Shit. No! There wouldn't be enough time for him to even raise his sword and—
Penguin burst out of my wrist in a split second, turning into a fire fox with a war cry, and incinerated the creature on the spot while still mid-air.
Flames licked at Llewellyn's clothes and I quickly sent a small jet of Water his way to put them off.
Fuck. Penguin was really the best. I was so shaken I almost wanted to cry.
"Are you insane?!" I yelled to Llewellyn.
Llewellyn yanked me back.
"There's no time for this!" he said. "Keep flagging!"
I was still rattled as hell, but he was right. I flagged another Metal Thread and went back to figure out how to mute the Threads I needed to mute to get rid of the Air one that was creating so much trouble.
Thankfully, Penguin was fully in the zone now, completely unafraid by the look of it, fighting everything in sight like a seasoned war general.
While they were both watching my back, I forced myself to focus, trying not to get too sidetracked by the chaos around me and the itch.
The Air Thread I needed to flag was buried under Wood and Metal Threads.
I reached out with my mind, trying to figure out the right combination of Threads to either flag or mute, but most of the Threads resisted.
Fuck. Why?
I was getting desperate here.
I dodged an oncoming sword, flinging away another one with a swoop of my Moonlight Sword, and tried to focus again.
...Wait a moment.
I'd actually not been making any use of what I'd learned about the Magic Field so far.
Could expanding my consciousness like that, instead of just reaching out with my mind to poke at the single Threads, help?
I tried it.
I let go of the idea that I was Ryo reaching for Threads. I was just formless, limitless Magic—the same substance as everything around me.
The Field opened up.
Wow.
Wood, Metal, and Air Threads spread out like a map, crisscrossing through the air.
But now I wasn't in front of them, watching them. I was them.
I knew how they connected, where they looped; I could feel how much they didn't want to let go.
Damn. This was insane. And weird. What the hell?
There was something in their energies that wasn't too dissimilar from the feeling of clenching my stomach or gritting my teeth.
But just like I could never make myself unclench when I was too nervous or stressed out, I couldn't make these Threads let go.
And it was even crazier.
If I expanded into them and through them, it felt like each Thread had a whole worldview to it. But… it didn't seem like there was any reason for them to be holding on like that, they were just… doing it.
What the hell was this?!!
Shit. The fight around me hadn't stopped just because my perspective was being enlightened right now. Even while I was expanded, my body had to keep dodging and occasionally parrying.
Llewellyn and Penguin were taking care of most of the fight, but I had to defend myself at least.
I flagged two Threads in quick succession and expanded again, keeping on scanning the map of Threads.
One thing was clear: while the perspective shift was insane, I couldn't force the Threads to let go. I tried dousing a Metal Thread in Water directly, to see what that would do, but the Water just passed through it like it wasn't even there.
What the hell.
Penguin set a Wood figure on fire right to my left and I directed a jet of Water at it to contain the Fire, before redirecting my attention to the Threads again.
I needed to go through the System for this. As annoying as it was, that seemed to be the only framework that worked here.
I remembered what Tiernan had said the first time we went to TAPESTRY's headquarters, after Llewellyn had pointed out that Knots are raw magical power and that they result in Distorted Realms when the System cannot step in to mold them into Dungeons:
"True. But you still only find the usual seven Elements in Distorted Realms—a combination of Eastern and Western ones—and no other kind of magic at all. Knots only have Elemental Magic, as far as I'm aware. So the System must still be filtering Distorted Realms creation, somehow, or they'd include different kinds of magic too."
Was this what he meant? That the System was creating a framework in which System Users could be the most effective—even here in a Distorted Realm?
It was really not the time to think about this. I'd flagged enough Threads now that the Air Thread was accessible. I muted the remaining three Threads around it and—
[System Notification: Elemental Thread detected! Flag for prioritization?]
Fuck. Finally.
The Thread opened up with a roar that shook the whole forest.
Winged creatures made of compressed wind burst out of it, their forms barely visible except where moonlight illuminated their edges.
Llewellyn switched to Water and Earth, striking at them before they could scatter.
The flying swords slowed slightly, their trajectories becoming more predictable.
"Better!" Llewellyn called, cutting through three winged creatures in one sweep while kicking back a wooden one that had gotten too close.
I flagged another Metal Thread, watching more creatures emerge, then I used a jet of Water to redirect a bunch of flying swords toward the remaining Wood creatures, so they would crash against the Metal ones. It worked. We could hear the sound of metal grinding against bark, before Penguin set both on fire. I doused them immediately, watching the steam hiss, dodged a new incoming volley of swords, and flagged another Thread.
The Knot was much thinner now, but the energy was still coiled too tight for us to attack it just yet—as was the itch in my chest.
I needed to flag more. We were almost there.
I scanned the Threads quickly. There were still too many, I couldn't flag them all. I had to use muting again to get to the main ones holding the Knot together.
I flagged another Wood Thread and got to work. Penguin screeched and launched himself at the new wave of Wood creatures, Fire blazing. The creature dissipated on impact this time, instead of catching fire and burning to a crisp.
Amazing.
Ah, damn it, I couldn't watch now. I ducked and rolled, throwing around more Water.
I dodged a wooden spike that shot up from the ground just as I'd thrown myself down, giving me a heart attack, and slashed at the oncoming creature. My Moonlight Sword penetrated through the bark, Water bursting from the impact point.
The creature fell apart.
Good.
More Threads.
The night air was cold, but I was drenched in sweat.
The Knot was thin enough now. Llewellyn's sword blazed as he carved through the last wave of creatures.
"Now!" I yelled.
"Got it!"
Penguin chirped and scrambled up my arm, turning into a fish at my wrist.
Power flooded through me.
I let Water surge through my sword, expanding out of my body's limits, letting the Magic Field carry it. Llewellyn's blade cut through the air beside mine.
We struck at the same moment.
The Knot shattered.
The shockwave threw us both backward. I hit the ground hard, ears ringing as the itch in my chest finally—finally—settled, Penguin tumbling off my wrist and morphing back into a penguin mid-roll.
Silence.
I lay there for a moment, breathing hard, staring up at the canopy. Moonlight filtered through the branches. The trees had stopped moving.
Penguin waddled closer and climbed onto my chest, nuzzling me and chirping.
"Yeah," I said, patting him affectionately. "We did it. You were amazing."
I lifted myself back a bit, resting my back against a tree trunk.
Llewellyn's face appeared above me. He looked exhausted but intact.
[System Notification: Distorted Realm neutralized! Threat contained. +5,200 Coins awarded!]
+5,200 Coins? That was more than before, wasn't it?
The shrine stood silent now, no longer spitting swords. The forest had gone still.
Llewellyn stood there, looking down at me with an unreadable expression.
"You're bleeding," he said.
I blinked. Reached up to touch my face. My fingers came away red.
Huh. Must have been a branch. I hadn't even noticed.
Llewellyn crouched down, pulling a healing potion from his inventory. Before I could protest, he'd already uncorked it and pressed it to my lips.
"Drink."
"I can do it mys—"
"Drink."
…I drank.
The warmth spread through me immediately, and the sting on my face faded.
I exhaled in relief.
"Thanks," I said.
Llewellyn leaned in and kissed me.