"Come ooonn, if you walk any slower I'm going to end up like these chumps," Miana whined her voice droning through the halls of the catacombs-like dungeon as she pointed to the dishevelled skeleton wearing medieval armour covered in holes.

(Miana von Metsustrava is a tall female older teen demi-human fox[humanoid with fox features]; she has hip-low fluffy super-pale-lime-coloured hair with curled ends, light grey eyes, dark tanned skin, small breasts, slightly large thighs, a large bushy super-pale-lime-coloured fox tail, and super pale lime-coloured fox ears)

(Miana is wearing a black sleeveless skintight T-shirt, a light grey safari jacket, dark grey cargo trousers, black hiking boots, and a sheathed golden longsword with a glowing platinum edge on her back)

"Need I remind you what happened the last time you recklessly disregarded your surroundings?" Vestro uttered sternly as he kicked a battered helmet at the dishevelled skeleton before a spike trap pierced through the holes in the skeleton's armour. Miana shrivelled back from the skeleton before meekly clinging to her tail and followed Vestro with her eyes as he walked past her.

(Vestro Hailnavo is a super tall male seraphin elf[a humanoid with pointy ears, different coloured scleras and a body which faintly radiates mana]; he has spiky pure-white hair with faint brown gradient ends, orange to green gradient eyes with dark purple scleras, faintly tanned fair skin, slim toned muscles, bold gold tattoos around his wrists and the start of his fingers, super pointy elf ears, and a faint soothing dark purple light radiating from his body)

(Vestro is wearing a shoulder-low white headless cloak, a black sleeveless- skin tight T-shirt, black cargo trousers, a right-handed fingerless platinum metal-looking cotton glove with a platinum six leaved clover on the back of the glove, and black hiking boots)

"If I didn't know any better, it almost feels like you're belittling me," Miana grumbled defeatedly as she puffed up her cheeks. Vestro lightly chuckled at Miana's pouting, which only made her pout more.

"Trust me, the fact you even heed my warnings puts you above the other students whom I've tutored," Vestro said as the duo entered a large room filled with tattered tents and rusted steel armour.

"Before they died?" Miana asked quietly with Vestro's ears twitching in tandem.

"Before I sent them back to first year," Vestro retorted sharply.

"Somehow that feels even worse...," Miana added as Vestro stopped in front of her, making her stop as well.

"At least they're alive to feel the shame.".

"True...," Miana muttered before she glanced her head around Vestro to see the caved-in section of the room, covering a large doorway behind the rubble. Vestro stared at the pile of rubble and mentally groaned in frustration.

"I take it this wasn't here last time you were here?" Miana asked as she glanced at Vestro. Vestro closed his eyes and rubbed them.

"Certainly not, it wasn't like this fifty years ago," Vestro stated unamusedly, to which Miana gave him a side-eye.

"You've got some nerve thinking a ruin constantly being spelunkered would remain in its previous condition after that much time," Miana uttered snarkily. Vestro lightly exhaled as he took a quick look at their surroundings.

"Doesn't seem there's any other way in," Vestro uttered. He raised his right hand to the wall beside the rubble before a golden energy ring formed on the wall. The energy faded and Vestro pushed the cut cylinder until it popped out of the wall. The duo climbed through the hole in the wall and Miana glanced around as Vestro strolled ahead of her in the boss chamber.

"I was half expecting a boss monster to attack us the second you made that whole," Miana remarked amusedly.

"I've told you this before-".

"Yeah-yeah, boss monsters don't attack anything if it isn't inside the boss chamber, nor can they leave the boss chambers," Miana replied as she put on a mocking imitation of Vestro's inflexions. Vestro rolled his eyes at Miana instead of verbally responding, making Miana huff poutfully.

"I was just trying to... never mind. So, why are we even again?" Miana asked. Vestro stopped before puzzledly turned his head and stared at Miana.

"Didn't I inform you already?". Miana huffed and placed her hands on her hips.

"You mean when you were talking to me right after waking me up?". Vestro and Miana remained silent as they stared at each other before Vestro eventually broke the silence with an audible sigh.

"Perhaps that was an oversight on my part. To put it simply, the last time I was here I was trying to figure out a-". Vestro paused his speech as he watched Miana slowly tilting her head in confusion.

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"Ahem... to put it very simply, I found a scroll from The Great Witch Abigaillia speaking of a powerful Cursed Level Echelon and an angel or something being in these ruins but I was unable to retrieve it the last time I was here," Vestro stated.

"And why was that?". Vestro gestured behind himself and once Miana took a peek she widened her eyes.

"Ah...," Miana muttered as she stared at the massive chasm spewing cursed essence between their half of the boss chamber and the severed other half.

"The gap seems to have increased by a bit," Vestro remarked, with Miana deflatedly lowering her shoulders and head.

"Is this why you were adamant about getting a student with a holy attributed Echelon?" Miana uttered meekly. Vestro nodded before he pointed towards the crystallized cursed essence sphere attached to the wall and surrounded by solid cursed essence tendrils.

"All you need to do is deal with the crystal, I'll handle the tendrils," Vestro instructed. Miana exhaled in relief with such force that she appeared slightly deflated, in demeanour and temperance.

"Did you really believe I'd have you swim through the surging cursed essence just because you're Echelon would be able to cure you... eventually?" Vestro asked nonchalantly making Miana lightly chuckle. Vestro placed his right hand's fingers together before snapping them and conjuring multiple radiant golden energy spears. As Vestro turned to face the surging cursed essence, the energy spears rocketed off before piercing through the cursed essence tendrils and pinning them to the wall. Miana unsheathed her Echelon and slowly walked towards the cursed essence crystal.

"At least he made it easy for me to do it," Miana murmured as she coated her Echelon in holy mana(pale translucent wavey golden energy) before plunging it into the cursed essence crystal sphere. Although pinned down, the tendrils writhed and squirmed for a brief moment before going limp and crumbling into grey dust as the crystal also crumbled. Miana swiftly resheathed her Echelon before skipping over to Visto as the surging wall of cursed essence sank into the chasm's depths. The other side of the boss chamber became clear to the duo and Miana squinted her eyes as she spotted a grey object at the base of large marble stairs followed by her eyes being filled with stars.

"You wait here I'll...," Vestro managed to say before Miana leapt over the massive chasm in a single jump and giddily skipped over to petrified statue Kousako, "... why do I even bother?". Vestro shook his head as a golden energy bridge formed beneath his feet as he walked above the chasm. Miana made circles around the petrified Kousako with awe in her eyes but with her main focus being on Kokuakyou in Kousako's chest.

"I believe the translation in the great witch's scroll for this particular Cursed Echelon is Kokuakyou: The Torrent of Modifiers," Vestro stated as he strolled up to Miana. Miana mindlessly nodded to Vestro's words as she reached out to grab Kokuakyou but randomly flinched before glancing over at Vestro.

"What is it now?" Vestro asked with annoyance.

"Aren't you going to swat my hand away before saying I can't just go and touch random things in ruins?".

"In any other situation, I would; however, this being must be the angel mentioned in the scroll so there's no harm in you removing the Cursed Echelon.". Miana nodded before placing both hands on the handle of Kokuakyou. Miana closed her eyes, mentally bracing herself to remove the Cursed Echelon.

"It appears the Cursed Echelon wasn't embedded very far," Vestro remarked in surprise. Shooting her eyes open, Miana stared in disbelief at the view of the already removed Kokuakyou from Kousako. She glanced between the petrified Kousako and Kokuakyou multiple times before slumping her head sulkingly.

"I can't even do a cool action set piece correctly," Miana mumbled. Vestro rolled his eyes at his student's remark.

"Is that one of those cartoon things?" Vestro asked unamusedly. Miana matched Vestro's non-existent amusement as she stared back at him.

"Try all fiction, Sir.".

"I'd rather not, one time was enough.".

"What?" Miana uttered.

"Huh?". Miana perplexedly blinked at him before tilting her head.

"I feel like this isn't how a dynamic between a student and tutor is supposed to work," Miana remarked as she thought Vestro flips between causal and business mode too infrequently for her to relax. Another thought entered her mind when she wondered if Vestro did it intentionally because it kept her from relaxing.

"Mother said that play was bad," Kousako said emotionlessly.

"Oh so it was a play, no wonder I didn't....". Miana paused mid-sentence before glancing down at the now unpetrified Kousako. She refrained from saying anything as she bent down to match Kousako's height and stared at the stab hole in Kousako's spandex suit. She perplexedly raised a finger to the hole and poked Kousako's undamaged chest.

"Shouldn't there be a hole in them where this whole is?" Miana asked as she raised her hand to poke Kousako's squishable face. Vestro placed his hand on his chin and quietly pondered to himself.

"Isn't this the part where you would be gushing over how cute they are?" Vestro asked, making Miana turn her head and stare at him like a deer in headlights.

"I- I mean I thought of it... but figured you'd chastise me for acting inappropriate during an expedition... or something," Miana mumbled shyly as her face turned slightly red.

"Trust me, hugging another person would be the tamest thing I've seen people do on an expedition.". Miana shockly stared at Vestro before slowly raising her hand, "No I won't tell you what I've seen other than it wasn't sexual, and to answer why I asked the question in the first place is because it was mentioned in the scroll.". Miana gasped in utter shock making Kousako blankly stare up at her.

"The witch can see the future?".

"Unlikely/no," Vestro/Kousako said in unison before looking at each other. Vestro sighed before turning around.

"Would you be willing to accompany us to the surface, witch's angel?" Vestro asked.

"Kousako shall," Kousako stated. Vestro thanked Kousako for their cooperation before he walked off, followed by Miana as she handed Kokuakyou to Kousako. Kousako straightened out their posture and returned Kokuakyou to the dense cursed essence mist before marching behind Vestro and Miana.