[Nightmare]

Water drenched Tilo's clothing from head to toe.

He looked down and noticed something horrifying.

To his dismay, the steam had ruined his battle discs aside from the three he waterproofed.

Tilo had stepped on a potentially lethal Charge Trigger circle Helix had modified for lower output.

The match was over.

Tilo couldn't care less, however.

He charged out of the mess of women around the waterfall.

The women chased him with jiggling breasts on all sides, giggling constantly.

They were shockingly fast and giggling up a storm.

It was an unbelievably comical sight.

"Sir Tilo! Come back!" Tyler giggled.

"Don't go back there!" Monica yelled.

Another minor explosion shot water into Tilo's eyes.

"Hahahaha! Helix Margrave!" He yelled between maniacal laughter.

"Your match is against us!" Catherine giggled.

"Fight us, big guy. Show us who the boss is!" Lisa giggled.

Another water explosion occurred when Tilo reached the other side of the geyser.

However, the man didn't even care.

But when he saw Helix, he was left speechless.

"H-How…." Tilo muttered in disbelief.

"You're not mistaken, Sir Tilo." Catherine giggled as she approached from behind.

"He just used your tactic against you~" Tyler giggled.

"We really~were your enemies, Marskaratt." Lisa giggled.

The second all three women came into position, everything started to dissolve.

The women, the geyser, the steam—everything but the four inches of warm water at his feet disappeared.

"No way…." Tilo gasped.

Helix was sitting in the lotus position with his eyes shut.

Once every illusion was gone, Helix collapsed backward with a cringing expression.

"Please kill me once my spirit particles recover." Helix requested with a serious tone.

"Boy! Are you okay?" Tilo called out in disbelief.

"Yeah…." Helix replied.

"But will you please take me to Elsa?

I'm not out of spirit particles, but I just pushed myself to the limit to the last 5%." Helix laughed in a daze.

"I put restrictions on my illusions. I won without potentially dying, so… I won."

Helix fell unconscious with a cheeky smile on his face.

—

"Is this bastard in danger?" Tilo growled bitterly.

"Why are you so angry?" Elsa asked with a frown.

"That boy…." He laughed bitterly.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Hmmm? Why not?" She asked suspiciously.

Tilo turned away with annoyance on his face.

Elsa narrowed her eyes and studied his panicking expression.

"Helix isn't in danger. He pushed himself to just above 5% spirit particle reserve." Elsa answered with a smile.

She brushed his black hair away from his closed eyes.

Helix was lying in his bed in the trailer, and Elsa was sitting cross-legged next to him.

"I guess he wasn't lying about his spirit particle control advances.

I'm surprised he found a way to cap his reserves." Elsa added with a smile.

"What did you say?" Tilo asked quizzically.

He had heard the same words from Helix before he passed out.

"This boy's Nightmare constantly unlocks new skills and has variable output.

As a result, he's ended up in the hospital twice after using it." Elsa explained with a warm smile.

"When Helix told me he was training his Nightmare, he promised me that he'd work on spirit particle control and restrictions.

He's been practicing every night."

"He… trains after the brutal regiment we put him through?" Tilo asked in bewilderment.

Elsa gave Tilo a mocking smile.

"According to him, I'm his third teacher and practices health management." She chuckled.

Tilo gave her a wry smile.

"I see. Get me when this bastard wakes up.

I'm going to beat him senseless to prove his health management training isn't working." He scoffed bitterly.

Elsa gave him a wry smile as Tilo walked out of the trailer.

—

Helix opened his eyes and shot a bitter-sweet smile to the ceiling.

"You're awake. Tilo looks like he's going to murder you." Elsa scolded with a frown.

There was still light peering into the trailer.

So Helix knew he wasn't in danger of spirit particle deprivation.

"I know he will. He told me half a dozen times during our match." He sighed.

"Let's just hope that's the worst that happens."

Elsa narrowed her eyes at him.

"What the hell did you do, Helix?" She asked in a demanding voice.

Helix chuckled and shook his head.

"Something I wish I could have seen." He chuckled bitterly.

"I'm going to see Tilo now. If you want to know, you can join me."

Elsa narrowed her eyes and studied his melancholy expression.

"Stay here. I'll go get Tilo." She said before getting up and walking out of the room.

Five minutes later, the door opened again.

"Hoho! There's my little dead man!" Tilo said in greeting.

"And here's my favorite executioner." Helix sighed.

Tilo sat down at a small table in the room.

He turned the chair to face Helix, put one leg over the other, and motioned his hand outward.

"Speak." He requested with a smile.

While he was smiling, his eyes weren't smiling.

Helix sat up and gave him a serious expression.

"Have you considered all of the strategic objectives that my strategy accomplished?" He asked.

"Hoh? It's your turn to speak, yet you ask me a question?" Tilo asked with a warm smile and murderous eyes.

Elsa shifted her eyes back and forth to study both expressions.

"Tilo, While you think my strategy was a prank, you stepped on three charges that should have blown off your leg." Helix replied with a serious gaze.

Tilo's eyes trembled with shock.

"The first time was one thing, but experiencing it twice after that shows how destabilized and reckless you were." Helix sighed.

"You didn't question why [Waterspout] didn't disappear after a minute.

You didn't realize your battle discs were getting ruined.

You didn't even attack one of the women from behind the geyser, even though you knew I could've been masking my appearance.

It looked like a joke, but it was a serious and successful strategy."

Tilo scoffed lightly with a bitter expression.

He was getting scolded and deserved it.

However, it didn't mean that what Helix did was right.

"That's why I'm asking if you've examined the strategic benefits.

I told you that I'd use every card in my power to win, and I obtained an overwhelming victory." Helix sighed.

"But considering what I did, it was a pyrrhic victory before it began."

Helix's melancholy tone puzzled Tilo.

The man was trying to keep his mind clear and rational.

"Was that [Nightmare], Helix?" He asked with a frown.

"No. That was five simultaneous activations of [Conditional Summoning] with active manipulations." Helix replied.

"Wait… what?" Tilo asked with bewilderment in his eyes.

"I saw also controlling the dialogue for three of the women simultaneously.

The shocking realness of the illusion is something I've been practicing as a trump card for two weeks." Helix sighed.

Tilo and Elsa looked at Helix with surprise.

Neither of them could believe he was training so much in his off-time.

"However, the illusions weren't the strategy.

I masked half a dozen [Contained Charge Triggers] and sent them into your area during the flooding.

It was a minefield before you even waterproofed your first disc."

Tilo's eyes widened in bewilderment upon the revelation.

"I activated an elemental heat spell called [Heat Wave] and heated the area around you to increase steam output.

That increased the speed of disarming your weapons.

If you felt shocked by the heat of the water, you now know why." Helix continued.

"In the geyser, I creased an amorphous illusion that kept you spellbound for 15-seconds while your discs were getting ruined.

I disarmed you, made you paranoid, and surrounded you in traps before your harem showed up."

"What!? Harem!?" Elsa cried.

Helix raised his hand to calm her down.

"Aside from making you feel extremely uncomfortable, those women were being used to route you." He sighed.

"While they may have looked like they were boxing you in, they were your real enemies.

Each of them was working toward pushing you into one of those mines.

Their movements used conditional logic.

If you're standing, surround you.

If you run toward me, tunnel you in and route you toward the mine.

It wasn't a coincidence you triggered three mines."

Tilo's eyes showed his deep level of perplexion.

The strategy Helix was using wasn't just absurd; it was genius.

It wasn't just genius; it was absurdly skilled.

"The women coming from the geyser sounded more human.

They gave the illusion I was one of them.

Having three allowed you to be routed from multiple sides." Helix concluded in a melancholy tone.

His eyes were depleted and worn down.

Tilo and Elsa looked at Helix's pitiful state with bewilderment.

"Before you ask, no, I didn't see the match.

Controlling seven clones simultaneously with voices using conditional logic and voice parameters is extremely taxing.

I practiced with clothed women and only designed one body." He continued.

"So please savagely beat the shit out of me like I deserve but don't tell my girlfriends I'm a pervert unjustly.

I would have used another strategy if I could have assured victory with any other means."

Tilo didn't know whether to laugh or cry after realizing his comic tragedy was the best strategy Helix could come up with.

"Helix. If I understand you correctly, you summoned seven naked women for this strategy. Correct?" Elsa asked.

"That's right." He replied with a hopeless smile.

"If you don't want us to call you a pervert… how the hell could you think up something like this!?" She cried.

Tilo chuckled bitterly in affirmation.

"Have either of you forgotten I have a harem?" Helix chuckled while matching their gazes.

Tilo and Elsa looked at each other with shock in their eyes.

"Harem. It's not being called polyamory or polygamy.

It's being called a [harem]. I didn't use that terminology—my partners did." Helix claimed with a slight smile.

"Wait! Hold up! What?" Elsa cried.

"Have you both forgotten about otakupocalypse?" He asked with a slight smile.

Helix matched both of their gazes with a serious expression.

"The Knights share a similar high culture that [studies] harems.

So when they all fell in love with me, they suggested I start one, so they could share me.

It's not normal, but it's normal for us.

All of my partners would agree that this strategy was natural, logical, and strategic." Helix clarified.

Tilo and Elsa stared at Helix with wry smiles.

"However, I don't want them to know I can summon naked women.

That's a recipe for insecurity and doubt and could hurt them.

They'll eventually realize I can naturally do that, but I'd rather that happen when our love and trust are more deeply rooted."

Tilo gave Helix a complicated expression.

"If you knew your strategy would cause so many difficulties, why would you carry it out?

Have you already forgotten our agreement to examine the meaning of victory?" He sighed.

Helix scoffed lightly and looked away.

"In a battle of life and death, you must win at all costs." He reasoned.

"There's no point in having a crystal clear reputation if I'm dead."

"Still…." He replied hesitantly.

"Tilo. You're far stronger than me and have more experience.

You could easily kill my girlfriends and me if you were my enemy.

However, if that were a real match, you would be dead, and my partners would be alive.

It's as simple as that." Helix countered with a serious gaze.

Tilo opened and closed his mouth a few times.

Elsa, too, was processing what was being discussed with a perplexed expression.

"Heh. I guess you're right?" Tilo chuckled with a self-deprecating smile.

Elsa looked at him for confirmation.

"I've been so exasperated for the last two hours I haven't processed what happened," Tilo confessed.

"You didn't just hit me… you really did kill me. Haha. Hah."

Tilo leaned back, looked at the ceiling, and burst into laughter.

He ran his fingers through his curly hair in bewilderment.

"And in the most shameful way too. Hahaha!

Lured to my death by male instincts! This is the true fate of [man]kind."

Tilo keeled over in the chair and clutched his stomach for support.

"Boy! Boy! Hahaha. I'll make you a deal!"

Elsa and Helix gave each other a confused look before turning back to Tilo.

"Yes?" Helix asked hesitantly.

"Boy! If you tell Tyrene… hahaha… I'll suffer… haha… for the rest of time! Hahaha." Tilo roared while gripping his sides.

"So I won't tell your girlfriends… hahaha… if you don't tell Tyrene!"

Helix's eyes lit up.

"You've got a deal! " Helix confirmed without the slightest hesitation.

He stood up immediately and stretched out his hand.

Tilo didn't even look up at him.

He reached out his right hand while holding his stomach with his left.

They shook hands with a truly pitiful display of masculinity.

Then Tilo stood up without saying a word and left the room cackling.