit. I didn't want a protection squad; I wanted to help with the fight! But I couldn't drop the hold here.
I flagged more Threads and they kept fighting.
Suddenly, a weird noise that had nothing to do with the fight came from somewhere behind me.
What the fuck. Was it some kind of flying bug?!
I tried to turn around and see but I almost lost my hold on the copy-Knot and copy-Threads.
When it finally came into my peripheral vision, I cursed.
It was a drone. Someone was recording us.
You've got to be kidding me.
I was really starting to miss the Elemental storms that normally came with Distorted Realms. This would have been much more difficult for them if there'd been one here!
"There's a drone recording us," I managed to tell Llewellyn through the bond.
Fuck, wait, that'd mean they'd had a view of Penguin too! We hadn't equipped concealment for him! Or us, for that matter! How long had it been here?
I was seething.
Penguin spotted the thing and froze it, just in time for Llewellyn to slice it in half with his flaming sword.
Good. The problem was, the damage was likely done.
Best case scenario, this had been some fan of Llewellyn who wanted a peek, but they might still leak it online. Worst case scenario, a journalist or news station. Even worse, the Alliance—but I had no idea if their power extended all the way to Bolivia.
Still, this sucked. I couldn't focus on it now though.
"Keep flagging!" Llewellyn called.
I could feel his exhaustion through the bond. It also didn't help that he was pacing himself around me, adjusting his position so nothing could get to me.
[System Notification: Warning! Distorted Realm stability at 20%!]
Shit.
I forced my perception back to the Knot. It was thinner. Not thin enough.
"How many more?" I asked Llewellyn.
"Three!" he said. "Maybe four!"
"Make it three!"
"Flag two at once then!"
With how exhausted we all were?! This was a bad idea. These Elements didn't even combine well for Elemental reactions.
"Just do it!" Llewellyn called.
Shit.
I flagged an Earth and a Metal Thread and hoped for the best.
[System Notification: Warning! Distorted Realm stability at 15%!]
The copy-Knot was struggling harder.
Suddenly, the water around my knees leapt upward. For one terrifying second, I saw my own face forming in it, inches from mine.
"Down!"
The copy struggled and melted again with a plop at my feet.
Fuck. That gave me a heart attack.
I didn't care that I'd come back once. I didn't want to die again!
Besides, there was no Gilded here, and he'd be snapped back to Caerwyn's domain even if the System could teleport him here in time, so I couldn't rely on a second resurrection!
"Ryo! What— Why are your distress levels—"
"I'm fine! Focus on the Threads!"
[System Notification: Warning! Distorted Realm stability at 11%!]
"Flag another then!"
Right! I'd been avoiding the Water Threads unless strictly necessary, since we'd had to fight the copies already and we were standing in water, which I felt would help the Water creatures more than us, but… it was necessary now. This specific Thread I was eyeing would lessen the tangle significantly.
I flagged it.
Llewellyn and Penguin jumped into the fight again.
I was sweating. Both of my hands were now sunk in the water and what I assumed was salt.
[System Notification: Warning! Distorted Realm stability at 4%!]
"I'm going to sever it now!" Llewellyn yelled. "Prepare for the recoil!"
…How would the copy-Knot react to the main Knot being severed?!
Llewellyn leapt on a burst of wind, reaching for the reflective bowl-like structure that contained the real Knot, and struck the Knot dead center.
The shockwave hit us and my hold snapped.
I felt like I was falling, sucked into the copy-Knot, then… it vanished.
Fuck. I collapsed forward.
Penguin chirped, alarmed, rushing to me, pressing everywhere.
I'm fine, I wanted to say, I'm just tired. But for almost a full minute I couldn't formulate words.
My Magic also felt weird, like I'd sent it out over great distances and it was having trouble coming back to me.
I supposed that wasn't too far from the truth. I'd been holding down a lot of copy-Threads across the flat.
[System Notification: Distorted Realm neutralized! Threat contained. +6,000 Coins awarded!]
"Am fine," I managed when Llewellyn finally reached me. "Exhausted."
Llewellyn cursed and took a bunch of Potions out of his inventory, then tipped a Divine Restoration Draught into my mouth.
[System Notification: To speed up your recovery, consider maximizing physical contact with Partner for shared Healing Bonus!]
I couldn't help it. I snorted.
"You know," I said, wiping my mouth with my sleeve (though it didn't achieve much since I was currently drenched), "this would've been a great date spot."
Llewellyn's forehead dropped to my shoulder. It took me a second to realize he was laughing.
"Add it to the list of spots for dates we never manage to finish," he said. Then he raised his head and looked at me. "All good?"
"Me?" I said. "You're the one who just fought all those things by yourself!"
"I'm fine," Llewellyn said. "I wasn't the one holding down a whole salt flat's worth of Magic."
Penguin chirped, wedging himself between us and checking us both, looking concerned.
"We're both fine," I told him, petting him. "Are you okay? You were amazing. Do you need a Potion too?"
Penguin thought about it and then chirped to say no, before going back to nuzzling us.
Ah, he was adorable. Quite lethal when he needed to be, but… also adorable.
He'd really been amazing.
Obviously, I trusted the two of them with my life, but I had to admit… I was still stunned to see that I wasn't dead.
In the distance, we suddenly heard engines.
"…"
When we looked, we could see jeeps coming our way.
Shit.
"Let's get out of here," Llewellyn said.
Exactly.
He wrapped an arm around my waist, while I secured Penguin in my pocket. The salt flat around us vanished.
For a moment I'd worried we'd be teleported back to St. Caerwyn's temple, but thankfully the System did get us back home.
Llewellyn and I both collapsed on the sofa, while Lumos popped back into the room and ran to us, tail wagging.
Llewellyn lifted him onto the sofa with us and we just sat there dripping everywhere, feeling like death.
I'd spare a thought for his sofa, but… even that was too much right now.
A few moments later, Llewellyn nuzzled closer and kissed my jaw. So… well, obviously I cupped his head and pulled him into a kiss.
It was messy because we were too tired to even move to slot ourselves properly, but… well. My stomach had gone fluttery regardless.
Anyway.
I'd probably have fallen asleep like this in the next five seconds if both our phones hadn't suddenly started going crazy.
Llewellyn reached for his, scowling.
He unlocked it, looked at the screen, and groaned.
…That didn't bode well.
"The footage is already out," he said after a moment, looking up at me. "And it has Penguin in it, too."