[Nightmare]

"Intentionally anticlimactic?" Marie asked in confusion.

"Yes. We're instilling fear, which is good for getting people to take situations seriously." Helix asserted.

"However, if the fear gives them trauma, they could lose their will to fight. They could become callous or dangerous as well.

That's why we need to immediately remove trauma from the equation."

She gave him a strange look. "That makes sense, but how can people casually remove trauma?"

"You remove the feeling of helplessness and danger." He smiled.

"They're afraid because they're seeing Charlotte move to the jaws of the Lagrock, helpless to prevent getting bitten in half and having a gruesome death, right?

We need to reverse that and tell people she was never in danger.

To do that, we need to remove emotion from the equation. Make it seem like it wasn't worthy of glory or celebration."

Marie's eyes glided to the left.

"So you're planning to make its death as mundane and lifeless as a normal monster hunt?"

Helix chuckled and shook his head.

"That would be ideal, but that's impossible." He explained.

"So if we do want to play it off, we'll have to turn it into a farce."

—

"Yeah, yeah, Char. Sorry for—" Helix began, addressing Charlotte with a faux, cutesy nickname before getting cut off by the Lagrock.

"GOOOOORN—"

The monster screamed out.

Helix [forgot] it was drowning and gave it the most annoyed look he could muster.

"Gooooooood! You're like a broken record." He yelled in annoyance.

Bewildered chuckles rang out in response to his relaxed arrogance.

Helix touched his neck and pulled out a large circular disc a few feet in diameter.

Then he pulled out two other battle discs.

A green light glowed when he touched the first battle disc to the larger one's center.

Then he stacked the third disc on the second.

He created the [beginners] explicit chant for the [Water Guard] spell, which creates a waterproofing barrier for circles.

"GOOOR—"

"Yeah, yeah. We can all hear your depressing quest for living…." Helix called out sarcastically.

"But give it a rest, would ya? I'm trying to have a conversation here."

The large disc lit up with vivid purple light.

He then threw the disc like a frisbee one hundred feet into the small lake that had formed.

The area instantly fell silent, and the splashing creature looked comical now that the circle drowned out the noise.

"Haaaaaaah. Thank God for the Circle of Silence. You never know how annoying people and creatures can be until you run out of them almost daily." Helix laughed indignantly.

An eruption of laughter and cheers exploded from the walls.

Now everyone could enjoy the victory without the disturbing backdrop.

Moreover, Helix's complete ambivalence toward the creature was godly. It was offensive in the most delightful ways imaginable.

"Ahem! Like I was saying, I'm sorry for napping." Helix coughed, getting on past with the last conversation.

"But come on, give me some slack, Char. It really hurt, it's not like I was just relaxing."

Helix's whining caused a wave of bewildered laughter.

"Humph! If Riley had to blind the thing and I dropped to the earth, I'd be pissed." Charlotte huffed, "I demand flowers!"

Many people were bewildered by the development, but everyone cheered regardless. It was so cute, and absurd, and the juxtaposition was too great to ignore.

"Can they be store bought?" Helix sighed.

"The last time I got you flowers, a third-evolution Warpshire almost ate Master Tyrene and me in the Izian Forest."

Shocked gasps rang out. However, the otakus and weebs started cheering loudly, triggering others to do the same.

They started telling people in the story hurriedly, and the soldiers nearby began laughing.

"Hmmm? What's the problem with that? You got a fancy coat, and I found it char~ming." Charlotte smacked with a saucy voice.

The atmosphere in the area was getting contagious.

"Fine. Can we keep the zone under 100 this time?" Helix sighed.

Everyone was puzzled in the most delightful way possible. People were cheering and whistling, hanging on their every word.

Their casual, unbelievable conversation wouldn't be taken seriously if the soldiers couldn't see a fourth-evolution titan drowning in the background.

The juxtaposition was far too ridiculous.

"Hmmm? Did I hear you say something?" Charlotte asked mockingly.

"Oh, snap! You're fucked, boy!" Miskie shouted, making everyone on the walls explode with laughter.

Similar  statements flew down from the area, heckling Helix and making him turn to them with a wry smile, saying, [why are you betraying me?]

The soldiers lit up, including General Masov and Major Oakley.

Everyone wanted to know how the teen would react in the situation, seeking inspiration or a demonstration of what [not] to do.

"Thank you for your leniency, sweetheart." Helix sighed, "I'll get you flowers from where you want."

An explosion of laughter and applause rocked the airwaves, pleased by his apology in front of all of Alzeria.

The great Helix Hellsgate Margrave bowing to his girlfriend in front of the people he claimed to protect was priceless.

Since he had a reputation and proved his power, everyone found it charming and expressed their feelings.

Whistles rang down upon Helix, who was chuckling due to the reception.

"Hey, Riley." Helix called out.

"Yes? What is it?" Riley responded in a sickly-sweet voice.

It melted the hearts of otakus, weebs, and military personnel alike.

After everything they had seen, hearing the savior of the troops act sweet and nonchalant was healing.

She had a way of calming down the otakus and weebs, and the soldiers who didn't know about it understood instantly. Half understood.

"Thank you for having faith in me." Helix said with a warm smile.

"I saw you were preparing to end that thing when Charlotte was picked up, but you placed trust in me anyway. I'll get you flowers too."

"They're not necessary, but I'd love some." Riley replied with a bright, grateful smile.

The female otakus and weebs started melting from the warm display.

Helix grinned inwardly, knowing that the female otakus and weebs were secured. He figured they'd be the hardest to recover from the titan scene.

However, if their morale was up their new relationship with the men will break them out of their shell.

"Now that everyone's okay, do you want to take out frustration and show Alzeria what [would] have happened if I was still taking a nap?" Helix joked.

"It's in a fixed position now. I doubt it's going anywhere."

Laughter burst from the castle walls and lightened the atmosphere in the city.

"Sure. Give me a moment." Riley replied with a warm voice.

The crowd's anticipation was at a peak.

"[Wind~Dance]."

A sharp, massive rock fifty feet away from her shot at the drowning Lagrock like a dart.

BOOOOOM!

That was the sound that people imagined in their minds when it shot into the Lagrock's eye, causing a bloody explosion.

The Lagrock screamed for a moment before sinking underwater.

It started slowly dissolving into fairy dust five seconds later, causing shocked gasps to ring out.

"Hmmm. Great shot. But… I messed up." Helix sighed.

"I should've asked you to do that before I shut it up.

Now its death feels a bit… anticlimactic? I don't know.

It was a pain in the ass to fight, I got hit by a rock, and now I have to pick flowers in death zones."

Everyone listened to Helix's melancholy complaining with shocked confusion.

It wasn't problematic; it was just… strange.

"So I would've at least liked to hear it yell, [Ahhhh! I thought I was at the top of the food chain!

The Mad Queen tricked me!

She said humans were a bunch of weak pushovers!] or something stupid like that." Helix sighed.

He turned to the soldiers, otakus, and weebs.

"That thing was a loud, whiney pain in the ass for you too.

Is it just me? Or wouldn't you have liked to have a more exciting ending too?"

After he asked in a depressed tone, he grinned wickedly.

A chuckle.

A laugh.

A cheer.

An explosion of cheers and applause rang out over the dark Alzerian skies.

"Ah. I'm glad I'm not the only one." Helix chuckled.

—

"I don't think I'd mind playing the housewife for a bit." Marie giggled.

Helix gave her a lifeless expression, complete with dead eyes.

"I don't like the role of a deadbeat husband."

Marie burst into giggles.

"You're right. It doesn't fit you well, harem~leader." She chimed.

Helix gave her a strange smile.

"You know, I prefer that role to an alternative for once."

The two burst into laughter again.

"Do you think it'll be enough?" Marie asked with a pondering expression.

"Playing it off like a casual event and turning it into a sitcom?"

Helix scoff-laughed with bitter eyes.

"Not even close. We'll have a big ass, depressing-looking lake to remind everyone that something brutal took place."

Marie frowned at the reasoning.

"Good point." She said with a nod.

"Moreover, fourth-evolution monsters are so rare they're not seen for decades." Helix sighed.

"When they are, they're hunted out in the wilderness.

The moment someone sees a monster that can take down the city's walls singlehandedly will destroy everyone's sense of security."

Marie gave Helix a worried expression.

"Then what can we do about it?" She asked.

Helix's eyes glided to the left.

"Well, we can't force this on Alzeria." He prefaced.

"But there's a way to instantly restore a sense of security while continuing our charade."

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)