"Be ready," I said. "He's a scientist, which means he's probably smart enough to figure out what we're doing with the lights. As soon as he does, he's going to be back here."

Kimberly bit her lip and nodded. I wasn't sure if I should distract her, but I didn’t want her to be caught off-guard.

As we waited, I mentally prepared myself for what was to come. If we succeeded, it would mean a fight. If we failed, there wouldn't be much of a fight. I reviewed Doctor Halle’s stats again.

Plot Armor: 12.

My understanding was that enemies' stats worked the same way as ours did, which meant that if he had twelve Plot Armor, those twelve points were divided among his five stats. I wanted to estimate what his different stats might be so that I might be of more use when the time came.

"What's his Moxie?" I asked.

Kimberley's third trope, after Convenient Backstory and Looks Don't Last, was called Social Awareness. It let her see an enemy's Moxie stat. She glanced at the bed-ridden form of Doctor Halle. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"It's zero," she said. "He has no Moxie at all."

Interesting.

That meant that all of his 12 Plot Armor points were distributed among his Mettle, Hustle, Savvy, and Grit stats.

Given that he was a scientist, I assumed a big chunk of those points would be attributed to his Savvy stat. After all, that’s how Camden was distributed, and he was a Scholar archetype. I estimated his Savvy to be around 5, leaving around 7 points between his Hustle, Mettle, and Grit stats.

He had abducted Kimberly and injured Antoine in his Ghost form, which had heightened Mettle and Hustle. Given that both his Ghost form and Possessed form gave him a boost to Mettle, he probably didn’t have much in his base form. Furthermore, he had a weapon that One Hit KOed any target. He probably didn’t need much Mettle. I figured a single point was in Mettle.

Likewise, he probably wouldn’t need a high base Hustle either, given his Ghost form buffs that stat so much. I’ll assign it another single point, though it could be zero as well.

That left Grit.

He could easily have five or more points in Grit.

Even a boosted Antoine couldn’t kill the Astralist in his Possessed form, not like that. He got two points added to Grit in that form. It would have to be Antoine and Anna working together with a boost from Anna’s Who’s With Me trope. Hopefully that, plus if Camden could find his weakness, it might be enough.

TO SUMMARIZE:

In the final battle, Anna and Antoine would have to fight him, attacking his Comatose form anytime he tried to release his Ghost form. This would force him into his Possessed form, which has a higher Grit, but a lower Mettle. Harder to kill, but less deadly.

That could work.

I hoped my estimate was correct, and if so, we stood a chance, especially if Camden figured out his weakness.

Now all I could hope was that I would have the chance to relay that information to my friends.

“Kimberly,” I said, “I have a plan for the final battle. If I’m not around to tel—"

"Why must you always resist your greater purpose?"

My blood went cold.

I looked over to the bed where Doctor Halle had been laying. Now, he sat upright. His ghostly right arm and head had returned. He must have noticed the lights.

"A clever attempt, truly. What did you think? That I wouldn't understand Morse code?"

His ghostly arm flickered, and something struck me in the chest. The wind was knocked out of me. I struggled to breathe.

"Kimberly," I tried to say, but I didn't have the ability. She needed to continue; it was our only hope. I glanced up at her. She was furiously flipping the switch in that same pattern – in cellar, in cellar, in cellar.

I needed to buy her some time.

Luckily, her Plot Armor had risen to an amazing 15 - her original 10 Plot Armor plus three Savvy because of her successful use of her Convenient Backstory trope and then an additional two - one to Savvy and one to Grit - thanks to yours truly.

Finally, I had actually managed to make a prediction that triggered my Cinema Seer-Survive ability. This allowed me to buff my allies by making accurate predictions about the plot. I guess the "he's going to come back as soon as he sees the lights" prediction was enough.

All the theorizing on what kind of monster we were fighting hadn't worked, but something that simple had. I'd have to make note of that for the future.

I strained to stand up.

My estimation put his current Mettle in Possessed form at three. It wouldn't really matter; whatever his Mettle, it was higher than my Grit.

I couldn't buff myself. I only had one thing going for me, and that was his Hostage Taker trope, which meant that until the final battle—which couldn’t start without Anna—he would not try to kill me directly but would instead try to stick me back in that chair and siphon out my soul.

As soon as I was up on my feet and moving again, trying to draw his attention away from Kimberly, his arm flickered again, and this time he struck me in the shoulder. I managed to catch myself against his giant machine.

"Do not touch that," he said. "It's very sensitive."

His arm flickered again, and I was flung backward.

He was just playing with me.

"Don't you worry," he said, "I wouldn't damage your body too much. It was true when I said that I was going to bring you back. Your death will only be temporary. Can you not see the importance of my work, how such a small sacrifice could make a meaningful impact across all of humanity? Don't be so selfish."

This ghostly arm flickered once more, and I felt it grab onto my foot. I was dragged down onto the ground as he pulled me toward one of the chairs. I was helpless to fight. After all, I was a minor character, and the best I could do was motivate my friends with my death.

"You are in luck," he said. "I think I'm close to finally mapping the astral plane. You may be revived in time to see your family for the holidays."

A knock sounded against the wall. It was loud, and I could hear wood crunching on the other side.

Camden, Anna, and Antoine had gotten the message.

They were trying to get in. Antoine's five Mettle plus Anna’s three and Camden's one should equal nine total. Plus, two more because of Anna’s Who’s With Me trope buffing Camden and Antoine, which should be activated now since it was the Finale.

If they were all trying to get into the basement, then whatever mechanism was keeping the hidden door closed would have to withstand that. Unlike the revolving door upstairs, I couldn't think of any reason why they wouldn't be able to get through. There was a chance.

"It appears they did not want to wait their turn," Doctor Halle said. He turned and began walking toward the secret door, releasing me.

I couldn't let him harm them before they got in, so as soon as he had let go of my ankle, I was on my feet and running at him.

Before he could flicker his ghostly arm, I had jumped on his back. My arms and hands went right through his ethereal shoulder and neck, and I grabbed onto his physical body.

That was a terrible idea. I was not at all specced for that.

He threw me off with ease, but at least his attention was on me again. The only problem with that was that now that the main characters had shown up, I was sure that this was the final battle, meaning he wasn't taking hostages anymore. I lay on my back as he approached me.

"Oh, how you vie for my attention," Doctor Halle said. "But love is more important than all things, more important than you."

His ghostly arm reached forward and grabbed me by the neck, lifting me into the air. "You do have strength of spirit, I'll grant you that, but then so do I."

Did he just tell a joke?

He began to choke me tighter.

Strangely, it didn't look like he enjoyed this. This was a waste of a specimen.

As I struggled, I saw Kimberly come from behind and try to beat him with a thin pipe that she had found somewhere at his workstation. It did nothing. Kimberly’s Mettle was zero. I don't think that she could beat him to death if she had all day.

The room started to go dark. Here I was, just as I had feared - the character who dies. That was my true fate. I could feel tears forming in my eyes as I lost the energy to even struggle.

I watched and waited for my status to change to Unconscious. It was only a matter of time. It wouldn’t stop there, I knew. The final battle must have been beginning because he wasn’t trying to siphon out my soul anymore. He was simply going to kill me.