“No, I mean—it’s not one future, it’s several possible futures, and so far he’s killed you every time.”

Terendelev gives her a resigned smile and puts her hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “Deskari is a Demon Lord. If I can hold him off for a time, and limit the damage he can do while on this plane—that’s the best that can be hoped for.”

“Well, that and recovering your body afterwards.”

“That would be ideal, yes.”

“I see.” Hoo boy. 

If she had a second save slot, she could have one save before the demons showed up, and then use the second one on whatever the current iteration of Terendelev holding off Deskari the longest is. Instead she…does not have that.

“What’s the absolute best case scenario?”

“That you’re lying.” And the lie doesn’t royally fuck them over somehow, which is also pretty implausible.

“Besides that.” She is, after all, not in fact lying.

“Iomedae personally intervenes to destroy Deskari.” Hulrun was not actually educated in Lastwall.

Is that remotely likely? Lucy glances at Terendelev.

Terendelev shakes her head minutely.

“Okay. Hypothetically, if I had—the ability to repeat the attack over and over, return to this moment” or like a few moments ago but same difference “until it comes out—the best way possible—what should I hold out for.”

Terendelev sighs. “It’s a lovely thought, but trying to take that kind of responsibility onto your shoulders without the means to actually follow through has destroyed more than one young crusader.”

“No, it’s—it’s not hypothetical! I can literally do that!”

The both of them stare at her.

“No one can literally do that.”

“I don’t need you to believe me, but can you humor me enough to give the question a real answer?”

“…Deskari is driven off without completely destroying the city, my body is secured and not available to the demons, and the Wardstone hasn’t been destroyed.”

“What is the Wardstone.”

“The Wardstone is a magical artifact that, together with its brethren, keep the demons inside the barrier they form.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Shrug. “She didn’t ask us to believe her, just to answer her odd question. It’s not as if I’ve revealed any secrets.”

“Still—”

“Load game.”

Okay, if one of her major objectives is “retrieve Terendelev’s corpse,” she needs to investigate her Inventory situation.

“Info, Inventory.”

INFO/INVENTORY
You may store items in your INVENTORY. In order to inventory an item, say “INVENTORY” while touching the object you wish to inventory. You may not inventory multiple objects simultaneously. You may not inventory items larger than you can carry. Items in INVENTORY are placed in temporal stasis. EXCEPTION: Items designed to keep time will continue to do so.