Out of the seven, Mao, Airu and Monmoku were likely the most familiar with the Lesser Mirrors, having wandered around in the void-like spaces following the magical threads with no way of restoring them on their own. That familiarity might not mean much when the defenses mechanisms of Kai Mihana activated, but it helped Monmoku set the stage. Monmoku was a forest spirit by nature, that meaning that he was a being of pure magic supported by a Spirit Core creating a projection that could interact with the physical world. But more than that, he was a Nature Spirit, one whose basis was a frog. This meant that after living a long life as a frog he collected enough mana and possessed a strong enough connection to the place he had lived in that when his frog body died, the being known as Monmoku was born. At first he could only interact with and move around within a certain range of the forest pond he had lived in as a frog. But as he lived his life as a spirit, gaining knowledge of complex magic and language, he was able to roam more and more freely, until the tether that bound him to the pond became one with his core. With this he gained a tremendous amount of raw magical power, and began to keep vigil on the entire mountain range that surrounded the little pond he had grown up in.

All this to say, with familiarity comes an extent of power. Of course, if one's familiarity is based on a misunderstanding it may undermine that power, but thanks to Mao his understanding had been rectified.

“So it begins, my orchestra.”

A magic circle spiraled out from beneath his webbed feet, stretching far out to the vanishing points of his vision. After a moment it faded, but then a gentle sound filled the darkness. A soft hiss, a pitter-patter: rain.

When the floor was covered in a thin layer of water, Monmoku began his march, collecting the thread. He smiled as the terrain of the void began to shift, but as it shifted one way it soon switched to another, as though in reaction to the rain!

It had begun to shift into the inside of a building, but just as the pristine walls with lights running through them manifested, they twisted like distorted images, and then shifted into the sand of a beach. The sky, no longer void but overcast, called down even heavier rain. What might have been monsters in another Lesser Mirror resembled people in raincoats and umbrellas, but where was Monmoku?

A single frog hopped out of view of the illusory people, following still the magical thread.

The waves of the ocean in the distance grew larger, as the pouring rain continued to fall.

“I can feel the end of the thread close by...I should hurry.”

Monmoku hopped towards his destination at top speed, but halted suddenly as he was confronted with something he hadn't expected.

A patch of void remained, and hung upon it was a pitch black mirror with a silver frame. From within a hand beckoned. Monmoku retook his humanoid form.

“A black mirror...An ill omen to be sure...”

The hand stopped beckoning, and waggled a finger as if reproving him.

The hand vanished, replaced by a pair of eyes, which winked at him before vanishing.

Monmoku had a distinct sense of dread, and moved out of the line of sight the eyes would have had were they still there, when like a shot from a cannon a burst of chaotic magic shot out of the mirror.

Monmoku flinched and watched in horror as the mass of magic, a thread bound to the disk obviously following, careened into the sea.

A moment passed, then an aura of darkness spewed forth from the sea! Like a tidal wave, it crushed anything it touched. Monmoku leaped high into the air, watching as a hulking creature emerged from the ocean where the magic had landed.

“You must be joking...”

It was a giant scorpion, the joints of its armor glowed with rainbow hue and instead of pincers it had twin cannons which immediately locked onto his position in the air and began to charge energy, rainbow hue draining from the tip of its tail down throughout the rest of its body, luminescence gathering inside the cannon's rifling.

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“I'll be rewriting the ending to that folktale!”

Monmoku waited until the very last second, then returned to his frog form, immediately dropping like a stone. A beam of concentrated energy passed where he had been not a moment earlier.

He created a series of platforms of magic, and bounded his way towards the scorpion, who seemed to be recharging, rainbow colored light recovering starting from its eight wicked looking blade-like legs.

As soon as he was in range, which was still quite a ways away from the main body for his frog form, the scorpion attacked with its tail, making rapid jabs with the nasty-looking bladed edge.

“You'll have to do better than that!” he said, keeping his maneuvers simple, but the scorpion seemed to genuinely be having trouble tracking the small airborne frog.

Suddenly inspired, Monmoku leaped, and latched onto the top rounded bulb of the tail with his sticky pads as it swung down at him.

The scorpion looked confused and stopped moving entirely. Monmoku took that chance, crawling down its tail onto its back. He etched a small magic circle onto its back before it had time to notice him, and then he leaped away with all his might.

“I invoke the Curse of Rain!” he shouted.

The magic circle that spanned the Lesser Mirror flashed, though it was invisible beneath the scenery the subconscious of Kai Mihana had created. The circle on the scorpion's back flashed, and suddenly from the very clouds of that subconscious illusion lightning rained down upon the scorpion.

The secret was that there was no such curse, but Kai Mihana didn't know that. She only knew it was raining and something odd was going on. Compared to a frogs, who usually come out in the rain, a giant sea scorpion was much odder, even if that scorpion was made up of her own magic. Monmoku had taken advantage of a rare mana consumption error almost like an immune system malfunction; causing her magic to turn against itself. The scorpion now weakened significantly, and the rainy beach looking a little translucent, Monmoku jumped into action.

Monmoku jumped high, high into the air, and retook his humanoid form, he faced the scorpion and drew back a fist, still rising at this point.

Light flared up around the fist, and a sound like a chorus of frogs started to pick up. Gravity began to kick in, pulling him back down towards the scorpion. His speed increased, faster, yet faster, the light trail and frog concerto grew in intensity! Halfway to his target, the light flickered then gave off an explosive burst of energy! Throwing him fist first into the scorpion's carapace! The scorpion disintegrated after breaking into chunks at each segment. Monmoku held a victory pose, fist in the air clutching the disk, causing the light particles to migrate towards him like a vortex of confetti.

This disk made a chattering sound! Monmoku put it down, and before his eyes Kai Mihana was restored, absorbing the disk into her person.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

The girl let out a squeak, which she silenced herself, thinking it rude to shriek at the first sight of someone who was probably her savior.

Monmoku smiled, his inhumanly wide mouth making it look cartoonish, “If you have got time to think about being polite I guess you're fine!” he pointed to himself, “The name's Monmoku, a frog spirit. I have come to take you home as per the wishes of my pact partner Ikue Airu, and the invaluable assistance of Overlord Otomi Mao.”

“The Overlord is coming to save us?” she asked, clearly overloaded.

“Got it. Let's save the tough stuff for after we've regrouped with the others.”

Mihana nodded and Monmoku helped her to her feet, and they made their way to the Greater Mirror.