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Later I produced some Bluetooth earbuds. "Using these, you can at least hear Monika without her having to speak up. She can hear you in return, and don't worry – I won't actually be able to hear what you're talking about. She can split her attention multiple times and each piece can attend to everyone independently of each other with separate lines of communication."

Linze bit her lip. "Um… I would just like to ask Miss Monika something, please don't be mad."

"Go ahead."

"How much of what you can do are because of the magic tool, and how much of it from the Null magic you know? Sorry!"

/"Hmm. It's fine, dear. I'm not offended. This whole thing is about getting to know each other, after all,"/ Monika replied. /"My most basic Null magic is [Amplification], which like Elze's [Boost] makes anything that I can do just stronger. Using [Application] I can apply my Null abilities to others. I'm not sure… but I think I may be able to copy, but not exactly, the Null magic abilities of others.

/Maybe it's because I don't exactly have a body…"/

Linze cringed at the reminder again.

/"That I'm not really limited by the number of Null abilities I can hold. If I could just understand it, I could try to imitate it. I call this [Virtualization]."/

"In Another World with mah Sharingal!" I stood up and declared with great pomposity.

Monika just palmed her face. /"Player…"/

"But can you copy actual spells?" I asked, sitting back down and setting my face back to neutral.

/"No, you'll still have to study that by yourself. Work hard, Player!"/

I clacked my tongue. "It would have been nice to be able to automate Vernier movement…" I murmured. Maybe some sort of backpack pressure vessel?

/"If I could activate spells by myself, that would be the first start to actually being able to affect the environment directly. Show me more Null abilities, and eventually we might be able to do something about that."/

She addressed the twins next, /"Remember, girls, it's not just Player that I can support. I can also use my [Application] abilities on you."/

"So how would that help? Would you be able to [Amplify] Linze's magic?" Elze asked.

/"As you know, Player has an absurd level of magic capacity. My skill [Application: Line Sharing] would enable Linze to tap his reserves instead of her own. If he's going to be melee fighting anyway, we might as well use the magic reserves he's wasting."/

Linze quailed. "Um… I don't think that would be good. Sorry. But, it's just…"

/"It's not parasitic, dear. Think of it like a common fund we all put into and draw from. Trust me, I monitor Player's vital signs constantly. I know when what you're doing will strain him."/

"Don't mind it," I told Linze. "Monika can only comfortably maintain, what, six Null abilities at once? [Multi-Track] and [Parallel Processing] are two that are always active. Applying [Line Sharing] to you means three open slots remaining. The more enemies you can deal with, the less switching she needs to do with combat fortification magic to me personally."

/"Yes, I can see almost everything around me, but I can't act on any of them. Giving you an increased magic pool and [Multi-Track] for your spells is a very small price for our safety."/

"If that's the case, why even would you risk even getting into close combat in the first place?" Elze asked me.

Monika answered instead /"Ironically, that's where he's safest. Where we're safest. The closer we are to danger, the less the backlash from stacking Null abilities, and the faster I can operate. I can hold six, but could sometimes boost up to eight for a very short time."/

This was the heart of our team strategy, we came to agree. The knowledge, no – the security, that at any point in a crisis, we could always get a surge of power to force ourselves through. Monika cannot be distracted, as [Tactical Officer] she could bring out our fullest fighting force.

We were strongest as a team. The only thing we would ever need to fear… was being alone again.

-

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Elze and I began sparring, no tricks this time. Monika proclaimed she would not be helping and would be chatting with Linze. She left the screen entirely to just give me a simple view outside, removing all HUD elements. It would be all down to my own innate fighting ability.

Fortunately, I was quite used to fighting with sticks.

Elze won four of six bouts because of her double gauntlets. She could backhand the point and grab at the long stick. Her kicks, now well protected by her greaves, were harder to avoid. However each touch with my stick, standing in for my sword, on anything that wasn't metal counted as damage that would remove that limb from play.

As we clashed for the seventh time, I remarked offhandedly, "You know, I really should name my sword. Do people do that here? Anything that comes to mind?"

"Yes, people do that," she replied, as she kicked towards my s.h.i.+ns. I tried to keep her from doing that by slicing towards her knee. "But I'm not very good with names. You better ask Linze about that. Or Monika, why aren't you asking Miss Monika about that?"

"Monika thinks it is actually quite chuuni… I mean, ridiculous, but it feels like it would be repet.i.tive to keep referring to it as 'my sword' in my memoirs. I'm rather partial to Zanzibar. How does that sound to you?"

"Zanzibar," Elze repeated the word. "Mm. Not that difficult to say. Sounds good."

I nodded in thanks, then blocked a punch by what would have been the hilt of my sword. "By the way I also named your gauntlets."

"… you did what now?"

I pointed to her metal-clad fists, left then right. "That one there is Facepuncher and the other is Ribcracker."

Elze paused and increased the distance between us. She experimentally raised each of her fists to eye level.

And then lowered them, exposing her fierce grin. "I LIKE IT."

"Um… that was a joke."

She bared her teeth at me and got back into a boxing stance. "Nope. Too late. Mine now!"

I groaned. "Monika is going to give me heck for this…"

-

-

​

Monika's reaction was a mocking "Hurhurhur" laugh at my expense.

/"Anyway, so while talking with Linze I discovered another Null ability I can use,/" she said after getting bored with my Zaber puns.

I narrowed my eyes and laced my fingers together. "… Proceed."

/"Heh. So there might be a way to make more efficient use of my six processing slots. At first I thought I could just multi-thread them and switch between them rapidly, but I was reminded that I could also [Stack] and [Compile]. That was what I was actually already doing combining multiple [Amplify] into one [Application]."/

I nodded. "Haha. Yes. Those are certainly… words."

/"Oh shush, kitten. Let me put it this way. Elze, would you kindly apply [Boost] to your fists?"/

Elze nodded and did so.

Monika asked next /"So you can't apply [Boost] against to yourself, right? So the only thing I can do is to, [Amplify] the [Boost] you already applied to yourself. How does that feel?"/

Elze experimentally swung her arms. They made a conspicuous whipping noise parting their air. "Powerful!" she answered.

/"And normally that would be the limit. But– [Application: Stack] – try applying [Boost] to yourself again!"/

"[Boost!]" Elze yelled with her right fist held straight out. "Oh! I feel… it increased! By same amount that it was already increased."

/"Yes! If you just stacked [Boosts], it would be linear increase. But using [Amplify] on [Boost] doesn't boost your own inherent body abilities by a range – it increases the potency of the skill itself! It is exponential! 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16! [Amplify!] [Stack!] Again!"/

"Wait, what about your Null slots?" I quickly asked Monika.

/"Putting things into the [Stack] only occupies a single slot!"/

"Vladimir Lenin, that's broken! Unless… then who or what is maintaining those stacked spells?"

/"Nothing! Since I don't have a body, it's all just ambient magic keeping it stable! I can only get stressed by the number of spells active at the same time, not the magnitude. Elze can apply another [Boost] using her own reserves because it's all given back to her once the [Stack] has been [Compiled]."/

"That is Super Broken."

Elze and Monika stacked [Boosts] and [Amplifies] until Elze whimpered "I think I'm scared to move my hand now."

/"Fortunately [Boost] also increases your durability to handle the increase it provides. How about you punch that tree?"/

Slowly, with her arm still rigidly held straight, Elze walked over to a nearby large tree. Then, with strangely gentle force, she punched the trunk.

Fhwom.

The tree didn't just crumple into itself, it was like its trunk just vanished. And so did the tree trunk behind that. And the ones behind that one.

Fhwom.

Fhwom.

Fhwom.

Fhwom.

Fhwumph.

A roughly conical spread of devastation ripped through the forest. Shattered tree crowns flew into the air and away from us. We couldn't see the end of it, just that some mountains were now in clear view. The air broke apart, and a second later we heard a thunderclap.

And then there was incredulous hush. Then all the forest's wild animals and birds screamed in one great swell of panic, and they fled, leaving us again with that ponderous silence.

"HOLY s.h.i.+T!" I cried out. "ONE PUNCH ELZE!"

Elze staggered back, looked down at her fist and the devastation she had caused. "That… that's not possible. This can't be real…"

/"Reality is what we wish to make of it. That we can deny, that we can change, and that which we can only live with."/

For some reason in my view, Monika wasn't facing me. She had her back to me, standing in front between me and Elze. She had her hands together behind her back and her shoulders straight, as if on a parade stance.

/"Get up, Linze,"/ she said.

I turned around to see that Linze had collapsed, sitting on the ground on her knees. She was shaking and looked even afraid.

/"Get up, Linze. You can do this."/

"I can't! I can't, Miss Monika!" she wailed back. "This… is too much, too soon! I'm not strong enough."

/"Linze, I accept you for all that you are, and the one thing you're not – is weak. I believe in you. We believe in you."/

"Hey! What are you trying to make Linze do, huh?!" Elze hotly shouted towards me.

Linze nodded and got up. "It's okay, sis. This isn't dangerous."

She held out her wand and said in a much firmer voice "Come, Water, become the spiraling s.h.i.+eld, [Aqua Sh.e.l.l]!

/"[Stack]."/

"Come forth, Water! [Aqua Sh.e.l.l!]"

/"[Stack]."/

"Come forth, Water! [Aqua Sh.e.l.l!]"

/"[Stack]."/

"[Aqua Sh.e.l.l!]"

With each iteration her voice became stronger until she was almost screaming.

On and on she stacked [Aqua Sh.e.l.ls] until what we had in front of us was this ma.s.sive multi-petaled aegis, slowly rotating in the air. It coruscated in the mid-morning sun, cold and invincible.

"By Gargarin's s.p.a.ce b.a.l.l.s, we Epic Level casters now…!" I had to gasp out.

/"Look at this, my friends. Remember this. Don't turn away from it. In this world there is only power, and those with the strength to seek it."/

"Uh, Monika. I find it highly disturbing that you're quoting Voldemort at this point."

/"People like us don't appear for no reason, Player. Why ever would be rewarded for the mess we made of our lives? We died and were reborn. If this was heaven, the first thing we should have been given was forgiveness."/

And out loud, /"People like us don't just appear for no reason. So if we're here – we need to make the best of it. If I am going to be STUCK in this LITTLE BOX, let me help you to the best I'm able! Don't take this away from me… please…"/

I touched the side of my VR headset. "Monika…"

"Miss Monika, please don't feel like you need to do this…" Linze cried out.

"I don't like this," Elze said with a frown, lowering her fists and staring at me. "No. I refuse, I don't need it."

/"I can't… I can't be responsible for my friends' deaths again. Why won't you just let me protect you?!"/

I chuckled lightly. "Monika, babe-cakes, you're coming on too strong again. Just relax. I don't think we need to wreck face for whole armies anytime soon…"

Monika looked down with tightened fists, her teeth still clenched open, and refusing to allow herself to cry. It was not despair that I could feel wafting from her, it was just… rage. Outrage.

"Monika, please. What we need… what you need… it's not this," I exhaled roughly. "If only I could just hug you…"

/"There is a solution for that. Linze? As we discussed?"/

Monika disappeared from between me and Elze and reappeared to in front of Linze. She then began walking towards me. With eyes full of yearning she stopped before me, and reached out, and as her hands wrapped around me I felt solid warmth.

She was superimposing her image over Linze.

/"This is the most I can do for you… please, just let us pretend for a little bit."/

"Um…"

/"Hug me back, Player. Do it."/

Hesitantly I returned the hug. I could feel Monika/Linze snuggle even closer into my chest. I turned around slightly to see Elze with her arms crossed, but her right thumb out thoughtfully rubbing at her chin. A gesture so neutral and yet so incredibly threatening.

I mouthed out 'Save me!'

And soundlessly she replied: 'No.'

-

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