I unlock the cage and go inside.

I unlock the handcuffs of my love fire companion and release her. I have to let her recover first.

I use my heel and she wakes up. Oh, thank God. She's going to be okay.

And that's when I knew. She's going through a tailspin. Her face turns angry, her teeth turn to fangs, and her hand nails grow rapidly. I don't think this is a runaway!

Gah!

The nails of both of her hands pierce my shoulders and she bites my neck. If it's real, it's deadly.

My body moves before I can even think about what to do. I hold her gently and stroke her head.

'It's okay... it's okay now. I got rid of the scary one... so... it's okay now.

I guess it's because she heard me say it. Her outburst subsides and she loses consciousness.

''Ta-taq brother!　Are you okay!

Oh... it's okay. Let's take her back to Fretia.

But first, I'm going to lock the jail and set up an anchor point inside the jail. That way I could get here safely and securely.

I didn't have much life force left. It wouldn't be worth it if this was back to death. I pick her up and Lily and the others protest as I pick her up, but that's not enough right now.

I go back to Leaprich and put her upstairs in bed.

'She's sleeping like she's safe. Thank you, brother Takht, thank you. For stopping her from running off.

'Okay. I'm a friend of the love fire. I'll do my best.

But there's a hole in my brother Tact's robe.

''I'll get Mew to fix it. More importantly, love fire, I have to be angry with you for that battle earlier.

When I say this, the love fire becomes droopy-eared.

''I'm sorry...I just lost my temper...I moved without instructions from my brother Tact.

'It's certainly not right, but my mate did that to me. Anyone would be angry. Me too, of course.

I can't be mad at Koibito because I got really mad at him too when he was Arthur. I'd rather give him credit for getting mad at me for the sake of his friends. But it's what happens after you get angry that matters.

''What's important is that we don't let our anger control us. That summoner could have defeated the original love fire.

No, no!　No, I don't!　The only reason we were able to defeat it was because of your brother Tact!

"I fought him, okay?　Do you doubt my word on that?

Well, no, I don't think so, but...

You're in a state of complete self-doubt.

"If you're a regular Koibito, you wouldn't have made the mistake of getting caught by that guy. Against an unknown number of enemies, wouldn't love to see what happens at first?

...Yes?

Then I'm sure he'd have found out what he was capable of and what his weaknesses were.

When I say that, Ion asks me.

'Have you figured out what that man's mysterious abilities are, Tact-san?

'Oh. I don't know if I'm right about everything, but I think I'm right to a certain extent. We're going to have to fight again, so I'll share the information with you.

I'll explain about the enemy's capabilities. First of all, let's talk about Love Fire's first attack and Lily's attack.

''First of all, there's no doubt that the enemy's abilities have generated some kind of enhancement against us summoners and summoned beasts. We were able to stop Love Fire and Lily's attacks.

'Yes... I didn't think I could stop you with my bare hands.

''Lily's light wave and dragon claw didn't work either...''

Yes. It was extraordinary that Lily had remained unharmed through that attack. But this could explain it.

'I suppose that's because there's an ability that can be nullified against the summoner's skills. However, I think that's only one thing.

''Is that because... when you stopped Sister Lily's alchemy and dragon claw, the only thing that was disabled was the dragon claw?''

Setia, you're right. If I could disable them all, I would.

'What's that?　It's not fair!

Well, Lily was right, it's a pretty cowardly skill. But it didn't seem to be a skill that was only useful, did it?

'It's definitely a sneaky skill, but there's probably a condition to activate it.

Conditions?　A.

I knew you'd notice the love fire, right? I'll make him answer.

''Is that why you were stopping all of our attacks with your bare hands?

I think you're right.

Yes, he was using his hands for everything. Perhaps the condition for triggering it was to touch it with his hands. That's where Aeon poses the question.

'What was it that prevented my attack?　I thought it was completely set in stone.

'I thought it was a done deal, too. It was a complete attack from behind. I thought it was a good attack.

Aeon seemed happy to be praised.

'But there's a good reason I didn't decide. I fought, too, and I took the blame for that identity.'

What was that about?

Probably some sort of instinctual skill with a sense of danger.

"You have a hunch?

First of all, danger detection is a skill that we know from the Greys, but as the word suggests, it's a skill that detects danger. The reason they were able to detect Aeon's attack from behind is probably because they have this skill. But that alone is not enough to prevent Aeon's attack.

This is because even if you know that an attack is coming from behind, you don't know where it will be aimed and what kind of attack it will be.

I'm sure the condition for triggering it is when your life is in danger. I think it knows what kind of attack it will receive at that time. But that skill can only be activated once against one person.

'So... but is it true that it can only be activated once per person?

'I'm not sure about that. I'm not sure about that, but I'm sure there's some kind of limitation or time lag between when it's triggered and when he fights me. He only had one fight with me where it was triggered.

His mystery skill was triggered by the attack after my throw. He dodged an attack that cut both sides of my stomach, even including a feint to the neck. I know because I fought him, but he would have fallen for the feint.

And he couldn't handle an attack from behind the same way Ion did. So I came up with this prediction.

They all look at me with admiration. And Livina asks me.

'From what I've heard so far, it sounds like Tact was working on his tactics before he fought that guy?

'Yeah. The only thing I didn't see coming was the lame punchline at the end.

Livina exclaimed. Because that meant that the enemy was being made to dance in the palm of Tact's hand completely.

'I knew you'd be strong, but I didn't expect this. I seem to be really lucky.'

What's going on?

It's nothing.

Livina says this and Noah comes in.

'...Lots of people here.

It looks like Mr. Lewin is here.

We went downstairs and everyone was very excited. It seems that we were able to defeat him safely.

So you were quicker than me. Good job, guys. It looks like things are going well for you too.

Yes. It's just that the enemy NPCs were much stronger than we expected.

Was that all you had to say about it, Mr. Tact?

It was enough to make Lily and the others lose.

What?

Everyone is surprised. The people here are well aware of the strength of Lily and the others, so this reaction is probably natural.

''What kind of enemies were they?''

'He was a man about as tall as me with a hood on. When I identified him, he was a dark summoner.

Everyone is surprised by my words. Mew looks at Ruin.

''Sister Lwin. This is.

Yeah. I guess it's a blackout profession. I remember there was a story about an unusually strong solo player in an event.

A profession in the dark? What's that?

In that case, I saw it too. It was confirmed on some servers, but I read on the board that you were ignored when you spoke to them or had bad manners.

Sister. My brother's not up to speed.

'Oh, let's see. Takt, you know PK, right?　This game allows for penalty kicks, but of course penalty kicks count as a bad thing.

Well, you're killing players, of course you are. Mel continues to explain.

'There are advantages and disadvantages, of course, and one of the disadvantages is a reduction in the likelihood of NPCs.

'This has been reported on the forums, and besides PKs, there have been reports of guards NPCs being called in and thrown in jail for stalking or chasing you around or other annoying behavior.

I didn't know there was such a system. I've never heard of it.

'So, there was a story on the board about people falling into the dark when they keep doing that. 'I've heard of this in other games as well,' he said. You can also get a higher status or skills that are advantageous to certain types of jobs, instead of having various negative effects. What were your enemies like, Takt?

'The enemy I fought was like an enemy for anti-summoners. They were using some other mysterious skills against summons, like increased muscle strength and nullifying skills and stuff like that.

''How did you manage to beat an enemy like that on the first try... didn't you use a summoner?''

'Come to think of it, you're a summoner and you didn't use a summoner.

When I say that, Luke and the others react.

'So what are the requirements for that profession then?

That's for sure. Abuse of summonses.

What did you say? Come to think of it, he always did terrible things to that girl, didn't he? Tyrol and Raiden speak.

'It's a bit worrying, isn't it?'

'I'm sure it's going to come up for players eventually. I hate to admit it, though. I'm just fortunate that Mr. Tact got the information first.

Hmm? What does that mean? Lewin explains.

'It means you can warn people on the board. If it's publicized, weaknesses and all that, the player's psychology would make them less inclined to be in that type of job, right?

Oh. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what. In that case, we'll have to do our best to provide the information. After all, being mistreated, even by a human summoner, is not a pleasant experience.

I'm going to tell everyone the story that Lily and the others have been told. After that, I log out, finish eating and bathing, and stick around until she wakes up from her protection, but eventually the time comes and I log out.