Ciel gets up and paces around the platform. Yunia quickly takes her place at my side, so I play with one of her long, elastic ears. A fox ear in one hand and elven ear in the other, truly cleansing for the soul.

The orb's mana organ has an impressive regeneration rate, but it has so much MP to recover that it'll take a few hours until it can talk to us again.

"Maybe I should wait until the orb's mana is full before I try to interrupt it," I say.

"You'll first need to learn about what kind of spell the orb is casting, anyway," Roxanne says.

"Yep."

I focus on my [Sense Mana], and the feeling of the "dark hole" that the spell causes inside of my mind.

The orb's mana efficiency is very high. For the amount of mana that it uses and regenerates, only an infinitesimal fraction escapes and faintly triggers my [Sense Mana]. Very impressive. But something about the orb's mana feels familiar…

"This is Light mana…" Ciel says and turns around.

"Oh, so [Light Magic] really is the reason you were so strongly affected by the orb's will," Roxanne says.

"That doesn't make sense… unless this is a light elemental," Ciel says and turns to Alissa.

"Its presence is completely different from an elemental," Alissa affirms.

I summon a "Ciel" elemental to compare.

"Really, their signatures have nothing in common aside from the Light mana," Alissa affirms again.

The basically - glowing "Ciel" bends to me and kisses my forehead, then she skips happily towards her real-body twin and grabs her hand, then interlaces their fingers together.

The real Ciel looks at me with eyebrows raised in surprise. I just shrug and smile.

-

"I think it's my 'Piety' that helps me to sense the orb's intentions," Ciel says, then crosses her arms in pondering. "'Piety' is not a measure of the strength of someone's belief, but rather one of their understanding and alignment to the Gods' wishes. For example, a heretic who has learned about the Gods could have a high 'Piety,' though whether he agrees or not with the Gods can increase that 'Piety' even further.

"High 'Piety' allows you to understand the Gods' wishes, and a high [Light Magic] skill allows you to understand their power. You need both of them to cast spells and enact the Gods' will upon the realm. 'Piety' lets you channel their power from within you, and [Light Magic] lets you shape it. So, perhaps this orb has something similar to the Gods that allows me to understand its will."

"Uh… Isn't it kind of a big deal that this orb is related to the Gods, somehow?" I question.

"I think that this orb is probably part of the dungeon's core. It'd explain its relation to the Gods," Lina says.

"Oo~h… That makes so much sense!" Yunia exclaims.

"So, this is the Dungeon Master that's controlling the dungeon?" I question again.

"A part of it. Since the core has to control the entirety of the dungeon at the same time, it should be able to divide its 'consciousness' into multiple parts to be able to multi-task effectively," Yunia answers.

"I see… so, since this is part of the core, and we need to destroy it to conquer the dungeon, then maybe this isn't a challenge specifically for [Redirect Mana], but just our ability to destroy it," I say.

"Not sure if saying that out loud is a good idea," Alissa says, a little anxious, and - other-Ciel giggles.

"I won't destroy it; I'll ask what it wants of us once its MP recovers," I say, and Alissa calms down.

"The orb already agreed with your suggestion to interrupt the spell," Ciel says, and her twin nods.

I shrug and say, "We'll try to talk to it some more later."

We go silent and return to studying the orb.

Now with a new perspective, the orb's spell feels much more understandable. It's a constant cycle of destruction and creation swirling around the Eye. For as much as it looks chaotic, the feeling that I'm getting from it is paradoxically calming, as if there's a beauty and "order" within it that's just beyond my understanding.

If anything, I think that this is what "divinity" should be like. Something that invokes the feelings of awe, beauty, chaos, and order, all at the same time. Something that you feel like you understand, but you'll never be able to fully grasp. A truly "higher" existence.

Besides, what else would you call the Godsdamned apocalypse happening out there, if not the work of the divine?

I unassign my unnecessary skill points and put them in [Light Magic] until it reaches level forty, assigning any more feels like it's straining my soul. I also put some points in [Sense Mana] and [Sense Presence] to aid me in studying the orb, but [Sense Presence] has a much lower "strain limit" than my magic skills, for some reason.

The first step of any spell is generally to gather mana since it's the step that takes the longest, and it's more efficient to continue gathering mana while you build the rest of the spell.

To interrupt a spell, you take control of the mana leaking from the casting mage's spell and use it to rip apart the spell's "constructs." The similarities between the leaked mana and the caster's mana is the greatest factor that contributes to the ease of interrupting the spell.

If the spell is ranged, the mana is gathered outside the mage's body, making it trivial to interrupt it, unless the magical skill difference between the mages is too great. If the mana is gathered inside the mage's body, then it's extremely hard to interrupt it due to the interference from the casting mage's soul.

If a mage has perfect [Mana Efficiency], then the spell doesn't leak any mana, greatly increasing the difficulty in interrupting it because it forces the interrupting mage to use their own mana for that, which wouldn't have the same signature as the casting mage's spell.

[Redirect Mana] is so powerful in interrupting spells because of how it mimics the caster's soul, fooling the mana that the mage is currently using into gathering under the control of my soul as well. Since this causes the mana to be under the influence of two twin souls with conflicting wills, it breaks the laws of reality. This happens because, according to Roxanne, mana can be attracted to multiple sources, but it only "obeys" the will that it has the greatest affinity for. In the case of [Redirect Mana], both wills have a perfectly equal affinity, so the mana is ruled by two wills at the same time, something that should never be possible.

What if I try to make an "imperfect" copy of the casting mage's soul? I could even flood the spell with this "imperfect" mana and try to interrupt it the usual way. This should increase my power to interrupt spells without the risk of bending the laws of reality. Well… with less risk of that, because if I fuck up my "imperfect" copy, I could still cause another incident, unless I create another skill for interrupting spells.

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[Redirect Mana] is simply a skill for moving mana around. Using it to replenish my MP is certainly not the standard application for it, and neither is using it to interrupt spells. I really need to create another skill if I want to interrupt a [Meteor].

I wonder about potentially using [Godly Language] to interrupt spells, but the nature of the skill is that any change is temporary, so I'm not really confident that it can do anything besides stalling a spell. Remembering how bad the fallout was to just set a handkerchief on fire with it makes me think that it might be suicide to try to stop [Meteor] that way…

I sigh and kiss the top of Lina's head, who decided that even while armored, my lap is still the best place to sit.

We decide to leave the actual interruption test for tomorrow. We also bring the ship into the Eye and land it on one of the platforms so that it stops consuming mana. It can fly non-stop for a few days, but it's better to not waste fuel.

The end of the day comes slowly, so I ask the orb if we can leave the ship on the platform while we go back home, and it responds with a "positive" bump of the platforms.

I open a [Gate] to our house in Goloria, and we all cross through one by one.

I take off my armor with a satisfied sigh, it certainly felt like taking a bra off after a long day. We make our way to the bath and take off our white elven clothes, then throw them in the basket for the servants to wash.

Alissa passes by it, then suddenly goes back and picks up my shirt, then takes a deep sniff of it. I look at her oddly and raise an eyebrow.

"What? I know that you smell ours -, too," she says in an accusing tone.

My face stiffens in a guilty smile, and I blush.

"Don't we all smell each others' -?" Hana asks.

Roxanne and Ciel ignore Hana and walk to the bath with stiff postures.

"I do," Aoi innocently says.

"I… don't?" Yunia says and looks around in disbelief.

Hana snorts and says, "One day, you will."

Yunia goes silent and walks to the bath.

Today, I focus on Alissa to make up for worrying her so much. After all, I'm the one who told her to never get into a situation where a heroic sacrifice is necessary.

-

"Let's ask some more questions to the orb after dinner," Ciel suggests.

"E~h…?" Roxanne moans in laziness.

"Your demonic inheritance is lust and charm, not laziness," Yunia says in a slightly harsh tone, but her natural glare amplifies the intensity of her words.

Roxanne takes it the unintended way and gets a little excited, but her pleasure nerves were recently abused by me, so it quickly fades. "Your racial inheritance is arrogance, not bitchiness," she responds in the same tone and smiles smugly.

"I guess that it's nice that they found a companion in verbal abuse," Ciel softly says.

"Only Ciel and I should g-… only Ciel, Alissa, and I should go," I say and quickly correct myself before the feral fox bites me.

"We can only ask a few questions, anyway," Ciel adds with a shrug.

Since we arrived a bit early today, we make dinner for ourselves. Yunia makes a not-eggplant and ham casserole by herself, and after we approve of its taste, she subtly gushes in happiness when we're not looking.

We all eat a lot since today's been rather physically draining, then we break out some alcohol, and Yunia puts the Eia extract bottle on the table.

I smile gently at her and pull out a set of not-scotch glasses, then she pours out a small amount for each of us, even Gify.

I lift up my glass and say, "To another day full of victory."

The other girls lift their glasses, with Alissa lifting Gify's and Yunia copying us with a confused look on her face, then we clink them together.

"That's a toast. It's a ritual where we lift our glasses, hit them against one another to make some noise, then drink in the honor of something," I explain.

"Bread?" Yunia asks and tilts her head.

I chuckle once and say, "No, the name of the ritual is 'toast' in English, an Earth language, but for some reason, the system translates that to toast."

Her sharp gaze softens quite a lot as she says, "Well, then… I agree. To another day full of victory."

We down our glasses, and the constantly shifting flavors caress our tongues. This time, my "third eye" that can see Life doesn't open, but I still feel the weed-like effects of the Eia, and we spend many long minutes constantly giggling while talking about stupid shit.

Osaria and Klein finally reach a small elven town, and while they're waiting for customs, they receive my message about what's happened to us and that Yunia is alive.

Osaria runs to Klein with the letter, and the two hunch together to read it.

Hello, Klein, Osaria, it's us, the Ryders.

First of all, you must've heard about what happened to the Innocent Nymph. We're all fine and unharmed. Wolfy's summons gave us an early warning, and when things started happening, we ran as fast as we could from the inn. Those heretics weren't something that we could deal with by ourselves.

They stop for a moment and smile at each other. They knew that I was still alive, but knowing that everyone else is also fine clears away a great worry from their minds.

After that, we decided to search for Lord Confiel and ask for protection in case the heretics were after us. It was already part of the plan, but the attack prompted us to act. In exchange for protection, we participated in the attack on Escanso's castle and helped depose Lord Mavel.

Lord Confiel had other plans for us, though. He proposed that we make a deal with Yulania Este, his daughter: …

"Oh, Gods! Don't tell me she's alive!" Osaria exclaims.

"Talk after we're done reading," Klein says, annoyed.

… she'd become Wolfy's Blood Slave, and we would search for a dungeon to conquer, then, after we've acquired the title of True Noble, we'd return as the new lords of Escanso and the Western High Forest.

"Wow…" Klein mutters.

"Your half-husband is going to be a Crown Lord, one day," Osaria says in a teasing tone, and Klein blushes.

We've accepted, and now, Yunia is part of Helios and our family. She says that she misses you, Osaria, and would like to see you again very much.

"Awn… my dear niece…" Osaria moans.

We're currently living in a mansion within Goloria's castle's inner circle. We've decided to conquer the Legado dungeon, and we've made quite a lot of progress already; we're much further than anyone else currently exploring this dungeon, even Lord Confiel himself.

We've been watching you through Wolfy's summons, and we must say that we're all very eager to meet up with both of you again. -.

-

We'd like to pour out our feelings of longing for both of you and the rest of Este company, but we can now use the imperial [Eternal Gate] network, so let's meet up at Campo Verdante when you get there.

Tell Oura that Lina says "hi."

Also, we should totally make Nito as pretty as possible, then lock him and Wolfy in a room together.

Then a winking smiley face was drawn beside that phrase.

"Wait! I don't remember that last part!" I exclaim.

The girls giggle, but Roxanne giggles the most, so I turn my glare to her.

"Y-you can't prove that it was me!" She exclaims, and if her skin wasn't pure white, she'd have certainly paled.

I look around, and the girls all grin mischievously, except for Yunia, who's obviously innocent.

I narrow my eyes and say, "You're right, you're all traitors."

Alissa grabs my face and steals a kiss, then all the other girls copy her.

"So, tomorrow night we might meet with them?" Klein asks, expectantly.

"I'll make sure that the caravan leaves on time tomorrow," Osaria says and gushes, and Klein's long tail sways about with anxiety. "Patience, now that they're Lords, you'll live long enough to get as much - as you want."

"T-that's not why I'm excited!" Klein complains and pouts.

Osaria grabs her hand, then interlaces their fingers and says, "Of course not. Now, come with me, you may not be excited…" -her voice turns into a sensual whisper- "but I am…"

"Oh, Gods! I want - them so badly!" I exclaim and fall back onto the bed.

"We all do, we all do," Hana says and gently pats my head.

"We also have to make sure that they want to associate with us. Since you've supposedly been targeted by the heretics, they might become afraid of being targeted, too," Yunia says.

"We know that Klein won't back down since we already told her the entire truth about my Earth past, but maybe we should tell Osaria too if we want her to be my concubine," I say.

"I'm not sure about telling her all of it, but maybe we should tell her about your destiny as a hero and that you have a Gift," Alissa says, and the others agree.

-

I open a [Gate] to our ship inside the dungeon, and Alissa, Ciel, and I cross through it.

We drop down onto the stone platform and get closer to the light blue floating orb. I check its mana and see that it's now full.

"I think that we get three or four questions," I say.

"Alright. First, are you part of the dungeon's core?" Ciel asks.

A single bump, that's a "yes."

"Would you accept being destroyed?"

A single bump.

"Would you prefer being destroyed or interrupted?" Ciel continues.

Two bumps, that's "interrupted."

I see, it really is a test about destroying it, but maybe only interrupting the spell is like a hidden objective that gives bonus rewards, like how saving the baby from The Lady likely rewarded us with Ciel's golden glaive.

"Will something bad happen to us or this place if we interrupt the spell?"

Two bumps, that's a "no." Then the platforms slow down for a moment, and Ciel receives the feeling that it's tired.

"If you want to help us interrupt your spell, fill this room with your mana, and tomorrow, I'll try an experiment with it. Just don't make a mana storm," I say confidently.

I immediately sense a faint amount of mana leaking from the orb. Once it has recovered it's MP, it should be able to release a lot more.

Then we return home and gather on the bed as usual. We play some card games and drink some alcohol to de-stress. By 10 PM, we're all tired, so we go to sleep.