"Has Drog been causing you problems?"

Krenocia says "I don't want to talk about that pervert! He is even worse than you are!"

Seronia giggles and says "I suggest you don't get her started."

"Alright. Anyway, is me going through the gate our plan B or what?"

Lin says "Yeah, probably. I can't think of anything else to do if the spell fails. I just know you are going to end up getting trapped if you go through the gate."

"Probably. That's why I want to discuss it now. Can you two tell me what you know about the demon plane?"

Krenocia says "Unfortunately, we don't really know anything about it. What we know of the demons is what we learned in the war. We never actually sent anyone into the demon plane."

"So, you have no idea how hard it might be for me to get out if I do get trapped there?"

Seronia says "Nope. Although, from how hard the demons have to work to open a gate, I doubt it will be easy."

"Great. I just love going into things blind."

Lin says "Relax. I'm sure that the spell will be able to destroy the gate. You won't have to go through the gate and get trapped. I won't let you!"

"Well, now that you've jinxed me, I am practically guaranteed to end up trapped in the demon plane!"

Seronia says "Don't try to blame her! Knowing you, you would have ended up trapped even if no one said anything."

Krenocia says "If Lin wasn't here, you wouldn't even try blowing up the gate from this side. You would have probably already rushed through it."

"Hey, why is everyone ganging up on me?!"

Lin says "What? Not even going to deny it? Just going to complain?"

"So, in order to try and destroy the gate, I am going to need to recover my mana first."

Lin says "Fine, avoid the question. So, how long will it take to recover your mana?"

"A few hours. The problem is that I will need to land. I can't meditate while flying, I've tried."

Lin says "If we land it is going to cause a mess. What if I make a solid platform out of the clouds? Would that work?"

"As long as you can maintain it for the time I need, yeah it will work."

Lin says "I can maintain it for five or six hours without a problem."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Then we will go with that. While I am meditating you will need to do some work on the spell. It needs to be focused on one point and a singular attack instead of waves. Can you do it?"

Lin says "That should be easy enough. As long as I don't get attacked by avatars or demons anyway."

"As long as we stay in the clouds, they should be too busy to notice us."

Seronia says "Wait, why are you worried about avatars?"

"Because one is in the area, but we should be fine. However, we need to end this soon, we are running out of time."

Krenocia says "Why do you have a time limit?"

"Remember what I said about not being able to meditate while flying? Well, in the real world we are slowly falling out of the sky right now."

Lin says "What?!"

Seronia says "Fine. Go. Tell us what happens after it is over."

As soon as the goddesses agree, I end the soulscape and instantly start flapping my wings. Due to how the soulscape works, only seconds have passed in real time. Although I had started falling, we didn't fall far before I catch myself and regain altitude.

Lin lets out a cute little shriek and after she catches her breath she smacks me in the back of my head. I fly us back up into the clouds and then Lin casts a spell to turn a section solid. It feels a little weird when I land on it, but it manages to hold my weight.

Lin says "Why didn't you warn me that we were going to fall when you opened the soulscape?!"

"Because you wouldn't have let me and I really needed to talk to the goddesses. Besides, it all worked out, didn't it?"

Lin says "If you had said something I could have used this spell earlier."

"Well, how was I supposed to know you knew a spell that could make a cloud solid? How does that even work anyway?"

Lin says "It's a variation on a levitation spell and you would have known if you had asked. If you had told me the situation I would have told you about it."

"Alright, alright. I get it, you are right and I was wrong. I will make it up to you later."

Lin says "You'd better! For now, get to recovering your mana. The longer we are here the greater the risk."

"Yes ma'am!"

I grin at Lin then do as I'm told and enter meditation to recover my mana. While I am doing that, Lin works on making the needed changes to the spell. I take a break from my meditation a few hours later to eat with her and then go back to it.

When I finally finish refilling my mana I open my eyes and see Lin at the edge of the platform. She is standing there staring down and just as I am about to ask why I hear explosions. They sound like they are coming from directly below us, which would be in the ruins.

"How long has that been going on?"

Lin says "It started a few minutes ago. Are you all set?"

"Sure am. Did you get the spell modified?"

Lin says "Of course! I was finished hours ago."

"Alright, let's go."

I wait for Lin to climb into the saddle, then I drop off of the platform and fly down. As soon as we break out of the clouds we can see a battle going on beneath us. The demons are fighting against a couple of dozen winged beings, either angels or avatars.

I don't plan on getting close enough to figure out which one they happen to be. Although, from the battle below, it looks like the avatar did run into the demons. It looks like even the gods on the mainland don't like the idea of a huge army of demonic beasts.

Lin says "What do we do now? If we use the spell now, those winged beings will be killed."

"Prepare the spell. If they die, they die. It's not our problem. They are already my enemies anyway."

Lin says "Not necessarily. At least not all of them are confirmed to be our enemies. Why make them our enemies if we don't have to?"

"Well, then what do you want to do?"

Lin says "I want to wait until the battle ends. Who do you think will win?"

"Definitely the demons."

Lin says "Why?"

"A couple of reasons. First, this is the demon's territory they should be more prepared and have reinforcements nearby. Second, look at how the angelic forces are fighting, there is no cooperation. They came in without a plan, just expecting to win, they are doomed."