The shimmering pink of the sky reflected in Latril’s golden sword eyes. The swird woman’s black high-heels rested upon the obsidian of the rooftop. Her lovely eyes traced the still-shrinking crack in the sky. There wasn’t much left of the mending crack at this point. However, the mere existence of the crack proved that the sky could, in fact, be cracked. A sky that could be cracked. Why not?

She glanced down from the overhead shimmering pink. A sword—a floating silver sword—appeared at her right. Then another appeared at left. More and more of the floating silver weapons appeared around her. Her lips twisted into a cocky smirk, and she pointed upward with her right hand. Her summoned swords flew up toward their target—flew up toward the clearly crackable sky.

Slimantha glanced at Latril’s multi-sword attack and smiled. Then her eyes—her brown eyes—returned to Dream. The system’s right claws slashed at her. A tentacle of viscous blue reached out from behind the slime summoner and met the attack. Black claws and blue tentacle pressed against one another.

Dream took a quick glance at Latril’s swords and grimaced. Her red eyes turned to Slimantha’s face. “Out of the way,” she said. The red cracks beneath her eyes displayed a momentary glow. Her claws pressed deeper into the elongated blue goo. A shake of the slime summoner’s head met her command, and the system pouted before jumping back. Her white slippers touched down upon obsidian, now a bit of distance between her and the slime summoner. She took another glance at Latril’s swords. Said swords had reached the sky. Additional cracks had begun appearing in said sky.

“Warning. Skydome damage nearing the acceptable limit.” The system turned her eyes away from the sky and to the slime summoner. This time, the system scowled. “Out of the way.” She spread her wings and crouched down. Her black claws touched down upon obsidian. “Out of the way!” Her tone had shifted to one of desperation. She rushed forward, her claws sparking against obsidian rooftop. An outline of red flickered around her. The cracks beneath her eyes glowed once more. She drew near the slime summoner. Her claws glinted.

“I’m not moving,” Slimantha said, more slime tentacles reaching out from behind her. “In fact”—tentacles and claws met in a flurry of exchanges—“I think I like this spot.” Then she pouted as a certain system tried to get around her. “Hey!” One of her tentacles wrapped around Dream’s left ankle. “Who said you can slash and run?” The ankle-wrapping tentacle yoinked the system off balance, leaving the unsuspecting demon-duck woman to faceplant straight into the rooftop’s obsidian. Slimantha brought her right hand up to obscure her lips, a cute little giggle slipping through those lips.

“That”—Dream twitched, still sprawled face down on the rooftop—“wasn’t funny.” She climbed up to her hands and knees, a slight tremor to her body. Slimantha’s tentacle still clung to her left ankle. She shifted to a seated position and glanced to the tentacle clinging to her ankle. With a quick flick of her right wrist, she slashed that tentacle apart, freeing herself.

“Well”—Slimantha lowered her right hand—“it was kind of funny. I mean you smacked right into the rooftop. 3 out of 3. Great faceplant.”

Dream shook and then climbed back to her feet. She threw Slimantha a dirty look. “That was not funny,” she said through gritted teeth, the red cracks beneath her eyes flaring up again. Her eyes then went to the cracks in the pink shimmering sky. She blinked. “War-War-Warning. Sky-Sky-Skydome damage nearing the acceptable limit.”

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Now Slimantha blinked. “You alright?” she said, her eyes on the system. “You don’t sound so good.”

Dream gave Slimantha a glare and then looked at Latril. “Sto-Sto-Stop attacking the skydome!” the system yelled.

Latril’s golden eyes, each containing the likeness of an upward-turned sword, turned to Dream. The swird woman’s cocky smirk showed prominently upon her face. “Stop?” She spread her arms melodramatically. “Why would I stop?” She lowered her arms and more silver swords began forming in the air around her. “Are you afraid?” Her smirk took on a disturbingly sadistic aspect. “Beg.”

Dream’s eyes widened. “You-You-You”—an expletive burst from between the system’s lips.

“Wrong”—Latril’s eyes glinted dangerously—“answer.” Her newly summoned swords flew upwards. The swird woman gave the system a right-handed thumbs down. “Get rekt.”

Dream’s horrified eyes returned to the growing cracks in the shimmering pink above. “War-War-Warning. Sky-Sky-Skydome damage nearing the acceptable limit.” Her right eyebrow twitched. Then her left arm did too. Then the overhead cracks stopped spreading, and a crazed grin split the system’s face. “Sky-Sky-Skydome damage has stabilized within the acceptable limit. I-I-It is over. I-I-I win.” She began laughing like a madwoman. “I-I-I win.”

“But have you really?” Slimantha said, her brown eyes on the demon-duck woman laughing like a lunatic. Then the slime summoner looked up at the stalled cracks in the sky. “What if I shoot it?” Her gaze went back to Dream. “What if I shoot”—she flipped her long brown hair with her right hand—“the sky?”

Dream’s laughter came to a stop. The system’s eyes went to the slime summoner. “You-You-You are a slime summoner. How-How-How would you possibly shoot the sky?”

“How?” Slimantha’s eyes went back to the shimmering pink sky. A smile showed upon the slime summoner’s face. “Like this.” Viscous blue appeared around her. She reached up—reached up toward the sky. The viscous blue reached up along with her, forming into various tentacles. The tentacles met above the tan-skinned slime summoner, their tips fusing together into a gooey blue mass. The mass bulged upward. Slimantha lowered her left arm and pointed up through the upward-bulging mass with her right hand. “Slime particle cannon!”

“Sli-Sli-Slime particle what?” Dream said, her eyes on the burgeoning blue mass. The top of said mass split, and a column of blue light blasted upward. Dream’s eyes widened in horror.

Radiant blue hammered into the sky. Dream’s world shook. Fresh cracks raced across the sky, joining the others. The radiant blue pushed through, leaving a gaping void in the shimmering pink. Dream’s world lurched. The sky had broken.

“Err-Err-Error,” Dream said, twitches running through her body. “Sky-Sky-Skydome has failed.” Her twitches grew stronger. Her head jerked violently to the side. Her right eye bulged. Her left wing twisted down. The red cracks beneath her eyes glowed. “Ker-Ker-Kernel panic. For-For-Forcing reboot.” Dream vanished. Her world went black.

Latril blinked and then glanced about. She and Slimantha now stood in a black void. Her gaze drifted down to the nothing beneath her black high-heels. Then her golden sword eyes went to Slimantha. “Is she dead?” the swird woman said.

Slimantha shrugged. “She said she was forcing a reboot. I’m sure she’s fine.” The slime summoner looked around. “This place is pretty empty.” She turned back to Latril and smiled. “Well, let’s make our exit then.” She snapped with her right hand and a pool of blue slime formed in front of the two women. Slimantha’s eyes pivoted from the slime pool to Latril. The slime summoner smiled.

“Why are you just staring at me?” Latril said.

Slimantha gestured at the slime pool. “Get in the slime, Latril.”

“You”—Latril’s gaze pivoted to the slime pool—“really want to try transportation by slime puddle, don’t you?” Her eyes went back to Slimantha. The swird woman got a vigorous nod from the slime summoner. “Fine.” Latril turned to and then stepped into the slime.