"Eli? What's happening?" Seraphina asked in a panic.
She recognized the signs of an anxiety attack. She used to have them often, after all. She just didn't know what could have triggered him.
This wasn't part of the game. He wasn't supposed to have an anxiety attack. He was a knight in shining armor who always maintained his cool persona.
Now, she was faced with a Bastion she didn't recognize. A Bastion whose anxiety was as terrible as hers had once been.
And she didn't know what to do.
No, that wasn't true. She did know what to do. She had been through it before. She knew he needed to be grounded, comforted, and reminded that he wasn't alone.
But Elyra had already stepped in. She was grounding him and calming him with her presence, something Seraphina should have done right away.
"Bastion? Talk to me. Tell me what set you off. Let me explain," Seraphina said gently, her voice steady as Bastion began to settle under Elyra's quiet comfort.
"I'm okay. I'm okay. Just… give me some time to catch my breath," he replied, taking a moment before continuing. "So, the logic that started my… attack is that the game you played has multiple series. Does that mean our fate won't end until all those stories are completed?"
His greatest concern was the never-ending nature of a game series. Some had only a few entries while others stretched into the dozens. Granted, the heroes and settings often changed, but that might not be the case for them. They could be dragged from one conflict to the next, caught in an endless cycle of kingdom-ending threats.
Any attempt to escape might just become another iteration of the loop. After all, it was their fate being used against them, with nothing real or certain within their grasp.
"Crownbound is a new game series, so I don't know, but—" Seraphina started before noticing Bastion's breathing becoming heavier again so she quickly explained. "The developers confirmed the series are unrelated. So as far as our story, Heartstrings of the Academy, goes, it ends with the defeat of the Demon Lord. There's even a cutscene from the Goddess of Brilliance confirming it."
Bastion relaxed noticeably after hearing that. If the Goddess had confirmed it, then it was likely the true end of their responsibility. With his calm restored, he finally began explaining his situation.
"I've only had one anxiety attack before this. I never had them in my past life, no matter how hard things got. It started when I woke up from a cryptic dream after getting my Class. I felt hollow, empty, like something had been carved out of my chest."
"A feeling of dread took its place and it hasn't left since. I can't even explain it. I don't even know what I'm afraid of. I think it's this whole Demon Lord business."
"Unlike you, I never got anything other than a heads-up from the Goddess. I was just an ordinary guy who recently got divorced before I died. I don't even know if I'm really a hero because this story clearly belongs to you. I… I don't know."
He paused, voice trailing off. The words hung in the air, heavy and vulnerable. He looked at his hands, flexing them slowly, as if unsure they were his own.
"Whatever this is, it's made me more sensitive to anxiety. I become more anxious than I have any reason to be and it's been getting worse lately," Bastion finished explaining.
Seraphina listened without interrupting. When he finished, she took his hand and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
"The game I played was just a simple otome game. From what I've seen, it's only on Normal difficulty. Even if the Demon Lord is on Hell Mode, I already have everything I need to take him down. All you have to do is wait and watch. I'll handle everything. I promise," Seraphina said as she tightly held Bastion's hand.
"As for what comes next, you'll only need to fight a few times before the final battle. Some dungeons will break, a horde of demons will appear, but you and the girls are more than strong enough for that. Once the Demon Lord is released, Aurelia and I will take it from there."
"I'm sorry for not including you in my plans. I should have been more considerate. You're from Earth too, so I should have thought about how you felt, especially since you don't have the same game knowledge I do. I was being selfish. I'm just so used to doing things alone that relying on others is never my first option."
"I promise I'll let you know whenever something happens from now on."
"Thank you, Seraphina. I'm sorry too for being a burden."
"You're not. Don't say that. It's okay."
"It must suck having your knight in shining armor break down like this. Are you disillusioned? We can still cancel the engagement—" Bastion started to spiral but Seraphina stopped him with a chaste kiss.
They shared the kiss for a few seconds before she pulled away with a warm smile.
"You're more desirable to me now than any fantasy I ever had," she said, brushing her thumb gently against his cheek. "You're not some character in a game world. I see your cracks, your doubts, your humanity, and that is a man I can truly fall in love with. You are the kind of knight I can stand beside, not just dream about. Keep the engagement. I will gladly bear your children."
Bastion had quietly worried about Seraphina's unhealthy obsession with him ever since the day they had sex. The trouble with being in love with an image is that once reality eventually breaks through, the reaction can be extreme.
Now, they could finally begin something real, something healthier and more grounded. A proper relationship based on understanding and support rather than an overblown dreamlike fantasy.
Bastion and Seraphina continued their conversation, talking about their previous lives.
Seraphina shared that she had been a 24-year-old Japanese woman who wrote novels based on her trauma to make a living. She had lived alone since graduating high school and had completely cut off all contact with people in real life.
She opened up about the trauma of being bullied, ignored, and never taken seriously. She talked about her own anxiety attacks and how the outside world felt like a haunted mansion she could never get used to. Despite this, she spoke of her living conditions with pride, much to Bastion's shock and sympathy.
Bastion, in turn, spoke about his ex-wife. How Aurelia reminded him of her without the sensibilities of a woman from Earth. That somehow made things better, since Aurelia had the strength and ability to solve problems rather than simply pass them onto others.
He also talked about how proud he was of his children and their accomplishments in school. They weren't geniuses, but they had a clear path for their futures. Both were headed to college, funded by Bastion and his ex-wife.
He even spoke of his plans after the divorce, specifically his intention to marry a submissive Asian woman to take care of him while he lived a life of luxury without a care in the world.
"You know, I would have loved to have married a self-sufficient woman like you back on Earth," Bastion commented. "Assuming you could stomach my presence. I wasn't exactly much of a looker."
"I don't think I had the self-respect to care about looks at the time," Seraphina replied with a chuckle. "So I might have taken you up on your offer. Although, you were quite a bit older than me at 36."
"Am I the youngest?" Elyra suddenly interjected.
The three of them remained in the same position on the couch. Seraphina sat beside Bastion, holding his hand, while Elyra sat on his lap, facing him, his head resting on her ample chest.
Bastion and Seraphina both looked at Elyra who had a somewhat shocked look before laughing.
"In terms of life experience, yes, you are the youngest in the room," Bastion said softly as he stroked her fur-covered legs.
"Don't worry about it, Eli," Seraphina added with a comforting smile, gently playing with Elyra's tail. "You're still the best girl."
"Yes, the best girl," Bastion agreed.
Elyra blushed at the sudden attention and turned her gaze away from the teasing pair.
She had always believed herself to be the oldest and most mature among their group, taking quiet pride in that role. Now, in the presence of heroes from another world, she felt embarrassed for ever thinking about it.
"It's a bit of a wasted opportunity for Lilia to have missed this," Seraphina noted. "She would have gotten to know us better and the type of family we would be."
"She would have been too shocked. I think she would have left the academy if she found out about the Demon Lord. Or she would have been too stressed to study." Bastion replied.
Bastion suddenly had a thought. He was fine with having multiple wives because they belonged to him but how was Seraphina fine with this?
"Seraphina, how are you fine with sharing me with other women? You're from Earth. Your sensibilities would have pulled you to a monogamous relationship," Bastion asked.
"I've been drowning myself in fantasy anime, novels, games, and manga ever since I pulled away from society. Most of what I read are self-insert, self-gratification, reincarnation, and harem stories," Seraphina said proudly. "So, I don't see it as sharing you, my husband and lover. I see it as gaining sisters. Women who can be part of my journey too. Isn't that right, Eli?"
Elyra's cheeks warmed, and her gaze dropped slightly as a shy smile played on her lips. Her tail gently curled around Seraphina's leg, a quiet gesture of acceptance.
Bastion couldn't have considered himself any luckier than landing Seraphina as his main wife. He dreaded the drama that usually came with having a harem, but with Seraphina at the helm, perhaps it would be every bit as dreamlike as the stories suggested.
Suddenly, both girls turned their gazes on him with the same loving look, only this time their eyes burned with obvious lust.
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