Punching slimes was Cira’s new favorite pastime. If she ignored the pain from her stump, Cira was almost exactly as agile as she was before. It felt good to get her blood pumping again after so many years of stagnating—hiding behind her aura. Gazen was a stickler for physical fitness, so she of course had a very arduous regimen growing up. Since they flew around so much, every island found usually meant lots of running.

In truth, Gazen merely believed in keeping the body active. Nothing excessive. Cira was just lazy, so basic physical fitness became a dreaded chore—and the only one that couldn’t be performed with sorcery. This was largely why Cira was so averse to traveling by foot, but it had been a great many years since she had so much fun exercising. Even spelunking the Last Step wasn’t particularly arduous, though it was a mostly pleasant trip.

Cira wondered why nobody told her punching things out of existence was so fulfilling. She couldn’t possibly have known there lived a kindred spirit in her salty wake who would love to discuss the subject at length. Only the stars knew if their paths should ever cross.

At present, Cira could only thank the equally deplorable and pitiful Estelle for her newfound physiological vigor. For lack of gratitude, Cira swore they would meet in melee combat one day.

If her aura were present, she would be Phase Locking up a storm and Displacement Kicking slimes into oblivion, but spatial prowess was a fruit best savored when ripe. Just setting up her enchantments scratched that itch for the time being and the slimes proved such remarkably vincible opponents that her thoughts could wander so distantly. Yes, the fruits of her labors would surely reflect on Elizas face in a few days and Cira was tickled pink to see her first landform array come together.

Once upon a time, Gazen taught her about such crafts. One of Cira’s proudest accomplishments as a young girl was enchanting a hillside such that it healed the refugees of a muck-briar infestation while the old man cleansed their land. It was the trial through which she earned her father’s orichalcum needle, and a challenge she overcame decisively. The memory almost made her want to turn back and enchant the next landmark right now, but Captain Shores broke her out of that stupor.

“So… What’s on the next floor?” He and the rest of the crew casually erased the slimes with their Sunbearer Coins and it had evidently grown monotonous. It had almost been another hour though, and Cira was running low on Slimewarding Sticks. Given Kuja’s commentary, everyone expected to see a staircase soon.

“Not even the lackadaisically subservient god of spiders knows the answer to that question, my friend.” Shores giggled like a child at having been offhandedly considered the Great Saint’s friend. Only the stars knew if he understood Cira’s point. “But I don’t expect primarily corporeal fauna. Unless we’ve chanced upon a turning point in the local ecology, standard biological life would have either overcome their aethereal predators or been long consumed by them.”

“W-what?” Gil asked, assuming his bewildered Captain’s voice. “Can you explain it for idiots like us?”

Even Tawny, Cira’s most promising student, turned away. Cira shook her head, “Okay… Let’s see. Did you notice how this floor has been empty? The slimes cleared it out of any bugs, hyenas, or possibly even goblins.” The latter were a special case, as they consumed mana but fed on corporeal beings, but her self-proclaimed idiots probably wouldn’t get hung up on it.

“There is a reason for that” Cira took this chance to wag her finger around and catch her breath. “Over many years, even insects who reproduce frequently fell to the slimes. In this context slimes are the aethereal lifeform. It doesn’t matter what they feed on, they grow stronger as they do so through a method unequivocal in mammals, reptiles, or even cephalopods believe it or not. You get the idea; humans too are corporeal beasts.

“Spirits and aethereal-derived forms of life always grow stronger as they consume—very rarely does flesh defeat mana over time.” Cira was losing them, but did not notice, “More often than not when nutrient-dependent creatures overcome the odds, it’s because the aethereal beasts reached critical mass and the population collapsed upon itself without being given the chance to recover due to environmental pressures. Here though, I doubt there is enough conventional food to support such a phenomenon.”

“I feel even dumber now,” Jimbo commented with a click of the tongue, “Did you get any of that?”

Tawny, who he asked, merely laughed in his face, “W-why of course I did—”

Her nervously inflated tone went overlooked by Cira as she felt a wave of relief wash over her, “Excellent. I task you, my star pupil, with simplifying my wisdom for the self-proclaimed rubes under my tutelage.”

Cira nodded, proud of herself for a crisis well averted while Cedric in the back frantically threw bolt after bolt at the encroaching shadow-clad salamanders and drop bears, snakes and lobsters, wolves… Tawny was returning from a daze, “Your… your what? Don’t give me that shit. Why?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Cira whipped her wrist behind her back until it flicked forward and let loose a coin at a suspicious looking shadowy fella trying to sneak up on Tawny. The dubious man exploded in a burst of light while the girl yelped with wide eyes.

“I don’t like you any more than you like me,” Cira retorted, “but my father always said the best student was the biggest pain in the ass. Unless you wish to renounce the path of sorcery, I suggest you accept our cruel fate.”

Tawny did a double take, not trying to get ambushed by another slime, and largely ignored Cira.

Fine, whatever. ”Evidently, the best students refuse to even listen.” Gazen lightly bopped her with a self-extending ruler. I already broke my crutch over the poor girl… Dad would frown upon my methods.

“Tawny.” Cira stated without looking at her so as to not be swayed by her reaction, “The same way you consume the darkness to feed your flame, try to produce light at the same time.”

Slimes didn’t like fire, but their roster of potential monsters below probably didn’t like light too much. Call it a hunch, but such high-mana environments were never friendly to, well, life in general. These were extreme conditions she previously had only entered with her accumulated aura and Gazen’s teachings. To delve further into such a place without her accustomed power was akin to throwing her life away.

While all this was ingrained into Cira from a young age, her father enjoyed telling stories. He was once—allegedly—powerless. His only talent was for the forge, and he was hardly a step above Jimbo as a sorcerer.

Even in this state, the distant being Cira called ‘Dad’ once faced down a mythical serpent revered as a god with nothing more than carved sticks and rocks. Cira knew it was embellished, but her father never lied completely.

Naturally, as the daughter of the greatest sorcerer who ever scoured the sky, in Cira’s words, she could not even call herself a sorcerer of moderate caliber if she let this little ruffle her feathers. The only obstacle between her and sorcery now was the time it took to scribble around in the air or on any given surface. If she thought about it like this, there was no sorcery that could not be employed within the ocean of crushing mana she found herself in.

This colony of slimes is an anomaly in its own right, but the mana well has been dumping into this necropolis for centuries… The mana will only become more concentrated. She wondered how long her stakes would stave off the shadows if the density increased at a similar rate, but that was always a problem that could be solved with varying degrees of artificing prowess.

“We’ve really made it.” Kuja couldn’t contain her joy as the next staircase came into view, “Thank you so much for this, Child…”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Cira countered, “It only gets harder from here. If anyone is feeling apprehensive, let me know. We will turn back immediately and continue tomorrow.”

Nobody raised their hands or seemed like they wanted to speak up. Eventually, Tawny did, “At this point you’re just insulting us. Especially Captain Shores and his boys.” Unfortunately, she didn’t want to expound, so Cira turned her attention to the man in question.

“I-I’m not insulted!” He timidly glanced over his shoulders, tossing one coin out and creating a backdrop of light, “I think what the young lady means to say is that you underestimate our resolve.”

Everyone else but Jimbo nodded. He simply drank from his flask—in a sense, it was in defiance of the presumed challenge.

“Our Captain speaks the truth, Lady Cira,” the fourth paladin, who Cira had somehow yet to catch the name of, spoke, “Your loyal shepherds exist for no further purpose than to serve you through the impending darkness.”

No way… These stupid bastards found a way to spin our current situation into the prophecy… I swear—

“Shores.” Cira said curtly, “I intend to destroy your prophecy. Don’t forget to tell me all about it when we return.”

Why…. Why is he grinning?

“’From the Egg of the Saint shall our Lamb be born into the world of mortal toil, anon, only through rebirth shall they forge a new a path through distant pastures—”

“I am not a godsdamned farm animal!” Cira reluctantly crushed a shadow kitten in her hands.

“Alas… it never made sense until now.” Shores took no heed to her warnings and continued, “Your rebirth should have been the day you left Fount Salt, but the phrasing doesn’t make sense. We are fighting to reforge your soul, yes? Did you not say we would melt you down? This could only be your destined rebirth. We will not fail, as is foretold, so why would we turn around now?

Good grief… Sometimes I hate these guys. If I didn’t need to reforge my soul, I would turn around here and now.

“Heh heh,” Mac resounded in her head, “Looks like they’ve got you figured out, little lamb.”

“Will you shut up? I will crush this nonsense beneath my boot once I reclaim the luxury to destroy my problems, little spider.”

The crew reached the bottom of the stairs and an ominous orange light flooded in from below. It flickered like a campfire but couldn’t seem to sit still as shadows traveled from one side to the other.

“What… what is that?” Kuja’s voice was filled with newfound fear as they stepped out into the second tomb.

“How fascinating…” Cira replied, gazing upon the bumbling ball of flame which illuminated the corridor, “I can’t fathom how flame sprites could have ended up here, but they are certainly a natural predator to dark slimes. Eros, Lero; if any of them try to attack us, you should be able to smother them with water.

Cira appreciated the lighted tomb, and didn’t want to alarm anybody, but these sprites each held a ridiculous amount of mana on par with the lingering revenants. Each of her aura-blessed mages surely felt it, so there was no need to get everyone worked up about it. The truth was the brothers may not have had what it took to fend off this level of threat by themselves.

“S-sprites?!” Lero shouted, “I don’t even know what those are!”

“It matters not—” This isn’t the best time to explain… Just as Cira thought they would ignore her and the crew, an even more brilliant sprite emerged from the shadows on a clear path to the onyx which held her meager stores of dark mana. “The time has come to show me your progress.”