"Seria!" I shout.

But before I can do anything, the claw is withdrawn from her eye, and she topples backwards.

I dash forwards and grab her before she falls.

"What did you do to her?!" I shout involuntarily and look up.

But Thanatos is gone.

"Ahhhhhh..." Seria squeals, banging herself again me like she is having a seizure.

Her eyes are glowing golden now, and her left is tremendously bloodshot. But it seems it wasn't gorged out or anything. That's a relief.

Aria and Rishya dash over. Rishya starts inspecting Seria, lying in my lap.

"Whu... where did it go?" Aria queries, her neck turning all around.

"Everywhere, I think." Rishya rubs her chin as she checks Seria closely.

"What?" Aria gives her the stink-eye.

"Mmm... the only thing that makes sense, Aria, is that... that is... was some kind of essence of the void itself. An embodiment of the critical aspect of the ether."

"You've just said a load of words." Aria growls.

"You're saying the entire void is a spirit...!" I exclaim.

"Given what we have already ascertained about spirits today, that is a logical conclusion, Elijah-sama." She says. She listens to Seria's chest.

"But in any case... I don't believe Seria-sama has been wounded as such. It is some kind of mental trauma. Her heart is racing and her magic is running wildly. I wonder what happened..."

I realise her floating crystal spirit has crashed by the unconscious girls and is zapping with shocks.

Suddenly, like something from a zombie movie, Seria sits bolt upright. She looks hazy.

"Seria?" I query.

"Eh? My love? What was I doing?"

What?

I grin.

"T-tell me... I didn't just... oh hell..."

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Suddenly it appears to dawn on Seria what she just admitted, and she swoons in shock.

In her panic, she tries to get off my lap, but only succeeds in pushing her butt closer.

"I love you too, Seria."

"Damn it boy! Kahhhhh!"

Rishya bursts out in laughter and Aria sighs and rolls her eyes.

...

...

...

"Well, remind me to never let a void spirit stab me in the eye again... Kinah's balls... I've had far more painful experiences in the last twenty-four hours than I've had in a year before."

"Including sex?" Rishya adds needlessly, giggling.

"Shut up you." Seria flicks her forehead.

Aria sighs and facepalms again.

"So... what happened exactly?" I query, trying to steer away from dangerous subjects.

"Besides giving me a horrible case of bloodshot eyes, boy? Doubtless I look terrifying at the moment, fufufu..."

"Nope. Still cute." I assure her.

"Hah... sometimes I really do wonder about what I have done..." she rolls her eyes.

"Well... whatever... in effect... it... 'Thanatos'... has given me a memory of a place I should not possess."

"And he said you should go there?" Aria asks.

"Yes. Urged rather strongly. Which is not a problem, as he appears to have included ley-line breaching instructions as well. Which is honestly rather worrying..." Seria answers, flicking a twin-tail.

"Should we really trust this ancient spirit?" Aria ponders.

"No. Of course not. Doubtlessly it has a motive. But... he appears to have found the boy entertaining or such, and this sort of thing... it does of course pique my curiosity."

"Aeris thinks it’s being mean. Not a nice old man. Scary!" Aeris quips, attempting to mimic Seria's hair flick, but failing as her own hair is a heavy metal.

"Undeniably I have never before witnessed such majesty from a void spirit. It made me realise I am still little more than an insect in the grand scheme of things." Michael states tentatively.

Rishya hugs the giant tiger and he growls slightly.

"And what do you think, Rishya?"

She shrugs.

"I'll follow Elijah-sama and Arry wherever and protect you all. That’s all that matters to me."

Aria lets out a shy smile. Rish never changes, huh?

"Well... if the big bad spirit thinks it’s important... I guess we can't really ignore it, eh, onii-chan?"

She grins sweetly. I suppose that distils it down to the key facts. Personally, as suspicious and scary as this void spirit appears, and no matter its motivations, it seems like at the very least it doesn't hold any direct malice towards me. Possibly just because I'm interesting, but that’s still enough.

"I guess we'll follow its advice then... take us all there, Seria."

Aeris puffs out her cheeks and does a 'hmmmph!'. She was really surprisingly rattled by that whole experience, eh?

"Wherever there is. Mmmmm... well, your wish is my command and so forth. Gather everyone up next to the leyline. I'll prepare.

"Hopefully the others will wake up when we get there. I'm missing them for some reason... heh..." Aria snickers.

"Me too." I nod.

I pick up Kaede again and place her right by the glowing wall. Aria sets Kiku and Kali down next to her. They're amusingly lined up like a row of dolls.

"Link their hands. We'll have to carry them as a drag weight. It’s a bit of a pain." Seria grimaces.

Me and Aria link the hands of the three together. It’s pretty weird.

We then follow Seria's instructions, forming another circle surrounding the unconscious girls in the middle. The spirits all seem to disappear. I find a sword at my waist all of a sudden, and Michael is back to being a staff. Seria's spirit appears to become a hairclip.

Fortunately, (?), Aria doesn't suddenly become naked. She returns to having her standard combat outfit, and I swear her spear becomes shinier.

"Mmmm... let’s get going, then." She has started to flow with power.

Suddenly, we feel sucked towards the ley-line, and with a strange ear-popping noise, we are inside, and on our way once more.