Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Daniel has done plenty of things he’s not proud of, especially since coming to Zenkon. His conscience has some stains, but he is still able to function in spite of that.
Of course, a long time ago, what almost feels like half a lifetime with everything that happens, Daniel sold his soul to a being far more sinister than any demon or devil.
He’s not sure exactly when the contract was made.
It could be when he followed a foolish waif into the depths of the darkest castle on the continent. It might have been when he fed a harmless little murder hobo some jerky.
Or, it might have been the very first time he spoke the being’s name.
That being has Daniel at her mercy, as she always had. She could command him to commit almost any evil act, and it is unlikely he would survive if he were to resist her unprecedented power.
That may be true of virtually all of his romantic partners, but one stands above all others. She has more power than she could ever realize, yet she goes along with her weak human servant.
Most of the time.
“Hekate, don’t you think you’ve had enough?” asks Doephluev coldly.
“Three times, Doephluev.” The feldrok teen swishes her big puffy tail at the archoneldwyn who is sitting across from Daniel in the shuttle while a golem pilots it.
Hekate is that being, and she is sprawled across Daniel’s lap while he catches the furry appendage to continue brushing it.
“I’ve been trying all morning to make her tail go bald so she never asks for it again,” jokes Daniel. “I don’t think a single hair has fallen out.”
Hekate gasps and lifts her torso up to look at him with horror in her eyes. “Nuh uh! You’re a liar! You love my big fluffy tail!”
Daniel grips the fur with his hand, tugging on it lightly. Hekate squeals and yelps, shaking across Daniel’s thighs as she scrambles to make Daniel stop. It shouldn’t be too painful for her, but it’s definitely not something she’s used to, since most of the threats to her so far have been ranged attacks or heavy melee strikes. She’s also ticklish, though Daniel has narrowly missed stone-cracking reactionary swings when she tried to defend against him. He wishes he could be more playful, but he does have to be careful with so many super-powered family members.
Especially now that super-powered children will be joining the ranks.
“Gah! Daniel! Stop! Stop it! That tickles! And it feels weird!”
“I have to admit, considering how tough your fur is, it’s stupendously soft.”
Hekate snatches her tail out of Daniel’s hands, hugging it to her chest protectively, even as she continues to sit on his lap. “This was all that evil temptress’s plan, wasn’t it!? She just wants my fur and hair for her weird experiments!”
“We literally told you that’s what it was for,” retorts Daniel mischievously.
Jeavana laughs boisterously, and Senn remarks, “If Wenlianna is an evil temptress, then I suppose I’m a brothel mistress, eh Daniel?”
Daniel scoffs and chuckles, while Hekate pouts and scowls at both of them. “What’s that mean?”
She looks at all four of the adults, but none of them answer her except for Jeavana, who replies, “I’m honestly not sure…” The unscrupulous golden dragon scratches her cheek. “I believe I’ve heard of them, but I’m not sure what they are.”
Hekate glares at Senn, who brought it up.
Daniel finally reveals that he, too, knows as well, and he asks, “Actually, Senn, this brings up an interesting thought. Why aren’t alcohol or brothels more common here? On Earth, they were some of the most ancient luxuries of developed culture.” Hekate’s ears perk up, and she decides to hear them out, so she plops herself down in a seat on Daniel as if he’s a chair.
He holds her, since they’re still a little ways out from the location of the fire, and she’s calm enough as long as she is distracted from the fact that they’re flying.
“If you can believe it, Dearest Daniel, I can’t speak to recreational alcohol, as preservation magic was likely the major reason it never really gained traction, as well as the factor that I can knowingly speak on for brothels. I’ll give you a hint; aside from the seemingly endless new adversaries we find ourselves facing, it’s the one that…”
“The friars and their minions, right?” asks Doephluev, cutting through the fluff.
“Ahem. Yes. And, the friars are responsible for a great many of the inconveniences of this world, on top of the endless war.” She looks at Daniel, adding, “Brothels were deemed problematic in more ways than one. For starters, they acted as a sort of informational exchange location, especially for the exchange of clandestine secrets. They also served as money laundering fronts as well.”
“Oooo!” coos Hekate, perking up. “That sounds interesting! We should make a broth-el?” She halts when Daniel plops his hand on her head.
“Let’s not go out of our way for that one.” Daniel leans close and whispers in her ear, and Hekate’s bright and gung-ho expression quickly turns to irritation and disgust.
She looks at Daniel with lifeless eyes and says dryly, “You should feel right at home, then, huh, Daniel?”
Daniel chuckles nervously, and she presses the attack. “I said, you should feel right at home, then, huh, Daniel?”
“I’ve honestly never been to one myself,” replies Daniel. “Or rather, the modern equivalent…” Hekate stares at him suspiciously, unconvinced by his response.
“What is it?” asks Doephluev with a touch of both innocence and deviousness in her curious tone.
Hekate starts to answer, but Daniel covers her mouth. “Shh. If you tell her, she’ll almost certainly build one.”
“I most certainly would!” retorts the former assassin. “But, that’s beside the point. Senn, tell me what it is.”
“Uh, well, I’m not sure it even translates anymore. Point being, they used the temples and even laws in most countries to suppress them,” explains the elven sage. “I’m not sure if the influence came from your world or not. I remember one of the divine summons I met complaining about, uh, ‘unscrupulous harlots deceiving him for all of his money…’. Something along those lines.”
Daniel laughs, and this time, Doephluev scowls. “Darling, I don’t like being left out of the loop on things.”
“Ahhh, I get it now,” muses the lazy-seeming golden dragon. “It’s like a paid harem. Now it makes sense.” She blurts out, “Pfft!” before laughing hysterically.
“Paid…?” Doephluev hums in irritation, glaring at Daniel. “Why would you need something like that!? You have me! And were it up to me, I would be plenty!”
“I didn’t say I wanted it!” snaps Daniel. “I was just curious why Earth’s oldest profession doesn’t seem to exist here!”
“Oldest profession! Ha! Anyone can lie down and…!”
Daniel has his suspicions, which develop when Doephluev halts her thought and her gaze goes almost instantly distant. They are further confirmed when Hekate’s ears perk up rigidly.
Jeavana sits up, saying seriously, “We’re close.”
“Hekate, if you feel sick, let us know. And even more so if you feel like… you did when we killed the Devourer.”
The fox-eared girl looks over her shoulder to nod in confirmation. It’s still not entirely clear how Hekate’s ability to absorb mana works, since there’s apparently always a non-zero chance of a feldrok becoming a monster like the Devourer, mutating endlessly with the mana it absorbs. And, theoretically, she absorbed all of the mana the titan possessed. Like anyone else, she does expend mana and need to sleep in order to recover it, but she might have a cap on her held mana, and diffuse excess mana over time.
If that’s the case, it makes her potentially a hazard like Fal or sorceranium, because they don’t truly know the consequences of radiated mana from a highly mana-energetic source. There haven’t been any noticeable lasting repercussions on anyone, but people exposed to radiation in the early days of its study actually got healthier for a time as any and all maladies were eliminated…
… Shortly before the radiation caused far worse maladies than the ones that were cured.
He knows he shouldn’t bring anyone else, and certainly not Doephluev, who is noticeably pregnant and working far harder than she needs to be. Daniel would like to believe everyone in his family will be people he can trust and love without worries, but Doephluev is undeniably the most mysterious. She will speak words of affection, and indeed, is quite attentive to Daniel in often invasive ways. And, she’s honest about her lust for power and authority, even if she doesn’t really seem to have much more plan of what to do with it than Hekate does. Some part of Daniel’s doubtful heart fears that she is only playing a long game, but he does hope, at the very least, she will care for their shared children above all else.
thinks the mechanic to himself.
He touches the hilt of Kaeralegier, hoping she’s listening.
“
Daniel smiles, and he is aware that Senn, particularly, notices it.
Daniel palms his face for a moment, grumbling within his mind,
The goddess snickers through her telepathic connection to him, and he pats Hekate’s thighs. “Let me hop up for a bit, Sweetpea. And, you might want to sit on the other side with Senn and Doephluev. “
“What? Why?” asks Hekate.
Doephluev adds, “Yeah, why, Darling? I’d rather take her place!”
The feldrok teen scowls at her more youthful rival, and Jeavana walks up boisterously close to Daniel. She says as she leans down in front of Hekate and Daniel, “Because, you two can’t or won’t fly.” She grins at Daniel, adding, “Isn’t that right?”
“For the record, Jeavana, I hadn’t asked for you to watch over me, yet.”
“Yes, but asking Fuzzball to sit on the other side means you plan to open the door.”
Hekate launches herself off of Daniel and to the other side of the shuttle like he’s suddenly covered in spiders, whining, “Gweeeegh! Just say that next time, Daniel!”
The others laugh, and the human replies, “I was getting to that. If you would, Jeavana.” Daniel stands up and leans into the cabin to tell the golem pilot, “Give us an orbit at this distance agoing clockwise so the right side’s facing the fire. I’m opening the side door.”
“As you wish, your Grace,” replies Feno’xion, complying with his orders.
Jeavana has her wings exposed, and she leans on Daniel, intentionally pressing her breasts against his back.
Doephluev growls, “I could keep him from falling out.”
“Yes, but who else could
him fall if it meant saving the rest of us, hmm?”
The other three in the troop bay become horrified by the golden dragon’s words, but Daniel simply elbows her gently. “Please stop teasing them, and stop glomping onto me. I have the teleporter pack, which I will use if I fall for any reason that G-Jeavana can’t catch me.”
“Idiot…” “Dummy…” grumble Doephluev and Hekate as they huff in irritation, and the blonde snickers playfully as she backs a step away from Daniel.
In turn, the mechanic opens the side door for a more clear view not only of the fire, but the special lead tubes on the bottom of the shuttle.
“Hekate, be ready to teleport us if anything goes wrong, alright?” calls out Daniel. The feldrok teen nods vigorously, though she is staying as far away from the open door as she can.
Daniel slides the door open, and the wind rushing by fills the cabin with noise.
Looking out of the window of airplanes was always a pleasant experience for Daniel. Seeing so much of the world at once is a breathtaking experience, and it does make him regret not taking the opportunity to climb Mount Rainier when he had the opportunity or visiting places like Japan to climb Mount Fuji. Now, the Citadel provides a similar view of the world around it, but it’s remarkably sterile land around them in terms of rolling hills and fields.
Seeing it with nothing between him would normally be breathtaking on its own, but there is something far more pressing.
Daniel’s heart tightens as the gravity of the situation he brushed off is sinking in.
It’s probably difficult to tell for the denizens of Zenkon, because the very nature of mana is highly visible to them naturally. Concentrated mana even prickles at their skin and washes over them like heat waves.
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The mana coming from the spark that started due to the Void Artillery collision was even visible to a blind woman.
For Daniel, it’s more like the inverse of the Devourer, which looked like a large black tumor on the landscape.
What he is witnessing now is a deep pit of black rot, masked by flickering light, but digging deeper into the flesh of the world. It reminds Daniel of a long time in his past, when he found a small rabbit in the woods, and he was able to catch it. It had a large open wound, but was still alive, and he wanted to save it. But, it turned out that it was a large bot fly larvae, not just a wound, which is why it didn’t bleed profusely. And, the distinct shape of the wound stayed with Daniel for a long, long time.
That’s what he feels like he’s seeing now; not just a surface burn of leaves and grass, but the continuous decay of the surface in all directions.
The fortress and its entire butte are nowhere to be found, and the depth of the crater seems to be growing at only a slightly lower rate than the outward spread of the ‘wound’.
“It’s spreading rather fast,” remarks Doephluev.
“I don’t see the fortress,” adds Senn. “Does this mean Sayrdarralouche’s body…?”
“I’m sorry, Senn,” replies Daniel. “I know you said you were more worried about Serrentuk, but…”
“It’s fine, Daniel. Our actual mission is more important.” She peers out from behind Daniel, who is kneeling next to the open door. “It does seem to be spreading rather quickly.”
“Yes. It was nothing more than a spark a couple days ago,” replies Daniel. “At this rate, it could start endangering people within the next few days.”
“Those lives and their blood are on Yaulander’s hands,” states Doephluev coldly. “When I was an…
… assassin, I was merely a tool whose will was barely my own. It was in the strictest sense, but I would not have survived if I had refused.”
“She’s right,” adds Jeavana. “Our concern is when it starts to threaten the Fievegal.”
“No,” replies Daniel. “I don’t want to overburden us by being the saviors of the world, but… We will need to help with this fire. It’s worse than I thought.”
“How so?” asks Hekate.
“Tell me what you see,” replies Daniel. “Not a trick question. Just tell me what each of you see before you.”
“A bunch of bright light,” replies Jeavana bluntly. “Spreading wider and wider and rising into the sky.”
“Same,” replies Doephluev. “It’s like a big bonfire widening across the ground.”
Hekate replies as she stays across from the open door, “Um… Lots of pretty sparkles. I-I can kinda see why that crazy lady said the stuff she said… It’s bright and pretty.”
Senn adds softly, “I see the fire that will burn until the Harbinger of Calamity snuffs it out.” She has somewhat of a teasing tone to her reply.
“Is it safe to assume none of you can see the crater?” asks Daniel.
They all cock their heads, trying to see.
Daniel scoffs, saying softly aloud, “There’s a crater. The fire isn’t just burning across the ground like a normal fire. It’s consuming everything, “
“A-Are you sure, Daniel?” asks Hekate nervously.
“Yeah. I imagine it’s a lot dimmer for me, since I can only see the immediate glow present with mana, not the mana itself. Because of that, I can see the fire burning downwards. It’s a little slower than the outward spread, but it’s definitely going downwards by the looks of it.”
“What do we do?” asks Hekate expectantly.
“First, we identify as much of its properties as we can.” Daniel calls out, “Feno’xion, give us a direct angle for a time. I’m going to watch the meter, and I’ll signal when it’s full.”
“I’ll tap your leg when the magic crystals are full,” adds Doephluev. “The device is probably not as efficient as the normal donation altars, but if it overfills, it might break the crystals.”
“Got it,” replies Daniel. They have a system similar to the mana detector, a modified version using the decay rate of Uranium under mana, which they have
empirical data towards, and lastly, a quick addition to try to absorb the mana directly into a network of ten donation crystals. Like the other instruments, it uses a ported-down iris to try to determine a rate of mana radiation. Daniel, Xyreko, and Ahok are using similar math as radiation, treating it like a point source calculation for now to try to make a system for keeping track of everything. Given Daniel’s modest understanding of physics, treating it like a point source is the most reasonable approach. It’s not much different than other fundamental forces and effects, so far as what Daniel has observed, so it feels fair to treat it like one, even if it has yet to be explained by the known physics of Earth. Daniel could speculate a unique subatomic particle in this universe, or even exclusive to Zenkon. He wasn’t particularly religious, and yet, he is now aware of literal higher beings that can only be called goddesses, even if one were to exclude Ryukana, Kaeralegier, and Amalaskae.
Daniel watches the external glass sphere of the basic mana detector. It has a “wider” range than the one used in Mattarglos simply by adding more of the restricted circuits and glass spheres as indicators of when the mana has reached the threshold for each level. Given its larger size, this model simply has more glass spheres.
And, half of them are already full more than five miles from the leading edge of the fire, which has already consumed an even larger radius of the land.
teases Kaeralegier.
Wait, these flames have a name?” murmurs the mechanic audibly, shocked and confused enough to forget the conversation is only happening inside his head, as insane as that sounds.
replies the sword-bound alleged-goddess with all of the seriousness of an actual clown.
Without a word, Daniel simply stands up from his kneel. He draws Nemaisol, and everyone asks, “Daniel!? What is it!?”
The mechanic throws the sword as far as he can, even as Kaeralegier protests in his mind,
Daniel watches the magic sword as it falls towards the ground. It’s certainly nowhere near the magic flames, but it does make him feel a little better. He can take a joke, even in a serious situation like a world-ending flame. After all, Daniel is from another world where he was a powerless middle-class nobody in the grand scheme of things. The most power he had was being one of 160-ish million total votes being cast in a single election, or running for local office if he wanted that headache, which he had no connections or networking skills to manage that.
So, when people tell him that the fate of the world rests on his shoulders, it’s pretty easy to associate with those statements. The Devourer was an immediate threat to people he had come to care about, and the Feral Feldrok stood in the way of his search to eliminate the evil dragon lord, as far as he knew. TheThree Terrors of Mattarglos were chess pieces to be removed so that the Fievegal could grow stronger, and Mornistae was rapidly becoming a total threat. But, none of these things are really visible to Daniel as their scope would suggest. Like a railroad designer, Daniel only has to get through the mountain. He doesn’t actually have to know what every inch of its height and terrain are. He
in his brain that he has all but literally killed ‘mythical god monsters’ to get to where he is, but when he looks at the merciless white flames before him, he can’t help but have a sort of new sense of dread unlike anything else he dealt with to date.
Kaeralegier’s tasteless joke is all but forcibly pulling on Daniel towards the side of ‘it’s all fantasy nonsense’, but his heart is growing heavier as he looks upon a true wonder of the universe.
In the way that most people would probably watch in helpless wonder for the first few minutes if ever a black hole started consuming Earth, Daniel is fixated on the fire, and the vast disparity there is between that and the sword-bound goddess’s very-grounded jest.
Daniel takes a breath and exhales, and Jeavana, who is leaning her chin on his shoulder as she holds him ‘affectionately’, cocks her head to look at him. “Want me to try to snuff it out?” asks the golden dragon.
“If you think you can, but I don’t think those are regular flames, so I doubt even your venom can suppress it. That said, we need to gather data and return. And…” He notices that the meter is already reaching the maximum sphere.”
“Damn… Even at this range, it’s above the meter’s ability to read. How’s the…?”
“Daniel? Th-This is bad, right?” asks Hekate as he looks at the other three. The crystals rigged to a modified donation altar are already glowing brightly.
They’re right to be concerned, because it’s unknown what will happen if they overload diamonds this size with mana. But, it’s pretty safe to assume what the outcome will be, given the sheer volume of energy involved.
More important than that is the ravenette who just spoke.
Hekate is pretty literally a living nuclear weapon, as far as Daniel can tell. But, unlike a nuclear weapon of Earth, she can absorb more and more ‘fuel’, with seemingly no upper limit.
Normally, she has a faint glow in her hair and tail that is only really noticeable at night or other dark areas.
Now, she looks like she has fairly distinct stripe-like highlights of bright glowing blue light, which look cute, but they carry a very significant warning.
It’s not an exact science, but a feldrok absorbing too much mana beyond their current capacity, like overstretching a muscle, has a very real possibility to lose control of that mana and mutate into a monster. Fal was on the brink, and the Devourer failed to resist.
Hekate is very quickly starting to look like she did right after the Devourer was destroyed; glowing lines spidering through her skin as her body overamps on the mana she’s absorbing.
And, she doesn’t seem to realize it yet.
Jeavana gasps, revealing it to the small teen. “Fuzzy? Y-Your skin…”
Hekate looks, and she gasps as well. “D-Daniel!?”
“Divert course!” shouts Daniel, already convinced of everything he needs to know. They barely got within a half mile of the edge of the flames, and it maxed out their relatively crude exposure gauges within moments.
Nemaisol reappears in its sheath as designed, and Kaeralegier scolds Daniel in his own mind as the shuttle banks.
“Hekate, if you can, burn off the excess with a portal to get us back to the Citadel.”
“I… Um…”
“I’ll handle it,” replies Senn as she stands up. She carefully navigates to Daniel, and she fearfully grips him. “D-Don’t let me fall, Daniel. I
fly with magic, but… Just, don’t.”
She’s taking ginger for motion-sickness now, but she’s still unsteady with the shuttle’s rapid speed and height. He nods, holding her firmly, while Jeavana keeps hold of his collar from behind. The elven sorceress quickly casts the portal spell she helped use for the Fiendbreaker she and the Dragon Empresses employed against the Hegemony’s remnant army.
The portal brings them back to the Fievegal right away, and Daniel orders, “We have to offload Hekate and the crystals as quickly as possible. Feno’xion, take us to the nearest donation altar.”
Daniel then helps Senn sit back down on the same side as the door, and he checks on Hekate and Doephluev. “Hekate? How are you doing?”
“I-I feel okay, but… Wh-What if I start hurting everyone?”
“You’re going to shed it soon. Just hang in there, and don’t try to use magic just yet.” The mechanic pulls her close and presses his forehead to hers. The feldrok girl stammers, “D-D-Daniel!?”
“Darling!?” exclaims Doephluev and Jeavana, which prompts Doephluev to scowl at the dragon in exchange for a devious snicker.
“Your temperature feels a little high,” replies the mechanic. “Let me know if you start to feel sick.”
“I-I-I…!” stammers the suddenly-bashful little girl.
thinks Daniel, knowing exactly what ‘what’ is.
retorts the goddess playfully, which is a fair point.
The mechanic pets his fox-eared companion’s head gently with a soft smile. “You’re radioactive with mana right now, Sweetpea. I wouldn’t want to catch it.”
“Wha-!?” whines the feldrok teen as she looks up at him with a look of complete betrayal.
Daniel chuckles. He whispers, “The Hekate Game never loses, Hekate.”
Her shock becomes disgust as the others snicker at her, and the human takes a breath to gather his composure and focus on the task at hand. “Once our little Archfiend is stabilized, we’ll need to figure out how dangerous mana exposure is. And…” He looks at Doephluev apologetically, and she sighs.
“Fine, I get it, Darling.” She pets her belly, saying, “We’ve probably gambled enough. But, you must know we won’t let you go alone.”
“I think I’m still the least at risk,” replies the mechanic. “Meaning I can frontline most of whatever we need to deal with. We’ll rotate the golems piloting shuttles. But, we need to wait until we hear from the Empire before we make overt moves. So, I want ideas. Good ideas, bad ideas, and everything in between. And, anyone pregnant will have to maintain a safety distance from the fire from now on. Ideally, nowhere near it at all.”
“I’ll stick with you,” replies Hekate. “I feel okay, though I guess I am a little warm. But, I can keep going back and forth to replenish the Citadel, right?”
Daniel hesitates. It’s an obvious idea that crossed his mind as well, but even Hekate joked about not wanting to be a simple magic battery.
And, more importantly, it’s still unclear how it will affect her.
“Have Ryuo focus-teach her the nullification spell,” states Jeavana seriously. “If her Fuzziness can turn the fire’s own mana back on it, that might give us a solution.”
“Can you do it?” asks Daniel.
The feldrok perks her ears up, snapping out of the disgust and betrayal in an instant. “Of course! And, if I feel sick, I’ll teleport to a donation point.”
“I’ll set up a return point and a donation center in the control zone,” states Doephluev. “I can do that much here and make sure Hekate doesn’t have any issues. Return will be easier and quicker for her to cast.” She adds, “I’ll also standby to retrieve you if the teleporter pack fails again.”
Daniel nods gratefully. Doephluev is the most sinister of his consorts, but she knows when to be serious at least, even when collaborating with her rivals.
“I know there’s a pile of tasks,” starts Senn, glancing outside to see whether or not they’re close to their destination so she can abandon the shuttle as quickly as possible. “But,... Will we be able to do anything for my father?”
The mechanic smiles. “Contract, certainly. As for his eyesight… I think I know a handful of ladies we can task with that.”
“Wenlianna?” asks Hekate innocently.
“Not quite. I’m sure they don’t know much about glass to begin with, but they’re crafty little ladies.”
“Ah… Them…” All four women in the cabin look at Daniel with judgmental looks, and he laughs uneasily.
“Trust me, we’re better off giving them something to do. We’ll have them make different strength lenses and try out everything we can.” Daniel then looks to Jeavana. “Jeavana, I plan to remove your contract as well. We’ll duel after the fire is dealt with.”
The golden dragon gives a big, mischievous grin. “You’re a brave man, Harbinger. I’ve killed plenty of humans.”
“And, I’ve killed plenty of dragons,” retorts the mechanic just as bluntly.
Her lips curl in an awkward smile now.
“A-Anyways, you can stay with your egg even if we have to deploy, Jeavana. So,... Uh, please help look after the Citadel while you’re here.”
The feisty blonde inhales and sighs. “I do want to be present for my hatching, but mine’s a few weeks behind. If I was a few days earlier, it might’ve synchronized with your milky cultists, but alas, I’m at your disposal for the immediate future.” She cups her cheek in a ‘woe is me’ pose, though she only sighs listlessly.
“I suspect I won’t have the luxury of turning away help,” replies Daniel. “From its size, though, we have about a week before we’ll be forced towards a worst case scenario.”
Daniel looks at Hekate, saying, “We’ll need Yaulwembor to help.”
“She loves you, not me,” retorts Hekate, crossing her arms. “Just get it over with.”
The mechanic scoffs. “In my defense, the lot of you could have murdered her when we thought she was just a monster and when you snuck in to awaken her.”
The feldrok girl puffs herself up with her ‘how dare you!?’ expression. “I would never! You went out of your way to spare her, and she and I like a lot of the same things! She also said that if you try to run away or fight me off, she will hunt you down and trap you so you can’t escape. Mwahahahahaha!”
Daniel closes his eyes and turns away from her while lifting his face to try to escape the situation. “Welp. I deserve this.” Without warning, he steps off of the shuttle, and Hekate, Senn, and Doephluev all exclaim, “Daniel!”
Jeavana starts to dart towards him, but he’s already looking up at them with a smirk, standing safely on the ground.
A moment longer, and the shuttle rumbles as it touches down near its destination.
“Oh…” replies Hekate. She growls with noticeable irritation, but Daniel shoos her out of the shuttle. “Let’s go, Sweetpea! You’re the one overloaded with mana right now! Ya little timebomb.”
“R-Right!” Hekate dashes after him, and the others sigh before following as well.
Daniel does feel a little awkward remaining so lighthearted, but he’ll be no good to anyone if he collapses under the true weight of his task.
***