The entire lagoon surged upward, lifting the Knot with it.
Wow.
We jumped back before we were drenched.
"Whoa!!!" Gléonwon also shouted from above us. Fewer Ice blocks were raining down now that we'd severed several Threads, but not enough.
The Knot hung suspended in the air above us, dripping water and blazing with Elemental energy.
I stared in shock.
[System Notification: Warning! Distorted Realm stability at 15%!]
Llewellyn was staring at me.
"How did you—"
"I'll explain later!" I said, shaking myself out of it. "We can sever more Threads now that we don't have to worry about reaching the Knot underwater on time!"
"Fine!" Llewellyn said. "Keep going!"
I flagged an Air Thread and Wind creatures tore out, spinning across the lagoon surface.
Before I could even raise my Moonlight Sword, Llewellyn had jumped back into the fight, his sword flashing.
Amazing as always.
I flagged another Ice Thread, grabbed more Fire from Gléonwon's attacks overhead, and threw them at a cluster of Ice creatures.
We kept flagging and fighting, trying to untangle the Knot.
While it was underwater, I couldn't be sure that the Threads I was selecting were right because I couldn't see the tangle at the core of the Knot, so I'd likely severed some useless ones.
I had to be smart with my choices now.
It wasn't easy. We didn't have enough time.
[System Notification: Warning! Distorted Realm stability at 9%!]
I gritted my teeth and flagged a Wood Thread.
Llewellyn cursed and switched to Fire, cutting the new spindly creatures down.
As I flagged more and more Threads, Llewellyn kept fighting, his sword cutting through the creatures, switching Elements mid-strike.
"Keep going!" he yelled.
[System Notification: Warning! Distorted Realm stability at 7%!]
Fuck.
I kept flagging.
"How many more?" Llewellyn called, ducking under a wind creature's sweep.
The Knot hung there, dripping, blazing gold. It was thinner now, but the tangle at the core was still dense. I needed to mute something, but the Wind creatures were circling us and I couldn't focus long enough to expand properly.
An Ice wolf lunged at me.
Llewellyn's blade cut it down immediately.
"Focus!"
"I am focusing!"
Gléonwon's Fire lit up the sky again, steam billowing.
A Wood creature came at me from the left.
I slashed at it with my sword. Water burst from the strike, then I pulled Fire from Gléonwon again and hit it. The creature caught fire, shrieking.
Magic flowed through me as I expanded in and out of the Field without any effort. It looked like I wasn't limited to using only Water now and it felt amazing.
[System Notification: Warning! Distorted Realm stability at 5%!]
"I'm going to sever it now!" Llewellyn yelled.
"Not alone! Let me help!"
Gléonwon flew back briefly, trying to figure out what we were doing. When he finally realized, he rushed forward too.
Then, before I could hit the Knot, Penguin turned into a fish, holding onto my sleeve. Damn!
We all hit the Knot at once—us with swords, Gléonwon with Fire precise enough that it didn't hurt us, and Penguin channeling Water through me.
A blast of Magic exploded outward. I landed back on the lagoon, Penguin flapping in my cupped hands.
Then… silence.
The ice blocks stopped falling. The mist cleared slowly, revealing the frozen lagoon under the night sky.
I straightened up on the Water, panting.
"It's done," I told Penguin. "No need to worry."
Penguin flapped more.
Gléonwon landed beside us. "Did I do good?"
"You were amazing," I said. "Really the best. You kept us safe throughout."
Gléonwon puffed up happily.
"All good?" I asked Llewellyn.
"All good," he confirmed.
I sighed in relief.
Suddenly… wait, were those voices?!
My head snapped toward the shore.
There were lights. Multiple lights. Flashlights, phone screens, and… camera flashes.
Fuck.
That was a lot of people!
"Penguin," I said, turning my back to the crowd. "Go back around my wrist!"
Penguin obeyed immediately.
Meanwhile Gléonwon's head whipped toward the voices.
Before I could say anything, he shrank and jumped into my arms, pressing himself against my chest.
Uh.
Damn it. Had they recorded him?!
Llewellyn stepped in front of us immediately, shielding us, and teleported us away.
***
We landed on Mount Dalrin, right in front of the temple, and rushed inside for some warmth.
"Fuck," I said as we huddled under the flaming chandelier. "They definitely recorded us. And him."
Gléonwon climbed out of my arms and landed on the floor, changing back to his full size. "What does that mean?"
"It means people saw you, unfortunately. In a few hours, pretty much everyone will know you exist."
"Oh." Gléonwon's tail swished. "Is that a bad thing?"
Llewellyn vanished his sword and brought a hand to his face, sighing.
"Hopefully not. System, how safe is Mount Dalrin for Gléonwon? Do we need to secure it somehow?"
[System Notification: Negative. The location is safe. Misdirection measures will be applied all around the temple area for added security.]
"Misdirection measures? You mean you'll turn people around and drive them away?"
[Correct.]
I exhaled. That wasn't too bad.
And Gléonwon had still had concealment on, so maybe the recordings wouldn't be too clear.
Llewellyn's phone started ringing immediately.
…Or not.
"Emma," Llewellyn said.
Emma's voice coming through the phone was very loud.
"Yes. Just… I don't… Look—"
Looked like Llewellyn wasn't going to be able to get a word in.
"Say that anyone coming after him or after Ryo will be hunted down by me personally."
"I CAN'T SAY THAT!" Emma's voice came from the other side, loud enough for me to hear.
"Fine," Llewellyn said. "Come up with your version of what I just said, but make it clear that they're under my protection."
More noise from Emma's side. I couldn't make out the words except for "GOVERNMENT"—she was speaking fast.
"You can say whatever you like," Llewellyn said.
…I doubted Emma was going to be happy with that.
Llewellyn sighed. "Yes. I'll stay offline."
A pause.
"Alright. I'll try to make Ryo stay offline too."
"Hey!"
The call ended.
Llewellyn put the phone away, then pinched the bridge of his nose.
"That bad?"
"She thinks the dragon is about to become a political problem."
I sighed.
At least they hadn't spotted Penguin properly. I mean, they might have seen a fish, but he almost never used that form. At least nobody would be looking for a penguin.
Speaking of Penguin…
"Hey, Penguin," I said. "You can come out now."
Penguin morphed out of his wristwatch form immediately and rushed up my arm, rubbing his little head on my neck.
"You were really good," I told him. "You're safe now."
Also, wait…
"Where's your shard?" I asked Gléonwon. I hadn't seen it all evening.
"I put it in my inventory," Gléonwon said. "I have an inventory now. Look."
A moment later, the shard appeared floating next to him again.
"Hey, you little thing," I said. "Are you okay?"
The shard hung there for a moment, then floated toward me. It let itself be patted by Penguin, then floated back.
I sat down on the floor, exhausted.
Llewellyn looked at me and sat down next to me.
"How are you feeling?" I asked Gléonwon. "Is it fine if we leave?"
"Yes?" Gléonwon said, sounding genuinely confused. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You're right. Sometimes I forget how strong you are."
"That's fine," Gléonwon said, puffing himself up. "Are we going to have to fight again? I liked fighting. It was fun."
Well… hopefully not!
"You look exhausted," Llewellyn said to me. "Let's go home."
My phone had started to vibrate madly a while ago too, but I was ignoring it. I took out a Divine Restoration Draught and passed one to Llewellyn too.
"Do you realize that we still haven't managed a normal date?" I said.
Llewellyn huffed out a laugh.