The Silken Siren swung James’s Bloodhound Axe at Desiree. James could see the calculations running behind the young girl’s eyes. She could dodge if she used one of her skills at the right moment, but that might defeat the purpose of standing in front of her mother.

  James couldn’t turn away from the devastating image: a ten year old girl, half the size of her mother, standing between Inara and the monster they fought against, with only her staff raised in defense.

  The axe seemed to move in slow motion through the water, as if there was more than just water resistance pushing back on it. The Siren’s arms shook.

  The axe rattled.

  Desiree’s staff held strong against the blade, the angle of it pushing the sharp edge just enough to the side —

  —for the axe itself to take over. The Siren’s swing went wide, then wider still, then so wide that it turned on itself and the blade of the axe aimed once more for the Siren herself. She fought it every step of the way, only to end up with a two foot gash starting from her waist and ending partway down her tail.

  The Silken Siren is Bleeding!

  What the hell??

  James pulled up the description of the Axe, which he hadn’t looked at since he’d picked it up.

  Bloodhound Axe

  Once this axe has tasted blood, it will not stop until its victim is dry.

  He wanted to laugh and cheer and cry all at the same time. That damn axe did have a mind of its own, and it had tasted the Siren’s blood.

  Your turn!

  We-ell, that was trouble. James looked around. His spells weren’t going to work in this environment, and the Siren held his only close-range weapon.

  Or… “I’m so dumb,” he tried to say, only to end up coughing on the sudden influx of water.

  Fireball was definitely not going to work, but who was to say pure mana suffered the same constraints?

  James pointed at the Siren and thought, Mana Bolt. Sure enough, a line of blue light shot from his fingertip and raced towards the Siren.

  Mana Bolt, Mana Bolt. Two more bolts shot rapid-fire from his fingertips. Each hit was weaker than his axe blow had been, but he was able to fire off three instead of just the one hit, so it amounted to slightly more damage overall.

  James held a finger gun to his lips and blew like he was cooling off a smoking gun.

  Nobody else seemed to think that was cool, but, whatever. Not every joke was going to land.

  Inara seemed to realize that it just wasn’t worth it anymore for her to keep up a front-range attack role. She wasn’t doing enough damage, and she was skewing Desiree’s positioning in the process. So instead, she took a few steps back and to the side, grabbed a handful of coral rubble, and tossed it into the Siren’s face. She had enough time for three handfuls, and thanks to the water, the coral sort of floated in front of the Siren’s face, where it would partially block her vision on her next turn.

  Nice.

  Desiree lunged forward. She was close enough to the Siren that she was able to grab the axe out of the creature’s tail and swing it once more, as hard as she could.

  The blade of the axe drank deeply from the already bleeding Siren, but there was a sudden screech from it as black energy in the axe blade slammed against the holy light that glowed from Desiree’s hands.

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  Her HP took a hit.

  Desiree shrieked and flung the axe away. It spun lazily through the water, end over end until it settled somewhere in the rubble.

  James did his best to memorize that location so he could find it later.

  Virgil repeated his ScriptBind spell. Golden runes once again shackled the Siren, only to disappear once her turn began.

  The Siren turned her attention to James. Her lips curled back into a furious snarl. She flung her arm out, and an arc of razor sharp water spread out from the motion. It widened as it traveled, so much so that Desiree and Inara were caught by its edge.

  Duck, James thought as soon as he felt the opening of his dodge window. The skill yanked his body down, as if someone had attached a string to his sternum and dropped an Acme weight down a hole.

  Not as graceful as Desiree by a wide margin.

  But the Siren wasn’t done. A lash of seaweed appeared in her hand and she flicked it like a whip. The tip slashed against his neck, then wrapped around like something alive. It yanked James back up to his feet and squeezed.

  His health took a major hit and continued to trickle down. He tried to grab at the noose around his neck, but his fingers only bled against the razor sharp seaweed.

  Until finally, her turn was over.

  Your turn!

  The seaweed lash vanished, and James gasped for breath. That was awful.

  He checked the Siren’s health. Only a third of her health remained, so they were on their way to winning, but it would be difficult with his axe on the other side of the garden. If he was going to finish her off, he’d have to come up with something different.

  Until he came up with a better idea, though…

  Mana Bolt, Mana Bolt, Mana Bolt, Mana Bolt. Four mana bolts shot from James’s fingers, one after another. His MP sank down to about half full, but he wasn’t worried. Mana Bolt was one of his few mana-hungry spells, and he should still have plenty for the rest of the fight. He just wished he could do more.

  He did have six skill points that he hadn’t figured out how to spend, yet. Maybe he could figure out a skill that would turn the tides?

  Inara didn’t let her turn go to waste. She took off swimming towards where James’s axe had fallen, and her turn ended just as she found it half-buried in bits of coral. That positioned her far from the fight, but she was also set up to return a powerful weapon to the Hero, which was more than she could do by herself.

  Then, Desiree. The Demon Slayer cast Sanctified Bolt from a safe distance, three times before her turn ended. Each one burned like a laser into the Siren’s body and shaved a satisfying chunk off her health.

  Virgil followed up with a repetition of Scriptbind, which felt pointless to James at this point. It hardly did any damage, and from what he could tell, the loss of accuracy hardly mattered. The more she lost, the more she simply switched to attacked with a higher area of effect.

  Enemy Turn!

  As if she’d read his thoughts, the Siren’s eyes began to glow. She opened her mouth and began to sing, and unlike when James and his friends tried to speak with each other, her sound traveled through the water with ease.

  It was the most beautiful, haunting song James had ever heard.

  You have been Charmed by the Siren’s Song! You will not be able to attack on your next three turns!

  That was terrible news — perhaps even a death sentence — but it paled in comparison to the pure beauty of the Siren’s voice. There were no words in her song, only notes, and they sank straight to the depths of James’s soul. He understood, now, how a person could leap to the depths for such a sound. If his life ended in this moment, he would only count himself lucky to have heard her voice before he met his end.

  Your turn!

  James blinked. That wasn’t…quite right, was it? He wanted to live. Didn’t he? There were things he needed to do, and… letting the Siren kill him would… be bad.

  Yeah, that would be… bad.

  Maybe there was something he could do? Something that wouldn’t take the song away. He wouldn’t have to hurt her, but he could at least… do… something?

  Like a memory dragged to the surface, he recalled his skill points. There was something he could do with those. Something…

  He scrolled through his skill list. He dismissed anything offensive, which shortened the list considerably.

  He didn’t want to hurt the Siren. He loved her.

  And then he saw it.

  Iron Will

  Your brain has stopped taking suggestions.

  James bought the skill for a whopping four skill points.

  Nothing happened. Not a passive skill, then.

  “Iron Will,” he bubbled. He felt the skill activate, but it was shaky, like trying to shut a gate against a strong wind. Mana drained at an alarming rate, and then it snapped into place.

  The Siren’s Song dimmed to a low background murmur, and James’s heart ached at the sudden lack — but he knew, at least, that it was necessary.

  He shook his head like he was trying to get water out of his ears. Three turns of this? Three turns?! How unfair was that!