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“Alright, what happened that you were giggling like a maniac.” Nell let out THAT sigh.

You know, the one that proceeds a parental figure saying that they’re not mad, just disappointed.

Rubbing her head after the fall, pretending it hurt her in the slightest, Lucy looked at Nell.

“I just got a little absorbed in the new system features. I’ll explain later. Aren’t you going to introduce us?” She responded, turning her attention to Zone.

At a glance, Lucy could not tell what this new Agent was thinking at all. Something about his face… It was like there wasn’t a single thought behind those eyes of his.

Nell could only shake her head. She understood where Lucy was coming from as she, too, gained things from the system. Notably how she was able to raise her stats and being able to buy from the different shops with her own Candies, but she didn’t think it was that exciting to lose yourself like that.

“Zone. This little lunatic is Lucille. She’s a bit of a freak, but she’s a nice girl.”

“Is that how you see me?!” Lucy pouted in distress.

The worst part was that she couldn’t even deny those words because Nell didn’t know the half of it yet!

“Lucille. This is Zone, my little brother. He’s just a goofball, and if anything ever happens to him, I’m giving you full permission to kill whoever caused it.”

Nell and Lucy looked each other dead in the eyes before nodding in unison.

“Noo! Killing people is bad! Unless they’re Invaders because they’re bad!” Zone cried out in a panic, causing the two others to turn towards him.

His reaction caused Nell and Lucy both to giggle.

“She’s joking. It’s nice to meet you, Zone. You can call me Lucy.” Lucy said with a reassuring tone.

“R-really? You were just joking, Nelly?”

“Yes, yes… A joke.” Nell answered, matching Lucy’s tone.

They both knew that Nell was, in fact, not joking.

Times like these are when Lucy remembered that she and Nell had only met a couple of days ago and she did not know much about the nekomata’s personality because her view of Nell just shifted heavily.

To Lucy, Nell seemed like a slightly tired parent who always tried to keep her rambunctious kids out of trouble. Now, however, it’s… Still that, but she’s also willing to commit heinous crimes against the world to make sure her kid gets out of whatever trouble they got themselves into.

Not that she saw it as a bad thing. Quite the opposite. She might genuinely kill someone for a mother who cared about her that much.

All that being said, Zone’s panicked expression was quickly removed from his face and replaced with one full of joy.

“That’s good then! Nice to meet you, Lucy! Let’s be great friends!”

Lucy’s eyes widened in shock upon seeing the radiant smile Zone somehow managed to give off. It was so radiant that the memories of two abnormally gleeful Foxes who wanted to eat her didn’t reappear in her memory immediately.

“Yeah. Let’s… Let’s get along.”

Pausing while closing the system panels, Lucy quickly stood up and prepared to leave the Sentinel base.

“As much as I’d love to talk more right now… Could we do so in the morning? I’m starting to feel ever more lightheaded.” She said, holding her head.

“Is everything alright?” Nell asked worriedly.

“Oh, you know. The Mana Sickness is finally cat-”

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Before she could finish her sentence, Lucy collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness for the second time within 24 hours.

“Lucille? LUCILLE?! NOT AGAIN!”

This time, however, the reason was rather apparent. Mana Sickness or Mana Depravity, as some call it, is the affliction one gets when their Mana reservoirs go dangerously low.

The severity can fluctuate quite heavily, but for Lucy, who had her Mana go into the negatives for a couple of seconds earlier today… That’d kill any average person on the spot. Mana and Lifeforce are two variants of the same form of energy when you get down to it.

If reaching 0 hp would kill Lucy, so too should reaching 0 mp. Lucy is a little unique in this regard as she’s contracted with Rain, who is a Devil aligned with Greed. Each Sin has its special abilities and quirks, and one of those abilities that Greed has is the ability to take and reallocate the base energy that both Lifeforce and Mana come from Aether.

Although her life wasn’t in any danger because of Rain, that was the only thing that wasn’t bad about the situation. The pain was akin to having all of your blood being drained out of your body on top of the damage her body incurred because of her short use of Lightning Fiend.

She powered through all that for half a day to make sure she could guarantee Lily-rose’s safety.

If not for her getting distracted by her Scribe specialization, she would have collapsed much sooner.

…

Hours later, Lucy slowly opened her eyes while holding her head.

“I need to… Stop doing stupid things like that…” She cursed herself, knowing full well that she wouldn’t stop.

As a Witch, obtaining and collecting knowledge was hard-coded into her DNA. Even if the means were… Self-sabotaging at the best of times.

Not even fully knowing her exact location at this point in time, Lucy was about to get up from a bed that she could only hope was her own when she saw Zone resting peacefully on her stomach.

“Mmh?” Zone hummed lightly as he moved around slightly, Lucy’s movements waking him up.

“Lucy?” He said groggily, rubbing his eyes before it clicked that Lucy was awake.

“Lucy! I need to go tell Nelly!” Zone cheered, perking up immediately before running out of Lucy’s room, not helping her headache at all.

“No… I definitely closed that door. Did Nell somehow manage to open it again? And how was I moved to my bed?”

She tried to think about it more, but that was met with her headache flaring up and getting even worse, causing her to stop trying that on the spot.

Getting up from her laying position this time, it only took a few more seconds for Zone to come running back into Lucy’s room with Nell in tow.

“Lucille, are you alright? Please don’t make collapsing a normal thing. My heart won’t be able to take it!” Nell pleaded.

Chuckling to reassure Nell, Lucy stood up and began leaving the room.

“I can promise that I won’t black out for the same reason twice. That’s the best you’re getting from me.”

“Please be joking…”

Smiling without responding, Lucy opened a drawer on her nightstand and grabbed a couple of talismans out of it.

Placing the first of them on her sleeve, a multitude of things happened to her. Her body became drenched in warm, soapy water before a powerful but controlled gust of wind encompassed her, sending all the water off of her before the water coalesced into a sphere filled with dirt, rubble, and whatever else might have found its way onto Lucy during her last few battles.

Both Agents were taken aback to varying degrees. Lucy had already told Nell about what a Cleaning Talisman was, so she wasn’t all that surprised at her partner using it but more so about how efficient it actually was.

“HOW’D YOU DO THAT?! CLEANING MAGIC IS A THING?!”

Lucy looked back at Zone and nodded.

‘He’s so innocent. It’s adorable.’

“I don’t know the exact spells used, but it’s a talisman crafted by my cousin and her coven. When it comes to Innovation in the everyday use of magic, She’s actually at the forefront of it. I’ll take you to meet her sometime.”

“Really?! It’s a promise! You can’t take it back!”

Lucy left her room and was greeted by Lily-Rose.

“Oh, good morning. You’re up quite early.”

“Lucy, good morning. I heard a shout. Is everything okay?”

Lucy’s smile turned wry as Zone ran out from behind her before she could even respond.

“Nell’s sibling woke up after being in a coma for a couple of days. Here.” Lucy answered, casually handing Lily-rose the second Talisman.

“This is…”

“Cleaning talisman. Place it on your clothing, and it’ll clean you up. You can take a shower if you want, but I thought I’d offer.”

Learning of what the Talisman was, Lily-rose happily took hold of it and used it without hesitation. Much like Zone but less frantic, She was quite verbal with her surprise.

“I’m gonna head to the basement before I get ready for school. Feel free to join me if you wish.”

“The basement? What’s down there?” Nell asked, the other two nodding with her question.

“What’s down there?” Lucy chuckled. “It’s the heart of my workshop, of course.” She said before walking off, being all dramatic.