He stood at an empty intersection, dagger in hand, waiting for all of the exp bags to come at him. Maybe, if things went according to the plan, he will level up today, and not in a week. He was a bit excited, his boredom staved off by the promise of efficient grinding.

  Beside him stood the juiciest exp bag of them all, in the shape of a little girl. He knew, deep in his heart, that just one stab at her will give him all the levels. It would be so easy. Just… One stab. She was absolutely defenceless. He needed to kill her before others claimed this prize. There was no way she would survive for long, surely something else will get all of that tasty free exp if he doesn’t. He needed to be the first, before others came. There was a feeling of urgency, an overwhelming need to turn around and stab. A promise of immeasurable rewards if he does, a threat of missing the chance if he doesn’t. Not killing her felt like having a winning lottery ticket in his hand, and throwing it in the trash.

  But he also knew–rationally–that killing her would be a villainous act. A weaker mind would be tempted, but for him that single thought was enough to resist. He knew what kind of person he was, and it wasn’t the one who killed little girls just because it would be great for leveling. That shit smelled of evil, and he was the opposite of evil. So he wouldn’t. If only she was one of the bad guys…

  “Hey, Lily,” he said.

  “Hm?”

  “What do you think about killing people just because you can? Ever thought about, I dunno, slitting someone’s throat for fun?”

  “No?” she said. “That sounds more like a ‘you’ thing.”

  “Maybe stealing?” He tried another angle. “With your skill I bet you’re good at stealing. Ever stole something? Preferably something precious. Money, art or jewelry?”

  “We don’t use money anymore. And no, I didn’t. What’s gotten into you?”

  “Wanna rob a bank? There’s a bank a few streets ahead. Wanna rob it? I’ll show you where it is. It’s gonna be easy. There’s no cops anymore, and I bet the security won’t work without electricity. And… ehm… No heroes to stop you? Real easy work, in and out, and you’ll be rich.”

  Her eyes narrowed.

  “Aren’t you always telling everyone that you’re a superhero?” she asked. “It’s almost the only thing you talk about when you bother to talk to people. Everyone knows that. I’m sure that stopping a bank heist will be like Christmas for you. Why are you– Oh.”

  His chance of getting the easiest levels in his life was gone. Instead of an exp bag, Lily stood beside him. She was a bit pale.

  “Huh.” He reevaluated his recent memories. “Wow. That’s trippy.” While he never doubted that his moral compass was ironclad, the affirmation that it withstood even literal mind control felt really nice. On the other hand, goading Lily into committing crime so he would have an excuse to kill her was not a heroic thing to do, which meant that his morals were not as unshakable as he hoped. They were fraying at the edges, making him look for excuses.

  “Let’s… Not do that anymore,” he said slowly.

  She gave him a shaky nod.

  “What’s your mana at?”

  “I’ve spent about a quarter. Tried to really broadcast it, you know?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I know.”

  The intersection was as deserted as it was before. They stood in silence.

  “It didn’t work,” he said.

  “Sorry.”

  “Whatever, it was a long shot anyway. Are you still up for playing the victim the old fashioned way? There’s a group of goblins we can clear out that way, and then I’m thinking about hunting the big monsters. Though I’m not sure how to save you if there’s a giant wolf charging you, I won’t be able to stop the charge but… Eh, we’ll figure something out.”

  “Okay,” she said as she calmed down a little. “Yeah. Let’s do that. You’re talking about the one by the church, right? Do you have a map? I’ve got this small pamphlet that they gave tourists, it has a map on it, but the church is further away than what it shows, so I don’t know–”

  “All here,” he tapped his head as he started walking. “Mind focus, remember? Your puny pamphlet is nothing compared to my eidetic memory. It’s about an hour from here, let’s go.”

  She hurried after him.

  One of the best things about the apocalypse, in Dennis’ opinion, was how quiet it was. The streets were empty. There were no people. Sure, abandoned cars littered the roads, and the occasional decomposing body was not exactly a pleasant sight, but in general he loved the ambience. There was a reason why he–as Lily put it–walked like a grandma. One of the main reasons why he didn’t like leaving his house were other people. Every time some fucking stranger said to him ‘Hey, how are you?’ his day just got a little bit worse. The outside world was noisy and chaotic, and he always had better things to do anyways besides leaving his house. He knew in his heart that he wasn't an outdoor person.

  Apparently, that wasn’t necessarily true. He was starting to genuinely enjoy his walks. Outside the fort, outside the people, there was no one to bother him, and without his usual ways of passing time the quiet walks were pleasant. It was a good way to get lost in his head, to daydream without interruptions. Maybe, in the world before the apocalypse he would’ve enjoyed hiking or something like that. He never even thought about trying, of course, but it was an interesting facet of himself to find out about. He would’ve never guessed.

  Lily was smart enough to read the mood and not bother him too much as they walked. At least he hoped that that was the case. In the span of half an hour they were attacked twice, and both were pitiful attempts that he dealt with just in a few seconds. As far as interruptions from his daydreaming went, it was fine. He was used to that routine. The fact that the girl with him was not only useful but also not as chatty as he feared made her actually an almost decent companion. Maybe he wouldn’t mind partying up with her after all.

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  “Did you really try to kill me there?” she asked out of nowhere, breaking the silence halfway to their destination.

  As shit, never mind, he changed his mind. She wasn’t considerate and silent because she didn’t want to break his routine, she was just brooding.

  “No, of course not,” he said. Was lying unheroic? He didn’t think about that too much. “Yes. Maybe. I totally resisted the compulsion, so it’s more of a ‘no’ than ‘yes’. You probably shouldn’t broadcast the ‘kill me’ aura around other people though. Weak willed pussies would fall for it, and not many people are as cool as me, so it’s basically an assisted suicide button.”

  “Great,” she murmured, looking down on the road. “We need a plan on how we’re going to do the whole… Damsel in distress thing. So I… You know. Don’t die.”

  “I thought we’re going to just repeat what we did to clear the fort?” he said. “You know, the thing that worked? The buggy but overpowered skill interaction? You go invis and I kill everything, that’s the plan.”

  “You almost died that time,” she pointed out. “And don’t tell anyone, but I also almost died then. There was that one goblin who bumped into me. I was just lucky to crawl away fast enough. And for your skill to work, you need to run around searching for me, right? What’s going to happen if you accidentally crash into me? While running as fast as you do? I don’t have the Constitution to survive that. Neither do you.”

  “You mean–”

  “That plan was shit. We got lucky.”

  He sighed.

  “It was fiiine,” he said. “Okay, a bit risky. But this time there’s gonna be way less goblins, and I’m much stronger than I was. More rested, higher Con, synced speed stats, all that jazz.”

  “It just means we’re going to become a finer paste when you crash into me,” she said. “Also, you can’t use your right arm. No way it doesn’t mean anything.”

  “Are you getting cold feet? Chicken.”

  “I just want to– I think it will be good if we have a plan beforehand. Minimize the risk–”

  He started clucking like a chicken, moving his arms like they were wings. He was pretty sure that his display was a good enough argument about his opinion of Lily parroting Nancy’s nagging.

  “I will stab you.”

  “At this point, I’m pretty sure you won’t. Because you’re a chicken,” he mocked her without interrupting his routine.

  “I won’t help you if you’re like that,” she whined. “No easy levels for you if you’re mean!”

  “Then I’ll just snitch on you,” he counterattacked. “What’s the point of having you in the party if you’re useless?”

  “You won’t! You promised!”

  He almost came up with another retort when he noticed that the girl was almost crying. It was a pitiful sight. Her lip was trembling while she was holding back tears. Was he really that mean? It was just bantering, right? Surely, he didn’t say anything that bad, it was literally a kindergarten level of insults. But seeing her in such a state made his heart clench. It was almost physically painful. What kind of person did that to little girls? How did he dare to call himself a hero after that? This new feeling in his chest, was that guilt? He never felt anything like it. He never felt guilt over anything. It hurt. It didn’t belong. It wasn’t meant to be an emotion that he could experience. Completely outside of anything he ever felt. How was it so deep? How did people even live–

  “Stop it,” he hissed. “Stop.”

  The feeling vanished. The girl beside him looked just a little upset.

  “Never do that shit to me again,” he barked, turning around and increasing his pace. “In fact, don’t do that to anyone. What the fuck, Lily?! This is some cartoon villain shit right there. Pain blasting? Are you fucking Voldemort now?”

  “It– It wasn’t–”

  “Shut it,” he snapped. “You do that again, and you’re a villain in my book. A hero gives people second chances, so here’s yours. You’re welcome. You pain blast someone again and I’ll be the first to get the pitchforks.”

  “It wasn’t a pain blast! It wasn’t supposed to– I’m sorry!”

  He took a deep breath.

  Patience was a virtue. Beating up little girls who screamed ‘sorry’ was, like, the opposite of virtue, no matter how tempting. Hearing out the villains before capturing them was important. Half the time you’ll get their evil plan, the other you’ll get their reasoning. Either was good. Every time a hero refused to hear out someone it inevitably turned into a stupid misunderstanding plot, and he knew his tropes well enough to avoid that.

  No matter how tempting, he was a hero, so he would do the right thing. Which was what The Flash would do. Or Superman. Or… he didn’t actually pick any specific role model, but he had a feel for what he wanted, and he would follow that. It was the only thing that mattered. The only thing that existed.

  “You need to stop with the casual mind control,” he said, forcing himself to sound calm. That feeling was still the worst thing he ever felt, and he tanked a rusty cleaver with his bones. He was a bit unbalanced. “I was undecided, but I’m starting to think that influencing emotions is just evil. So… don’t do that anymore. And okay, fine, we will make a better fucking plan for the fight. Satisfied?”

  She nodded shakily, and quickly wiped away a tear.

  “O-okay. Thank you. But–”

  “What?”

  “It wasn’t supposed to work like that,” she said quietly. “I think… I think there’s something wrong with you.”

  “No shit Sherlock,” he scoffed. “You and everyone–fucking–else. Any other news? Maybe that the water is wet?”

  “Sorry,” she murmured. “I didn’t know.”

  He sighed.

  “What were you trying to do?” he asked.

  “Nothing strong,” she said. “It wasn’t even completely on purpose. Sometimes it activates kind of on its own, you know? I think skills actually work all the time, they’re just stronger when we feed them mana. And sometimes I do it without even thinking, like, like fidgeting when you’re nervous, you know? I’m sorry.”

  “So what was it?”

  “I wanted to be the person who’s easy to understand,” she whispered.

  “Like…” He couldn’t figure it out. “Like someone who’s better at talking? How does that even make any sense?”

  “Kind of,” she agreed. “It was just… You weren’t listening, and you were mean, and I was sure that what I was trying to say was, like, right. I just needed to be able to explain it better, to be understood.”

  He frowned. That still didn’t make sense.

  “Better at persuasion?” He tried from a different angle. “Can your skill even do that? Make you literally better at something?”

  She shrugged.

  “Kind of,” she said. Her eyes were unfocused, as if she was listening to something that only she could hear. “Yeah, I think it can. But it wasn’t what I was trying to do. It didn’t make me better at persuasion, it made me better at being understandable. Like, easy to read, to– Oh, I think I got it! It made me easy to empathise with. And I didn’t push that much mana into it, just, like, a point. I’ve spent almost a hundred when we tried the bait thing, and you’ve resisted that. It really shouldn’t have been that big of a deal.”

  Dennis stopped walking, frozen in place.

  “You blasted me with empathy?” he whispered.

  She gave him a hesitant nod.

  What the– No. No, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered.

  Out of sight, out of mind.

  “Whatever,” he said, shaking his head. “Let’s better come up with that battle plan you whined so much about.”

  Lily bit her lip, like she was stopping herself from saying something.

  “Okay,” she said instead.