Hippity Hoppity Where is My Sorcery

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## Plot

In the caves below the frozen surface of Chithotis 4Y, men and women dressed in makeshift military uniforms ran around, placing metal fences and building walls of scraps to prepare for the upcoming battle. Outside the caves, Archer was observing his group who had been ordered to dig trenches into the snow.

They all have heard stories about the Plumbers and how good they were at what they were doing. The humans didn't have any of the abilities that the aliens who made up the Plumbers had, nor were they trained for combat or in military tactics. The weapons they had were scavenged from the scrapyard, low-power plasma rifles, and frag grenades, against the Plumbers' last-generation energy rifles and tanks. Despite how discouraging these odds seemed, none of the humans there have ran away. Though that thought had certainly crossed their minds, they all had one thing to fall back onto. A plan. A strategy to win. And from that, they began to draw their hope.

"Everything is going according to schedule, I presume."

Avice walked out of the cave and crossed her arms, even with a Cold Suit Level Three, she felt like she was going to freeze any second. Archer just nodded to her question. The heavy weapon team was about to finish building the machine gun nest. They would have made a fully functional trench system if they had time for that, but they knew that the Plumbers have already entered the system and would land on the planet anywhere between three and five hours from now.

At least the weather was as bad as ever. The strong wind and snowstorm would buy them twelve extra hours, just enough time to get everything prepared. Now if only the scouts had also some time to search for Evan and Roxy, who had disappeared several hours prior.

Avice suddenly winched and grabbed her head, catching Archer's attention. "Are you ok, sir?"

"I sensed something," Avice muttered, rubbing her head. "Some sort of great imbalance appeared for just a moment and then faded."

"Shall I send my men to investigate?" Archer asked.

"No, I don't think it's necessary."

Archer wanted to say something about this, but he chose to keep his mouth shut and turned back to his men. They were already plugging the machine gun into the battery. By Evan's own suggestion, they were digging the small trenches at a large distance from one another so the Plumbers' tanks couldn't shred through all of them at once. They needed to have fall-back lines for when their front positions begin to get overrun.

Avice, on the other hand, was just confused. She never understood her brother's obsession with the military. At the age of ten, his dream profession was as a soldier. He wanted to become an officer in the national army, and having observed his many campaigns throughout the years, Avice had said that he would have fulfilled his dream if fate wasn't so cruel.

Suddenly, the communicator on Archer's belt flashed. The young officer glanced at it and then pressed the purple button, activating his headphones. Avice couldn't hear what the person on the other side was telling Archer, but she didn't have to, as the change from his calm expression to a shocked one gave her the right idea that those weren't good news. After a few moments. Archer pressed the button again, shutting down his headphones and turned to Avice.

"We're being invaded!"

They didn't know where these things came from, or why they came here, but a group of militia troopers that were still in the caves quickly reacted, taking cover and aiming their weapons at the invaders. Both of them wore purple hoods, but one was very short, the size of a child, while the other was easily the size of a one-story tall building with muscular arms made of rock sticking out the sides of his cloak. Both of them had their arms raised in surrender.

"Don't shoot please!" the short one shouted at the militia group. "We come in peace!"

"Lower your weapons, men!" came a second voice.

This time, the militia obeyed, lowering their weapons without question and then stepped to the side before turning around. Avice walked past them with Archer following behind. She faced the so-called invaders, momentarily raising an eyebrow in confusion as to why Archer called this an invasion.

"Who are you?" Avice crossed her arms. "And how did you find this place?"

"Our people call me Envoy." the boy bowed, then gestured toward the large figure next to him. "And this is my friend, Ignicius. We are messengers from the Realm of Magic, and we came here to ask for your help."

"Thaaaaaaat's awfully convenient timing, I'll say," Avice replied. "Sorry, but we don't do charity around here. If you need help, first tell us what we'll get in return."

"Something in return?" Ignicius growled. "You arrogant hu-"

Envoy raised a hand in front of the Stone Creature, signaling it to stop. Ignicius looked down at his ally confused for a moment before stepping back, grumbling.

"Our resources are limited, but we're willing to provide any payment that's within our capabilities," Envoy said.

"All I want is a chance for an alliance," Avice replied with a smirk.

"An alliance?"

"Yes. I'm aware that the reason you came to me isn't that I'm the strongest magic user in the universe. Anodites, Geochelone Aerio, there are entire species more capable of me." Avice narrowed her eyes, her expression changed to a much colder and threatening one. "You came because I'm the strongest individual that you can rely on, and then kick out when the job is done. Isn't that right?"

There was no need for confirmation. Just the fact that Avice thought of that possibility was enough to drive the men and women behind her mad. They all raised their weapons toward the two outsiders, and this time, Avice didn't order them to stand down.

"I...I..." Envoy gulped, then lowered his head in defeat. "You're right about that."

"Of course I'm," Avice replied pridefully. "Don't judge me by my looks, child. I might appear your age, but I'm many thousands of years older than you. I know the history of Ledgerdomain better than you even could, and I'm aware of your people's negative outlook on outsiders after Adwaita's rule."

"And despite that, you ask for an alliance?" Ignicius asked.

"It's something that would benefit both of our parties," Avice told him. "We will help you recover magical artifacts from across the stars and protect you against any crisis, be it from outside, or inside your realm. In return, I'll ask of your support in your crusade to conquer this galaxy."

"Military support?" Envoy guessed.

"Anything you can, and are willing to provide," Avice replied.

"Well..." Envoy looked away awkwardly. "We aren't a diplomatic delegation, but we will voice our support of the idea to the elders if you help us out."

Avice turned to Archer. "Do you have any trusted men that could command our operations here?"

"Yes, sir." Archer nodded.

A few minutes later, after Archer and Avice were done sorting through the new chain of command, Envoy opened a portal that leads the four of them into a dimension that looked... completely insane? Blue vortexes cover the black sky dominated by strange green creatures with a single eye.

"This looks, um..." Archer tilted his head, struggling to come up with the right words.

"Crazy. I know." Avice said. "There's probably no need to tell you this, but be careful with flying. Gound and sky aren't connected the same way they are in our dimension."

"Seriously, how do you know so much about our home?" Ignicius looked back at her.

"Observing other worlds is what I love to do the most. Your dimension is no exception."

"Anyway, what's the crisis you needed our help solving." Archer intervented.

"A few days ago, some mysterious creature appeared in our realm and destroyed the Grand Watchtower before disappearing," Envoy explained. "While our teachers were busy rebuilding the tower with their magical powers, an apprentice whose name I can't mutter found an ancient text that has been kept hidden inside the tower for over two thousand years."

"Why can't you speak out that apprentice's name?" Archer interrupted.

"In this realm, words have power," Avice explained. "If He speaks out the name, he could alert them of our presence, or draw them closer to us."

"That's indeed true." Envoy nodded. "The text that they discovered held the location of what's probably our realm's greatest weapon; the Serpent's Ring. Its power has been used only once, during the Great Knight Wars, where it absorbed the spell force of over sixty thousand magical knights."

"So, it affects only creatures with an affinity for magic?" Archer tilted his head.

"Barely." Avice shook her head. "You see, what is here known as magical energy, creatures such as Anodites refer to as mana - the essence of life. I guess you could refer to it as your soul in terms of its relation to magic, but otherwise, it's a bit more complicated than that."

"I don't think that my inferior mind could comprehend your words, great one." Archer bowed before her. "Would you, the wise one, enlighten me on the meanings of thy words?"

"Heh." Avice chuckled. "First off, stop talking to me like I'm some sort of God. I mean, I'm basically one, but I don't want you to treat me as one. Second, of course, I would! The topic is actually very interesting. First off, you see, when it comes to mana and the soul-"

"Oh no!" Envoy yelled, interrupting Avice.

Avice glared at the boy angrily, before noticing that he was looking at something in front of them. It appeared to has been a small village with houses of rock, but most of it has been torn to the ground and bodies of spellcasters lied across the ground with clouds of smoke rising from the still-burning remains of their homes.

Envoy jumped from the walkway they were on, landing on some purple disk-like platform. Ignicius followed shortly after, descending toward the destroyed village. Avice looked toward Archer, who gave her a nod, then the two of them jumped as well, following after the two spellcasters. Destroying an entire village wasn't a very big feat to Avice by itself, but those were magicians who had been trained in the arts of magic their entire lives. Whoever could do that had to be at least a master magician, not some mere apprentice.

Archer walked over to one of the corps and knelt down, examining it. He wasn't an expert in magic, nor was he an experienced soldier, or a cop, but even he could recognize that the magician he was observing has died from having his head crushed. He then moved to another magician, and then another. All of them had died from some sort of brute trauma, like getting hit by a very, very heavy rock. So, either the one responsible was great with earth-based spells if those existed, or what killed these villagers wasn't another magician.

"Who do you think has done this?" Archer turned to Avice, who walked over to him.

"Not a magician, that much I'm sure," Archer answered. "It was someone, or something extremely strong. Like it's been made out of stone."

"A creature made out of stone you say?" Avice narrowed her eyes.

She looked over at Ignicius. It was far-fetched to say that he could have done all of that by himself, but she wasn't very trusting of his kind. Her mistrust wasn't so much out of some sort of personal experience, as it was from observations. Charmcaster, the daughter of Spellbinder had a long history of abusing this species, using them for destructive purposes that they, for the most part, didn't seem to mind. In fact, most of them didn't even appear to have a mind to think for themselves, either way, making them extremely trustworthy minions. Who was to say that Ignicius' ability to speak, wasn't just illusion magic to trick them into thinking that he wasn't just another mindless drone?

That was the problem with real magic since there were no rules, there was no way to guess if something was really happening, or if it was really possible. She hated getting involved in magic stuff, since it caused her to be unable to differentiate truth from lie, and her grasp of reality slowly slips away, which was extremely dangerous for her specifically, because her ability to grasp reality as it is was what allowed her to manifest in her current body.

"The grandmaster of this village sent us." Ignicius frowned. "It's been only a few hours. If we had stayed here..."

"We wouldn't be here." Archer rolled his eyes.

"Don't be rude," Avice replied. "Where's Envoy anyway?"

"He ran toward the Alchemy Lad. That's where the grandmaster usually stays." Ignicius explained.

Avice and Archer followed after the Stone Creature as they walked deeper into the destroyed village. Human corpses lied all around the place with a few large piles of stone that didn't seem to have come from the houses that have been demolished. And even further, there were still living spellcasters. Most of them were wounded, with those still capable of walking going around, giving medical aid to those who had the worst injuries. Apparently, the villagers have been able to push their attackers back once they got closer to the center of the village.

There they found Envoy, standing next to an old woman that was sitting against a wall, holding a large black hat next to her chest. The group walked over to where Envoy was and Ignicius bowed to the old woman.

"Grandmaster Bellasong," Ignicius muttered. "It's a fortune to see that you're still among us."

"Thank you." Grandmaster Bellasong gave the Stone Creature a warm smile. "And you, young one? Are you the one that's going to save us?"

"Time will tell." Avice crossed her arms. "What happened here? Who attacked you?"

"Mad Stone Creatures." Grandmaster Bellasong stated. "They came in waves, running through our defenses. We were eventually able to formulate a plan and pushed them back, but as you can see, many lives were lost in the process."

"Any idea who sent them?"

"It was Ski." the Grandmaster said, causing Envoy's eyes to widen in shock.

"But how?" Envoy asked. "She shouldn't have the power to control them!"

"She doesn't." the Grandmaster nodded. "But she has the knowledge, Envoy. She must have used some artifact or ancient spell to make them attack us."

"I don't want to be rude, but who's Ski?" Archer interrupted.

"She's the one who shouldn't be named," Ignicius answered.

"She was one of my students." the Grandmaster added. "But the magic wasn't strong with her. She didn't have the power, and that made her extremely frustrated and she began to research more arcane aspects of magic, using ancient artifacts to boost her powers."

"At first, we ignored her." Ignicius looked down. "But when we found out that she's trying to find the Serpent's Ring she had already grown too powerful."

"I take off my hat for managing to screw up so royally." Avice rolled her eyes.

Ignicius turned toward the girl and opened his mouth to yell at her, when suddenly two magicians came running, waving their arms and yelling at the top of their lungs:

"They are coming again!"

The remaining spellcasters all began to frantically search for cover, some using magic to create small stone walls, others hiding behind the remains of the houses destroyed by the last attack. Archer raised his blaster rifle and Ignicius clenched his fists. Avice stretched out her arm and closed her eyes before saying:

"*Akvius-Shtitus-Escevon!*"

Avice's left arm flashed and a large white shield with a yellow crystal appeared, attaching itself to her arm. Avice smirked, activating the Warp Energy inside her body to mutate her DNA, causing her body to grow as a yellow layer engulfed her normal human appearance and armor-like white plattings covered her up creating Shinning Guardian.

"Come with me, master!" Envoy shouted, pulling the old man out of the soon-to-be battlefield.

Large creatures made of stone and shaped like a diamond, with a single purple eye for navigation cover the sky, flying toward the small village. Everyone capable immediately processed to open fire on the flying rocks. Spell after spell hit them, destroying large portions of the creatures, only for new ones to take their place almost instantly. Archer fired his blaster rifle as well, but unlike the others' spells, it didn't appear to have any effect, simply bouncing off the creatures' skin.

"Physical attacks have to be extremely strong to damage them, human!" Ignicius growled.

Archer ignored the Stone Creature. Shinning Guardian gave him a hand signal and charged forward with the shield in front of her body. Archer followed behind her, shooting the creatures. He was aware that his weapon wouldn't do much damage, but it didn't need to. All he had to do was draw their attention toward Avice.

The creatures screech and began to fire beams of mana at the defending spellcasters, craving holes into their bodies, covering the ground in even more dead bodies. Several of them fired their beams toward Shinning Guardian who blocked them with her shield, reflecting the pink beams back in a bright yellow color, blowing up large portions of the swarm.

"W-what the!?" Ignicius gasped.

The large explosion seemed to have caused enough damage to the monsters' ranks that they began to focus their fire on Shinning Guardian, acknowledging the large yellow knight as the most dangerous opponent. Beam after beam hit the large shield and got redirected back into the swarm with twice their original strength, blowing more and more stone creatures out of the skies with every failed attempt to strike her. Realizing the faults of this tactic, the flying creatures charged at the large golden humanoid. Shinning Guardian pulled back her shield, the weapon splitting in two to reveal a sword's blade which popped out and the shield locked around it. Shinning Guardian swung her blade to one hundred and eighty degrees', releasing a wave of golden energy that incinerated everything in front of her.

Everyone else aside from Archer was rubbing their eyes to make sure they really saw what they saw. The Stone Creatures were, by no stretch of the imagination, the most powerful or dangerous creature to exist in their realm, but defeating such a large swarm by just standing there and swinging your sword/shield-thing once? The survived magicians all began to shout and cheer, recognizing the power that they had on their side.

"How did you do this?" Ignicius asked.

Shinning Guardian turned back to face him. Her body began to shrink, the golden skin and armor disappearing, replaced by Avice's own mortal form.

"I didn't do anything." Avice shrugged. "Escevon has the ability to redirect any sort of attack that hits it with twice its original power."

Ignicius stared at her dumbfounded.

"Back to the point, if this Ski, as you call her, is behind these attacks and is trying to slow us down, shouldn't we head off as fast as possible?"

"I...guess." Ignicius scratched his rocky head.

"The headmaster is safe, I'm back to-" Envoy froze mid-sentence, staring in confusion at the strangely peaceful scenery with a ball of mana in his left palm. "Where did the Scrutins go?"

"She destroyed them." Ignicius pointed at Avice.

"All of them!?"

"In one swing." Ignicius nodded.

"That's... that's..."

"Going to be nothing if your evil spellcaster gets her evil hands on that evil staff." Avice interrupted them. "And for the record, if there's a weapon that can hurt you more than your enemies, why don't you just destroy it, hm?"

"Well, you know how it is with superweapons. You don't want to get rid of them." Ignicius replied.

"Believe me, I've seen that first hand." Avice groaned.

She was getting a headache only thinking about the number of dictators that she had watched lose to a group of unorganized rebels because of their love for superweapons. Like, Most of them should have gotten the memo after your first pair of planet-destroying nuts got blown out of orbit, but nope, just build another one, because superweapons are for the cool kids.

"Where could we find this Ski?" Archer asked.

"Our magicians have been able to track her to the Forest of the Roaming," Envoy answered. "Based on that, we're guessing that the Serpent's Ring is kept locked in the Monastery of the Six."

"Wait, isn't the Forest of the Roaming where the sixty thousand magical knights got their mana drained from their bodies by the ring?" Avice cut in.

Envoy shifted his eyes awkwardly. "Yeeeaaaaaah?"

"You hide it right where you used it!?" Archer yelled.

"I-in our defense, no one thought to look for it there!" Envoy shouted back.

"And someone with no magical powers on their own is kicking your assess using magic! What's your point?"

Avice walked between them and pushed Archer back.

"Point is, there's an ass to be kicked, and that's not theirs," Avice said. "We could yell at them for their incompetence all day long, but that won't show us as being any better now, would it Archer?"

"No, sir." The officer lowered his head.

"See? That's some progress." Avice nodded. "If you could teleport me and Archer, we should be able to do the rest on our own."

"Not that I doubt you, but I and Ignicius were assigned to this task," Envoy said. "We must see this through."

"Fine." Avice groaned. "Just... try not to die while you're on it, ok?"

"Don't worry." Envoy smiled. "*Abeo Exorior!*"

A dome of mana appeared around the four and then they disappeared.

The Forest of the Roaming was, surprisingly one of the less weird places inside Ledgerdomain. It was just a large field covered in withered yellow grass and large dead trees, floating upsidedown with their branches covering most of the ground, making it hard for anything larger than a dog to move through without getting scratched. The spellcasters living there believe that those trees have grown from the remains of the knight that fell in the battle and represent a manifestation of their unresting spirits, seeking to damn the souls of anyone who dares to step on the ground that their bodies were consumed into. Only skilled magicians had the power and knowledge to navigate through the trees without falling into any traps.

There was a bright pink flash as Avice, Envoy, Ignicius, and Archer teleported in an empty spot near the center of the forest.

"This place... looks different from the last time I saw it." Avice tapped her chin in thought.

"How so?" Envoy raised an eyebrow.

"There weren't any... upside-down trees when I visited," Avice admitted.

"These trees have been here for the last fifteen hundred years," Ignicius informed her. "When exactly have you visited this place?"

"Let's say a very long time ago and leave it at that."

"I'm comfortable with that arrangement."

"But just to be sure, have you heard of Sir George?"

"Who?"

"It's been a long time indeed." Avice sighed.

Envoy raised an eyebrow but decided not to question the girl. She did know a lot about Ledgerdomain, even if they didn't know much about her; a fact that was unnerving for the boy.

"How are we going to go through the trees?" Archer asked.

"Worry not, we have the meanings to get through," Ignicius answered, then turned toward Envoy. "Do it."

The boy nodded and walked forward. He pulled out a small ruby-red jewel and threw it toward the rocks. The jewel burst into a blinding spark of red light that caused the branches to retreat, opening a path for them.

"This way." Envoy waved for them to follow.

The remains of the Monastery of the Six towered over the floating island. Time hasn't been kind to it, having stood there without a soul to watch after it for two thousand years, the upper half of the left tower had already collapsed, destroying a large chunk of the west wall. A young woman in a blue witch outfit walked toward the abandoned building. In her arm was a long staff made from old wood, three sharp rocks tied to the end with a purple feather jutting out from in-between them.

She stopped and looked at her free hand, the purple tattoos that covered her skin were glowing faintly, indicating that she was close to her target. A grin stretched her face. They never believed in her, not her parents, nor her teachers and other ancient magicians. They thought that she was going to fail, that she wasn't going to get anywhere in life with her weak affinity for magic, but she proved them wrong! She would do what neither Adwaita nor Charmcaster or any other magician for that matter was able to do!

"I don't think you want to take another step."

The girl paused for a moment, turning on her heel to see four individuals walking out of the forest. She recognized Envoy and his pet, Ignicius; they have both been students under the grandmaster. But she wasn't familiar with the other two.

"I see that you have brought some friends." the girl chuckled. "Did you come to stop me, Envoy?"

"You know the answer, Ski." Envoy raised his arms, summoning a pair of burning orbs in his hands.

"Seems like I do. Who are your new friends anyway?" Ski tilted her head. "Are you... outside-"

Before the young witch could finish, Archer fired his rifle, prompting her to stomp the ground, unleashing a blue dome that absorbed the energy bolts. She snarled and tapped the ground with her staff three times. Suddenly, the ground under the groups' legs exploded, throwing the humans into the air, while Ignicius dropped onto his back, growling.

"*Akvius-Okovai-Leti!*"

Avice threw her arms to the sides and a pair of chains made out of bright light flew out of her sleeves. One of the chains stuck itself into the ground, while the other wrapped itself around Archer and Envoy's legs. Avice pulled herself toward the ground and then pulled the other chain, dropping Archer and Envoy next to her.

"A spellcaster?" Ski grumbled. "If this won't work, then I'll just bury you! *Fabecio Kai!*"

Avice jumped off the ground just as it began to become softer and turned into mud that began to slowly swallow Archer and Envoy. Avice looked at her partner, then turned back to Ski. Without a word, she turned into Shinning Guardian and charged toward the witch.

"I've seen your trick back at the village." Ski said. "You cannot cast spells in this form, can you?"

The blade on Shinning Guardian's shield stuck out and she swung it at Ski, but before the blade could make contact with her neck, the spellcaster ducked and threw a pair of purple seeds that attached themselves to Shinning Guardian's armor. The yellow creature stepped back, eyeing the strange things for a moment, just before they exploded, sending Shinning Guardian flying.

"One down..." Ski muttered.

She swung her staff behind her head, blocking a large fist of mana then glanced to the side where Ignicius was standing with his left fist engulfed in a bulb of mana. It was supposed to be a surprise attack, but she expected it. And how wouldn't she? After all these years studying every corner of this damned realm, memorizing the smallest detail about anything and everything that has ever existed; it had all brought her toward this moment, and she wasn't going to lose it because of some Stone Creature's power to manipulate mana without casting a spell.

"*Adfishio Potentia!*"

Suddenly, several beams of mana struck Ski, sending her flying the same way she sent Shinning Guardian a few moments ago. The spellcaster growled, looking back up to see Envoy standing with his hands outstretched forward, free from the mud with Archer right next to him. The soldier placed a small plasma rocket onto his rifle and fired it at Ski. The spellcaster twisted her staff, causing a small ripple in space that changed the rocket's trajectory to fly over her head.

"Ok, you got me once." Ski said.

"Stay down," Envoy warned her.

"Or you will kill me?" Ski raised an eyebrow.

"If... If I have to!"

"How heroic of you!" Sky mocked him. "But sadly,"

Ski looked Envoy in the eyes. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, just for a moment and suddenly, Ski appeared right in front of him. Without casting a spell, without moving an inch, she appeared standing before him. The boy gasped and tried to pull back, get out of her reach, but before the first step was made, she had already pushed her staff against his chest.

A burst of black mana erupted out of Envoy's body, sending Archer flying back. The young magician screamed, his skin burning away, the blood in his veins feeling like it was about to burst out from the pressure. Ignicius stared in horror as more and more black mana flew out of Envoy's body and Ski pushed her staff deeper into his chest, burning the skin around her weapon to a pitch-black color. The Stone Creature recognized the spell that she was using, it was a forbidden technique used by ancient spellcasters to torture their prisoners and test subjects.

Black lines began to cover Envoy's body like veins and his eyes rolled to the back of his head from the pain. His mind had passed out, but his body was still screaming in the agonizing pain. Ignicius clenched his fists and charged toward Ski, throwing a punch forward. The witch looked at him from the corner of her eye and then turned around, holding Envoy's body in-between them, stopping Ignicius.

"*Evanescebas Sius!*"

The lines over Envoy enveloped him and the boy's body broke down into ash that flew onto Ignicius's body. The Stone Creature roared in pain and fell down, his body starting to break down with large black spots appearing all across his body.

"You shouldn't have gotten involved." Ski said.

The witch smashed Ignicius across the face, tearing off the left side of his face. She took a step back and looked at the field one more time. Envoy dead, Ignicius incapacitated, the human male was struggling to get back on his feet and Shinning Guardian had already detransformed into the human girl. Ski tapped the ground with her staff three times and her body began to levitate. She turned around and flew off, leaving to get her ultimate prize.

Archer aimed his rifle at the back of the retreating witch one more time, but he didn't fire. His hand was trembling, he could barely hold the gun, let alone aim it properly and even if he could, the witch's ability to redirect his energy bolts rendered the gun useless in this scenario.

He dropped his gun and walked over to Avice. Despite taking an explosion to the face as Shinning Guardian, her human form was unscratched. Instinctively, her eyes opened immediately, her body sensing the young man's presence. After all, even when wearing human skin, she was still observing the world from the eyes of a Young One.

"Are you alright, sir?" Archer asked.

"I ran out of energy," Avice muttered, standing back up. "I was trying to restore it."

"I don't think we have that much time, sir."

Avice nodded and looked around. She spotted Ignicius lying on the ground with large black spots slowly eating away at his stone body. She walked over to the creature, observing the spell that was cast on it, but she was unable to analyze it properly. The black spots' composition was far too complicated, a mix between magic and organic matter the likes of which she hasn't seen before.

"W-what... ar.. yo-ou star-r-ring?" Ignicius growled, his voice distorted and barely audible, or understandable.

"I can't fix you," Avice said.

"D-rk mag...ic... Spe-el... won-n-n... rev...verse..."

"What should we do, sir?" Archer asked.

Avice bit her lower lip and looked around. Envoy was dead, she couldn't repair Ignicius and Ski was already at the temple. Avice had no Warp Energy left to turn into Shinning Guardian one more time, and she couldn't exactly use her other powers without causing more damage to this realm. She looked at Escevon still attached to her arm and then turned toward Archer.

"We'll have to end this on our own," Avice told the soldier.

"I'm sure that you'll be able to pull it off, sir." Archer nodded.

"Not me." Avice shook her head. "It's all going to be up to you."

"Me?" Archer took a step back. "I'm sorry sir, but my weapon is useless in this fight."

"Trust me," Avice said. "I do have a plan, but before I tell you: *Vetrus-Tearoi-Akvius-Sopum-Icvium!*"

Ski smiled. She was standing inside a large hall with thirty-feet tall statues of some of the most powerful spellcasters in this realm carved onto the columns that held the dome of this ancient building from falling down. The floor was made out of transparent rock with stained glass underneath it. That hall was where, many centuries ago, spellcasters would gather to perform rituals or discuss important topics. She looked up toward the balconies on the second floor, where the more *important* figures would be seated during these meetings. The place was so beautiful, so full of history, magicians have visited it for thousands of years after it was abandoned, and yet, none of them figured it out.

Ski walked to the center of the hall and pulled out a black metal orb from her sleeve - the mask of Siono the Tormented, the black metal that his soul haunts melted and forged into this strange orb. The witch placed it on the ground. The dark metal heated up, turning reddish, then turned into a puddle that began to eat through the transparent rock. The metal dripped through the rock and onto the stained glass below, causing it to glow brightly.

Seeing this, Ski pulled out the next time, the eye of a Greater Scrutin; not that much rare, but very hard to crave out without breaking it. She held it over the hole so that its pupil was staring at the ceiling. The eye concentrated the bright light coming from the stained glass into a straight beam.

The loud sound of thunder roared through the empty hall and the light died down. The eye of the Greater Scrutin turned into dust that slipped from the witch's palm and on the ground, where a golden ring was lying. There it was. Ski knelt down and took the ring and put it on top of her staff. The golden item immediately transformed, turning into a golden snake that wrapped itself around the staff.

"So, that's what the Serpent's Ring looks like?"

Ski swung around toward the newcomer. She growled, holding her staff tightly with both hands as Avice walked into the hall, her arm with the shield dropped to the side, instead of placed firmly in front of her. It was a sign of overconfidence for Ski, or maybe it was a bite? She wasn't sure.

"I have forgotten what it looks like," Avice said, tapping the side of her head. "I guess I've reached that age, already."

"And you think that you can beat it?" Ski asked.

"Who knows?" Avice shrugged. "What's your endgame anyway? The Serpent's Ring has the ability to drain all the mana and life force out of a person's body, turning them into stone. Are you planning to turn everyone in this realm into statues as revenge?"

"And waste such power on such childish acts?" Ski chuckled. "Let me guess, they all think that I'm here because of how they treat me? They are scared?"

"They do." Avice nodded. "They didn't say it, or maybe they did? It's hard to tell when you have the ability is to hear the truth one tries to hide instead of their actual words. But you're scared too. You're afraid of this power, you're barely managing to maintain that image of a confident witch. Why are you trying so hard?"

"And you, an outsider, really care?" Ski asked sarcastically.

"If I didn't, I would have beaten you when we were still outside," Avice stated.

"Well, maybe you should have." Ski slammed her staff against the transparent floor. "*Furatura Maneta!*"

The stained glass began to glow brightly once again, forming a large blue crest. Avice raised her shield, but instead of an attack, she was meet with fatigue. Her legs began to feel weak and she collapsed on her knees, some sort of invisible force pushing her down to the ground.

"A user can control the Serpent's Ring's absorption. If they want, they could only steal one's mana or enough of his life force for him to be incapable of performing magic again." Ski explained. "Makes you wonder, why its previous user chooses to take all those lives instead of simply taking their magic away."

Avice raised her head slightly, glaring at the witch.

"Furatura Maneta, the ultimate spell that the Serpent's Ring was made for." Ski said. "Your mana will slowly be drained out of your body, and throughout the entire procedure, the crest you're trapped into will keep you from chanting any spells."

Of course, Ski had to stay in one place and hold her staff against the ground during the entire duration of the spell, staying as an immobile target, but that wasn't a problem when all of her enemies were already caught.

"You want to know what my motives for this are?" Ski asked. "Well, let me explain it to you then while all of your energy and life is slowly being sucked out of your body. To us, magic is in many ways, similar to your science. It holds infinite potential, with the only limitations being a person's imagination and knowledge. We study the secrets of magic throughout our entire lives, trying to invent new, better things."

"You have heard of the one that almost destroyed this realm, haven't you? Hope, the witch that tried to sacrifice the lives of all beings in this realm to bring back the soul of a single person. If that's the cost of bringing a soul back from the dead, how much do you think it will cost to create one? And not just some mortal soul - but to create a God!"

Avice's eyes widened. This entire time, Ski's plan wasn't to destroy this realm, but to reform it?

"People in this realm don't believe, dear." Ski continued. "All they believe in is knowledge and power, and they were willing to od anything to obtain it; even sacrifice the rest of their civilization. That's the type of people that life in this realm! The type of people that have the power to change this world into whatever they want it to be. But not for long! My plan is not to kill anyone, just absorb their mana."

It was starting to click into Avice's mind what Ski meant. Mana was what all living beings produced, some would call it the energy of life, or an extension of a person's soul. In the world of magic, where every word had a meaning, mana was a manifestation of the user's will, their determination. Because, words without any strength behind them, without any motivation and determination, were dull with no real meaning. In the same way, spells without mana were just words without meaning. Mana was not required for a person to live, but any living beings create mana as long as they live. And if Ski plans to absorb their mana without killing them, then she would have a neverending supply of mana at her disposal.

"I'll absorb their mana until I gather enough to create a God, a real deity that would watch over this realm and keep us in check! The Serpent's Ring will be its heart, and only those who it wills shall be used to use magic. People will no longer be able to abuse magic for their own selfish goals!"

"That's a very..." Avice stopped, taking a deep breath. She could feel her mana being drained out of her, and her body was getting weaker with each passing second. "-idealistic goal."

"Yes, it is." Ski smiled. "But sadly, you won't see its fulfillment. I know that I said that my goal isn't to kill, but you would be too dangerous to keep alive. So... sorry?"

"Funny..." Avice chuckled. "NOW!"

As Avice yelled out, Archer ran onto one of the balconies and opened fire on Ski. The witch reacted by erecting a barrier around herself, blocking the attack. She glared at Archer, who smiled in return.

"*Icvium!*" Avice shouted, raising her hand.

A powerful wind shot out of Avice's wrist and pushed Ski back. The witch screamed in surprise and shock that Avice actually attacked her using a spell, despite the crest's power. She smashed into a wall and fall on the ground, the staff rolling out of her hands. The stained glass stopped glowing, and the blue crest disappeared.

Ski groaned in pain. She looked up, spotting the staff just a meter away and reached to grab it, but Archer stepped on her hand before she could get it, getting a small pained cry out of her.

Avice slowly got back onto her feet. She still felt pretty drowsy, having lost most of her mana. She couldn't just get her mana back by stopping the spell; she had to rest and get time to recover the energy that she has lost.

"Are you alright, sir?" Archer asked.

"As much as I can be after losing over seventy percent of my magic," Avice replied.

"How!?" Ski yelled. "You were within the crest. You shouldn't have been able to use magic!"

"I shouldn't be able to cast magic." Avice corrected her. "The words have meaning, Ski. I didn't break the rules."

"I don't-"

"Get it?" Avice interrupted. "I don't expect you to. Let's just say that my type of magic is a lot pickier about chants."

"More importantly, should I shot her?" Archer asked.

"No need to be that extreme." Avice took the staff. She pulled the Serpent's Ring off it and turned back to Archer. "We will let her people deal with her."

Ski looked up at them and smiled. The witch pulled a small hourglass from her sleeve and smashed it into the ground. Before Archer could pull the trigger, a pink aura surrounded Ski and she disappeared in a flash.

"Oooooooor, they won't." Avice shrugged.

"It's not your fault, sir," Archer reassured her.

Avice looked at her companion then back to the Serpent's Ring in her hands. With this superweapon, they could kill all of the Plumbers in just a few moments, but she was worried about what would happen afterward. Knowing her brother, he would without a doubt try to utilize this weapon to the max. And if she left it here, people would be able to figure out where it's hidden again. Avice closed her eyes.

"I've got no choice." She muttered.

Mages and witches in white robes have surrounded Ignicius. They were covering the black spots with herbs and chanting spells of purification. Others were guarding the Monastery of the Six, a few staring with confusion toward the two obviously out-of-place humans that were standing in the middle of the entire incident.

A man dressed in a white attire that resembled a business suit walked over to the duo with several masked mages escorting him. His left eye was covered by an eyepatch and the end of his attire flowed behind him, despite there being no wind.

"I take it that Grandmaster Bellasong was right to call for help outside." the man said, reaching out with his hand toward Archer. "My name is Allius, I'm the Grand Wizard of the Tower of Elistrum."

"I'm, just a servant." Archer gestured toward Avice. "Direct your thanks to the great Nosyerg, the immortal ruler of my world."

Allius turned toward Avice and raised an eyebrow in confusion. One would expect that a being with the level of power that Grandmaster Bellasong talked about would be a bit older.

"He loves to be overdramatic." Avice shrugged. "Ski was able to escape, so it wasn't a complete victory."

"After what she did here, I don't think she would dare to show up in this realm ever again," Allius said. "And about the Serpent's Ring,"

"Sadly, it got destroyed during the fight." Avice lied, pulling out a small bag from her pocket. "All of its remains are here."

She had to admit, it took some effort to destroy the damn thing. The material has been magically enchanted to be able to withstand getting hit by a World Cracker's beam at point-blank. Archer had also voiced his disagreement with the idea of destroying it; said that it would be a valuable addition to their arsenal. Avice couldn't really deny that. But the universe has already seen enough superweapons without this one, hasn't it?

"I would say that this is unfortunate, but it really isn't." Allius sighed. He took the bag into his hand and it suddenly disappeared. "Is there any way we could repay you for your assistance?"

"Envoy made a promise to me about something."

"And what would that be?"

Avice smiled. She stepped to the side and a portal to the underground village opened next to her. She gestured toward the portal. Negotiations were going to take awhile.

## Characters

### Ledgerdomain

* Envoy (first appearance; death)
* Ignicius (first appearance)
* Grandmaster Bellasong (first appearance)
* Ski (first appearance)
* Allius (first appearance)