Soleil scooted up and reached around Maeve, pressing her hand to the orb alongside the knight’s She filled Hope with every last drop of Intensity she had to give before retrieving her last flask of Intensity.

“Soleil.” Maeve spoke with caution in her voice.

“No time.” Soleil replied before filling her body and soul with fiery Intensity once more. “Either you set the pace or I do.”

“I’ll follow your lead then.” Maeve relented. Her tone suggested exhaustion, but there was determination in her eyes.

By wordless agreement, Soleil and her mother hopped off on opposite sides.

They would split the trees between them, with Maeve backing Soleil up. She took her position in front of Hope. The Magitech Armor would not be able to maneuver while it remained strapped to the cart, so Soleil would have to control the attention.

As such, she wasted no time willing flames to life and burning away at the tree’s roots. She had plenty of time at the speed the trees were able to haul themselves. The real trouble would be the considerable amount of limbs and range advantage they would have in a melee fight. Even if she counted Maeve and Hope’s extra arms, she wagered the tree could threaten them with three times that number.

“[Shape] your mana.” Her mother suggested.

That wasn’t a half bad idea.

Corrupted mana was going to cancel her own out no matter what. Why not maximize the coverage?

Her mother had already erected a barrier of ice between herself and the tree on the right, allowing herself more time to [shape] something more effective as her opponent hammered away at her defenses. Bark cracked as branches snapped off and chipped away at the barrier of ice mana.

Soleil for her part released the Focus she had been pouring into sustaining the flames at the tree’s roots. Her opponent moved unsteadily forward, slowly but already close enough that she would not be able to [Shape] anything.

Which was fine. She would just have to create an opportunity.

Soleil willed Endurance as she activated [Defense.] She raised her sword with both arms. Better to take the force of the blow in arms she wouldn’t need if her Endurance gave out.

Luckily, it did not. [Defense] broke, but not before the first branch was deflected.

Soleil seized the initiative and hacked away at the nearby limb until it fell before her blade.

“Maeve!” Soleil called, but before she could shout that it was the knight’s turn, the magitech armor stepped forward and [Defended] against the next branch.

While Maeve repeated the combo that Soleil had done, this time severing two branches with the oversized axe, Soleil reached for the last Endurance drought. She had a number of restoratives left, but not all of them would apply in every situation.

Soleil needed more time before her [Defense] skill would come off cooldown. So she began to call upon her [Fire Affinity] until Maeve finished getting three swings in. Soleil quickly [Shaped] the three motes into a vertical wedge that could target a number of branches at once.

“Okay, back off!” Soleil warned as she began to [Manipulate] her spell, scything multiple branches off of the corrupted tree and causing it to stagger.

Soleil grinned mischievously and dove in with her knife. Another branch. A second even!

Instead of punishing her greed, the tree withdrew its limbs into a defensive stance. Soleil had just enough Intensity to [Pierce] right through its guard. “We can finish it!” She cried, adrenaline pumping through her body.

“I can’t!” Maeve said. “Hope is out of mana.”

The precious moment cost them their momentum.

Soleil ate a branch to the chest. Her Vitality absorbed the blow, but she could see nothing but dirt as the tree flattened her.

“Soleil!” Whatever else Maeve had left to say was drowned out by the sound of roots being torn out of the ground.

The tree was electing to collapse atop and crush her. She had Endurance to spare, but [Defense] would do no good if she was already so close to death.

She heard the weight of Maeve’s boots hitting the dirt as she leapt from the Magitech armor.

But it was too late. Soleil was already panicking.

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She burned mana she did not have to give.

[Calamitous Wings] consumed Soul Levels, not mana.

Soleil screamed as her back erupted into flames.

When the tree hit the ground, it had been propelled in the opposite direction.

Maeve too was sent flying into one of Hope’s armored legs before collapsing in a metallic heap with a pained cry.

Soleil’s Soul gained a level.

She had nothing left to give, not even enough to rise to her feet. It was everything she could do to fish the Magitech Lens from her pouch and see a pair of red feather wings fall apart into a pile around her.

Name: Soleil

Presentation: Ash Demon

Covenant: Calamitous Herald

Soul Level 1/10 [Level Drain, Minor Mana Corruption]

That hadn’t been there before. Or had it? Her eyes unfocused from mana’s provided interface as she dismissed the skill.

This left her with the opportunity to stare into the mirrored lens at the shape of her pupils slowly shifting back to normal. For a moment there, they had been in an elongated and pointed shape.

Those definitely had not been there when leveling up earlier.

***

She was in Maeve’s arms, again. This really needed to stop happening. Unfortunately complaining or interrogating whether or not it really bothered her required energy she did not have left to give.

So she attempted to make the best of her situation and relax.

Veilura and Maeve were pushing Hope as fast as she could safely go. The concerned expressions on their faces suggested they were either worried about her or they were still in danger.

“Did we win?” Soleil eventually worked up the courage to speak.

“No!” Maeve and Veilura said in unison.

“She’s your daughter.” Maeve mumbled.

Veilura sputtered her own half-hearted excuse moments later. “She is in your care.”

Soleil rolled her eyes and fumbled around for a pouch of restorative potions no longer within reach. “Wha-”

“You need rest.” Maeve scolded. “Healer’s orders.”

She twisted her expression into what she hoped was a pout. “You can hardly have ranks in First Aid higher than me at level two.”

“If you simply must stay busy.” Veilura spoke in her gentle diplomatic tone. “Try analyzing your new skills or status effects for me.”

Maeve gave her mother a disapproving look before sighing. “She’s stubborn. Isn’t she?”

Instead of confirming or denying the question, Veilura offered only an innocent smile.

“Are we safe?” Soleil asked instead.

“Yeah.” Maeve offered. “You did good. What you did was absolutely reckless. But you Demons operate differently than Knights. I… really can’t hold you to that standard. So yeah, you did good.” The knight suddenly looked like she was ready to renegotiate seating arrangements, but Soleil shook her head.

“It’s alright. You can keep holding me. I don’t think I could sit up if I tried.”

“And whose fault is that?” Maeve asked as her mother tried to stifle a giggle.

“Calamity’s, probably.” She stuck her tongue out at Maeve before closing her eyes and allowing herself to just relax in the moment.

“We can probably slow down now.” Veilura confirmed.

Soleil would do no such thing. Especially not after feeling one of her mother’s tails brush against her hands and deposit a familiar mirror into it. She willed Focus into the lens, unsure if it was full or not and activated [Analyze] multiple times. First she called up how mana saw her to confirm her pitiful status. Then she began to interrogate the parts she did not recognize.

Focus only. Sensitivity would be far too overwhelming for her current state.

Level Drain - Requires a rest in order to recover at a rate of one Soul Level per day.

Minor Mana Corruption - A negation of the Soul’s Mana Capacity blocking the removal of Level Drain. Can only be removed if another accepts a sufficient amount of Level Drain.

Maeve and her Mother must have both donated levels to her cause. Did that make Maeve stubborn in her own way if she had not needed to? A question to file away for later.

Mana Detonation - Inflicts Mana Corruption on Target. Rank cannot be raised by normal means.

Calamitous Wings - [Transformation] Skill. Inflicts Mana Corruption on User. Rank cannot be raised by normal means.

"What’s a [Transformation] skill?” Soleil felt herself asking aloud.

“I think,” Veilura said with pride seeping into her voice again, “That it is long overdue you write to your mothers. Best you hear it from Nadir or Brigid after getting some rest.”

“Wait.” Maeve said. “You have three mothers?”

“Uh. Calamity might have agreed to be a Godmother. So four now.”

She could feel the eyes of Maeve and Veilura boring into her skull. “I need rest. Healer's orders!”