All that stress, the fear, the edge of death, it flipped a switch inside me. Fire seemed to ignite behind my eyes, my body coiled tight. My blood started boiling, like my body was screaming not yet. Berserk. Yeah… I was starting to get used to that fate.

  “Midori!” I yelled, trying to warn her before I lost what little sane I had left. “Get back.”

  “What?” she shouted, firing arrows frantically, trying to pull the spider’s attention off me.

  “I said go!” I repeated, trying to stand up.

  The spider lunged, its front legs aimed straight for my chest. I caught two of them with both hands, straining just to keep them from impaling me.

  “Damn it, you stupid girl, I said go. Now!”

  “O-okay,” she finally stepped back, leaning against the corridor wall, her voice trembling. “Just… try not to die.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered, letting out a tired sigh.

  Someone was going to die here today, for sure, but that wouldn't be me. I pumped fire into both arms. Two fireballs bloomed in my hands, heating the spider’s iron legs until they glowed. Then I bent and snapped them at once.

  It shrieked and leapt back, spraying acid in return. I threw up a wall of fire right in front of me. The acid hit the flames and vanished. I stood up and walked straight at the spider. That thing was probably swimming in mana, the kind that laughs at long fights. Trading hits would take forever, and I was done playing fair. I decided to end it fast.

  I released my domain, filling the whole room. The spider felt its mana vanish, but it didn’t flinch, not a twitch. It pulled back, crawled toward the corridor, and for a moment I even thought it was retreating. Then it lunged past me, catching Midori off guard and wrapping her tight in its web.

  “Ahh!” Midori screamed, struggling as the web dragged her along. “I’m sorry… I-I didn't see it coming!”

  Then it locked eyes with me. Message received. If it was dying, it wasn’t going alone. The second the web touched Midori, her mana started flowing into me too. It didn't matter, though. I wasn’t stopping, not yet.

  I fixed my gaze on its legs, hating the way it looked at me from up there. The flaming katana snapped into shape, and in one swing, every leg was ablaze. Still, it didn’t release Midori. The web constricted, squeezing harder, daring me to hesitate, daring me to quit. I didn’t.

  “Ahh!” Midori cried, tears in her eyes, barely breathing. “Whatever you are doing, hurry up!”

  “Shut your mouth!” I yelled, rubbing my temples. The spider lunged, ready to spit acid, but I blasted fire into its mouth with my sword. “You too!” I shouted, pointing at it.

  The spider recoiled for a moment, pausing to get what happened to me. And I had to think fast. How would I even surprise something that lives a step ahead of me? A few ideas popped up, but all of them sucked. Then one more came. Almost smart, the kind that makes you grin right before you die.

  For some reason, it felt like this one might actually work. Hitting it nonstop was useless. As long as it could see a few seconds ahead, every strike was dead before I even performed. I needed something else. Something so wrong it wouldn’t even read as an attack. I had to use a move that didn’t belong in this fight, or even in this world.

  I gripped the katana and poured all my mana into it. The flames didn’t flare, they twisted. I forced them wide, bent them sideways, shaped them into a jagged crescent of burning light. The thing shook in my hand, heavy and screaming, like a chainsaw that hated reality. This was no sword anymore. It was a boomerang of rage and chaos.

  But something was off with this thing. Its shape kept changing, wrong and unstable, like the mana had stopped listening to me. I pulled my arm back, but it fired before I even threw it. It screamed through the cave, ripping a dark red scar through the air. And then it got worse. This was not a clean boomerang anymore. It flew like a mad electric saw, jerking and zigzagging, cutting wherever it felt like.

  Just as it was about to hit the spider, it swerved, whistled past its neck, and missed. The spider didn't even need to dodge this time. It only stared at me, confused. I glanced at Midori. Her eyes went dull, her shoulders dropped. She looked like she had just watched her last chance disappear. She thought I missed. The spider thought so too. Even I did.

  The boomerang should have crashed the wall and fallen. It didn't. It jerked, twisted, and tore through the air, tracing a broken path that made no sense. It snapped back suddenly, screaming, wobbling like it was about to rip itself apart. The spider reacted right on time, bending its neck in a clean dodge. But it wasn't enough.

  The blade lurched sideways at the same instant, wild and off balance, and crossed that exact spot by chance. The cut landed before anyone understood what happened. Then it hit me. If even that thing had no idea where it was going, how was the spider supposed to see it coming? For the first time, completely losing control of my mana solved the problem rather than creating one.

  

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  A wet, gut-churning sound echoed as fire sliced through its neck in one messy strike. Its head thudded against the floor, the massive, twitching body collapsing beside it. The boomerang didn't stop, it swung toward me next. I barely ducked in time, and it slammed into the wall behind me, showering sparks everywhere.

  Midori ripped herself free from the slack web and leapt up. She ran toward me, arms wide, smiling, weak, but safe. Just as she was about to hug me, I yanked her by the collar and shoved her forward, pressing her against the wall.

  “Hey—”

  “Didn’t I tell you to stay back!” I barked. “Why are you making my life harder?!”

  “S-stop… I can't…” she stammered, her voice was muffled.

  “You…” I groaned, “stupid, giant snail!”

  The moment she heard it, her eyes went wide with pure rage. Her body went stiff for half a second, then a knee shot straight into my crotch. I tumbled back, sucked in air, folded down to one knee, and grabbed myself. Before I could even process the pain, she stepped in close and wrapped her arms around me tight.

  It wasn’t gentle or kind. It felt desperate, almost clingy, like she was holding me together while I was falling apart. I didn’t know why but there was something strange about Midori, almost spiritual. Every time she hugged me, the rage just died. It faded into warmth, softness, a dumb, quiet peace. Even my head slowly cleared.

  “I’m… sorry,” I muttered, trying to pull back. She didn’t budge. “I’m fine, really!”

  Finally, she sighed in relief and let me go. I got up, still bent over from the pain, staring at her. I was just about to ask why she did that.

  

  She gathered whatever strength she had left and slapped me across the face. “This…” she snapped, "this is for reminding me of bad memories!”

  “Bad memories?” I said, turning to her, one hand on my groin, the other rubbing my cheek. “What did I do?”

  “It’s just—”

  

  The spider’s corpse suddenly bloated, then burst. Poison blasted upward like a geyser. A death trap, waiting even after it was dead.

  “Come, this way!” Midori shouted, throwing a wooden roof over us.

  I didn’t argue. I just ran after her. The moment we hit the corridor, Midori slammed her hands into the walls and forced them together with the last of her mana. Poison surged toward us like a sudden flood, fast and violent. She sealed the entrance a split second before it could reach us.

  “Huh, that was close!” she wiped the sweat from her brow, still keeping an eye on me. “Light a fire.”

  “Sorry,” I muttered, looking guilty. “I spent all my mana on that thing…”

  “Idiot!” She smacked the top of my head. “There’s a boss level monster behind this wall. Suck it all!”

  “Right,” I said, pulling the dead spider’s mana to me and sparking a fire in my hand. “But I can’t take it all. When it piles up, I just… lose control.”

  “Fine, whatever, just grab enough to light a fire,” she said, looking around, still unsure which way to go. “Do you remember the way you came?”

  “No,” I said, spinning around. “And, this much should do it.” I cut the mana flow.

  Midori turned to the right and started walking. “Doesn’t matter where we’re going then.”

  We wandered through twisted corridors, turning right, then left, like we were stuck in an endless loop. The place was getting on my nerves, and then a terrible smell made it worse.

  “Ugh, Hayato, what was that?!” Midori scrunched her nose, giving me a sharp, suspicious glare.

  “What… what was what?” I looked around, confused.

  “Did you just fart?”

  “What? No! Why would I even do that?” I snapped, clearly felt insulted. "I was just about to ask you the same—”

  She jabbed me hard in the stomach with her elbow. “No one taught you how to talk to a woman properly?!”

  “Ouch!” I screamed. “You started it!”

  We’d been bickering the whole way and didn’t even notice the corridor opening into a new room. The stench hit harder, and thick steam blurred our vision. A small hot spring lay before us, its vapor filling half the space and creeping up through the small cracks in the ceiling.

  The soft steam brushed our faces, offering a tiny bit of relief. Breathing was still a struggle, the heat and the smell made the air thick, but not unbearable. Midori stepped forward and dipped her hand into the small pool before us, then quickly pulled it back.

  “Oof. It’s hot!” she said. Then she tested it with her foot and slowly lowered it in. “But not melt your bones hot.”

  I stepped closer, curious, and dipped a finger in. I’d never been to a hot spring before. My hometown had some, sure, but I was a shut-in, and the fee was daylight robbery. This one was free, at least. But the second my finger touched the water, it burned.

  “How is this not hot?!” I yelled, blowing on my finger.

  “Stop being dramatic,” Midori said, rolling her eyes as she began taking off her clothes.

  “Hey, hey. What are you doing?” I blurted out.

  “What does it look like?” she said, not stopping for a second. “I’m getting undressed.”

  “I can see it, but… why?”

  She ignored me, stripped the rest of her clothes, and stepped cautiously into the water. Lucky for me, the steam and faint firelight kept most of it hidden. I quickly turned my head, pretending the cave wall patterns were suddenly a lot interesting.

  “Come on,” Midori said casually, washing her clothes in the water. “You too.”

  I didn’t answer. I just stared at the wall even harder, and ignored her with everything I had.

  “Just so you know,” she said, sighed, “I’m not letting you stick around smelling like a rat. And… feels like it’s already helping with the pain.”

  “Fine,” I said, stiff and aching. “Then turn around.” I squinted at her. “And don’t you dare look back.”

  “Okay, okay,” she said, turning her back.

  After stripping, I dipped a foot in, bracing for the burn. At first, it was brutal. Then the heat eased, and I slid in fully. Steam practically hissed from my ears, but the pain… it started to fade. Muscles loosened, breathing got easier. I turned my back to Midori. We faced opposite sides, like some unspoken rule.

  “So,” I muttered, trying to sound casual, “do you know why my Berserk shuts off whenever you hug me?”

  “Huh? You still don’t get it, dummy?” she nudged me with her shoulder.

  I stayed quiet and waited. Then something warm pressed against my back. She was probably leaning on me. I didn’t turn around. I refused to confirm it. At that point, even if it was a monster, I decided getting eaten was better than facing whatever this was.

  “Berserk feeds on anger, and love stops it,” she said, "I've seen it happen many times… and sometimes even fail.”

  “How?” I said, I still couldn't put the pieces together.

  “I’m your dream girl, you’re in love. That’s it!” She laughed, clearly teasing.

  “That's not right!”

  My face was already hot. Now it felt like it caught on fire. I knew she was joking, but the dream girl part hit way too close. After all, she came straight from my own imagination, and not the proud kind. That thought alone was enough to shut everything down. Weirdly, it also made me calm.

  “Sometimes,” I said, hesitated, then went on. “When I’m in Berserk, I feel like the old Demon Lord. And not in a cool way. More like blunt, wild, just… smashing everything.”

  “You’re not wrong,” Midori said. “He kept feeding that rage through the whole war. And the last time he went Berserk… he never came back.”

  “W-wait,” I stammered, my chest tightening, “that can happen to me too?!”