Celestial Ascendancy
Chapter 91: Ice vs Light.
Elias Black.
Kuoh, Japan.
"How do you wish to start, Eli?" Serafall asked with a bloodthirsty smile on her pretty face, her blue eyes almost sparkling, making me wonder if it was such a good idea to ask for this.
Even while I was thinking that, I could feel my smile widening, matching hers. It was pretty difficult to calm myself, mostly because I wished to test myself a bit, and she was the one here who could push me the hardest.
My girls were fantastic and all, but they didn't approach Sera's level of danger, and the less said about her experience, the better. I had battled beings around her level, and while I had won both times… Katarea, or whatever the name of the bitch was, and Satanael didn't give me the same feeling as Sera.
Behind her usual bubbly act lay a monster, one I wished to know.
She had… well, she was the main point of contact between our groups, and my girls adored her, even if it was a bit strange having a friendship with her considering her status. I could admit that it was a bit tense at first, thinking that her position would complicate such a friendship, but I was happy to be wrong, at least.
She was a good friend, and I liked her a lot. We all did, in truth. She wasn't the kind of person to act all high and mighty as one such as her would do. She was surprisingly down to earth.
"Nothing serious at first," I grinned at her, "I know that you can't wait to beat me up for whatever slights you've imagined in that tiny body of yours, but I wish to push slowly but surely, think we can manage?"
She pouted at my words, before a teasing hint appeared on her lips, "Tiny body? I'll show you."
She harrumped, and with a simple movement, a wand appeared in her hand. The thing sparkled just as her eyes did as she twirled it on her hand. With a firm swish, the prim and proper Serafall disappeared as a flash of light covered her body, the pink light at the pointy side of the wand the only thing I could see as it twirled around.
The light diminished after four seconds, leaving sparks of pinkish petals in its stead, and what greeted us was a mighty, adorable, and hilarious magical girl.
Serafall put her hands on her hips as she looked at me smugly, her eyes asking 'What do you think?' quite clearly.
My lips were twitching, and I heard hollers coming out of my girls' mouths from the back.
I was glad that Sona wasn't present just for the fact that I knew she would be cringing at her older sister's childish antics. Don't get me wrong, I liked Sona quite a lot, but she was too rigid.
My girls were quite different, sending wolf whistles at the preening devil king.
Her eyes sharpened the longer I stayed silent, showing that she was waiting for an answer.
"Yes, yes," I rolled my eyes as I took off my coat and shirt, sending it back to my girls with a gust of wind, earning even more whistles from my girls and red faces from the nuns.
Even Daphne didn't hide her appreciative looks. I looked good, and I knew it. I wasn't shy, nor did I plan to hide my beauty from people. It would be a Sin, I thought in amusement.
"You look adorable, alright?" I sighed at the tiny devil, earning a cute nod from her, "You know I was talking about your size, not other things."
"Heh," she grinned wickedly, "So, now what?"
"Follow me," I said simply.
I apparated a distance away from the group into the distance, not much as I should have if we were outside, or if I didn't have access to the Grimoire, just over fifty meters away, so that I could create a loop without an issue. Sera reached me just as fast, looking as if she had teleported. I knew that for Daphne and maybe Asia, it must have looked like that, but for most of us, she just jumped.
I had known that she was no mere spellcaster; she was strong physically speaking, too.
Letting out a breath to calm my rising excitement, I clapped my hands and activated Deathloop, a roll I had not used in quite a while for different reasons. Mainly because there was no need, since most of our latest fights had been without risk of harming bystanders.
The see-through film of magic covered from my back to the far horizon, leaving enough space to go wild without risking my girls or bothering to spend energy while we fought. Three golden marks appeared on my body, two in my calves and one on my back, earning a look from Serafall, who looked curiously at the scene.
It was the first time I had used this around her, I think.
"So," I looked at her with a smile, "This way we can go all out without worrying about anything. I don't think even Sirzechs can break out of it without fulfilling the parameters of the spell… maybe, I don't know how his power of destruction would interact with my magic."
"Rias can't, but we know that she can't compare with her brother, yet," I amended myself after seeing Sera's shocked look. "But it doesn't matter, you just need to touch each rune with your own hands when we finish, and I get a nice boost in strength too, so a win-win situation, if I say so myself."
"Win-win?" Sera looked at me incredulously before she laughed loudly, shaking her head in amusement, "Whatever you say, wonder boy."
"So, what did you wish to try?" she looked at me expectantly.
Looking almost sheepish, I rubbed the back of my head, calling out the Gate of the underworld once more, allowing it to open the gates, with three beings coming out of it.
Two, I suppose, were the Kushanāda, the caretakers of Hell in the Bleach universe. I had not even known that there was a hell there, but whatever. They were massive, easily three meters tall, and each of them felt as strong as an ultimate-class being. They had similar bone-like structures as the hollows, giving them an eerie look, and their aura felt almost, if not more wrong than the devils of this world.
But I wasn't paying much attention to them, if I was honest. No, what took all my attention was the third being I called forth, using sleight of hand to avoid explaining what I had no answer to.
The Gulltoppr, my second animal summon.
Even Serafall stopped looking at the mount curiously, showing nervousness that she tried to hide unsuccessfully. The mix between a horse and a lion had such an aura that even I froze in place for a second in surprise, because a laugh bubbled from the back of my throat.
It was suffocating.
I was glad that I had not pulled him out in excitement the previous night, as I was sure normal mortals would feel it, no matter the distance.
The horse roared, the sound of it sending stone and dirt flying in all directions.
God, what a magnificent beast.
"Eli?" Sera squeaked out, looking apprehensive of my good boy.
I walked confidently next to him and began rubbing his mane, observing it all the way.
"Yes, Sera?" I grinned cockily at her, "What happened?"
I knew I was being obtuse, but I found it hilarious. The girls outside were looking open-mouthed at the beings, with Iris' eyes shining bright as she pouted in jealousy. I had not explained the previous rolls, so they were getting a pleasant surprise as well.
"What is that?" she almost shouted, "those other two, I can ignore, but this? Eli, it feels of divine origin, but I don't have a single idea where it came from!"
"Beat me," I shrugged unapologetically, "Sera, one thing you must know about me is that I'm always finding new aspects of my power. As you probably know, I'm just winging it most of the time, and I keep improving. That's why I need help. I can somewhat feel what I can do, but I would prefer learning about it before using my abilities."
She looked at me as if she didn't believe what I was saying, which honestly… fair, it sounded like some bullshit, and I knew that.
But there was no way I could explain without telling her about the Grimoire, and we weren't at a point where I could do it without risking coming out, not that I thought she would be an enemy ever, but why risk it?
It was something that would change the world, hell, it had already done so multiple times, and I didn't want people learning of it before I was strong enough to face anyone, or most beings, at least.
She sighed, looking serious.
"Fine, I know you enough to know that you would not lie if you can help it," she murmured, making me feel a weird feeling inside my chest. She knew I wasn't saying everything, and she knew I knew, but I just stayed silent and averted my eyes.
"Care to go for a few rounds with them?" I asked after a moment. Doing my best to act as if nothing was wrong.
She sent an understanding smile in my direction, her peppy act returning as she nodded firmly.
With a grin, I mentally ordered the caretakers of Hell to advance. They roared like gorillas, their four limbs making the ground tremble as they charged toward the devil king, who, almost without trying, weaved between them.
It went on for over five minutes, with Serafall starting slowly.
She ducked, weaved, and attacked, looking as if she were taking a stroll. The Kushanāda roared in anger as their prey escaped for the hundredth time. I was feeling bummed because their move set seemed relatively small.
The gorillas looked at each other, and at the back of my head, I felt an alarm bell as I rubbed the lion's mane. They opened their mouths in unison, with black spheres forming, looking like a cero.
The orb grew and grew before they fused together, growing in size and danger. Serafall's eyes widened before she laughed and waved her magic wand. Spires the size of skyscrapers made of ice formed between her and the Kushanāda in less than a second, before the gorillas let the attack go off.
I covered my eyes for a second, just to avoid watching the bright light as the laser coming out of their mouths widened a fair bit, going through the first twenty spires as if it were a hot knife through butter. I quickly noticed that Serafall had increased the density of each spire, from the most brittle at the start of the line, all the way to the back.
The first twenty, as I said, disappeared; the next ten walls took a bit more time, but their attack passed without trouble, only to be stopped by the fortieth spire. The ice was so dense that it was sending the laser in other directions, as if it were reflective.
I ordered the Kushanāda to stop their attack, since no matter how much they focused, the laser didn't pass. I could feel their irritation, as inhuman as it was, at the back of my head, but they followed my orders.
Serafall peeked her head from the back of the last spire, looking surprised at the destruction.
"That's something, alright," she looked at the destruction left in its wake, her eyes looking at the pair of gorillas with a bit of respect, "I wouldn't want to be hit with something like that. It's solidly an ultimate class attack, Eli."
I nodded, sending a proud look at my Kushanāda, feeling some hesitation and their irritation receding.
"Now try something to test their durability," I asked Sera, who grinned sharply. The irritation at the back of my head increased, making me smirk.
Sera's wings came out of her back, a single pair, but powerful all the same, as she let go of her constraints. Within a second, she was next to gorilla number one. She ducked under his swing and grabbed his outstretched arm with a vicious smile. She froze it solid in less than a second, with the ice looking as if it wanted to consume him whole.
The Kushanāda roared in anger as he brought his hands downwards, impacting the ground, and I felt a weird feeling in my soul. As if something was trying to press into it. As soon as the limbs hit, soul energy flew out in every direction, creating a crater over a hundred meters wide. The soul energy intensified for a second as some weird black fire enveloped its limbs, melting the ice.
The Kushanāda roared again, louder this time, as if the very sound could burn through her frost. Their eyes burned red, and I could swear I felt the air vibrate from the sheer force of their lungs.
Sera didn't flinch. She raised her wand lazily, twirling it in a mocking spin, her lips curving into that mischievous grin that sometimes made me nervous.
"Big, angry, and loud. Oh, they are perfect! Hey, Eli, do you think you could lend me some for my show?" she asked cheerfully, before she vanished from sight.
The next instant, a pillar of frozen light erupted behind the beast, catching it across the spine. The temperature dropped so fast I could see my own breath misting; frost raced outward in spiderweb patterns, coating sand and stone alike.
The Kushanāda staggered, half its back frozen in jagged ice, but it didn't fall. Instead, it spun, swinging one of those colossal arms and shattering the frost with sheer momentum.
I whistled lowly, "They are still standing."
Sera grinned, floating higher, her aura roaring like a storm.
"Then I'll just have to get creative!" she chirped and pointed her wand skyward.
The clouds above twisted violently, condensing into a spinning mass of white and blue that crackled with power. Tiny hexagonal sigils appeared in the air around her, each one pulsing in rhythm with the others.
I could see faint outlines of ice spirits dancing inside the storm she was calling. No, not spirits, since they were not living beings; I would have noticed if they were, it was just a facsimile of life.
When she finally dropped her hand, the heavens themselves obeyed.
Dozens of spears of ice, each the size of small houses, shot down from the sky at impossible speed. The Kushanāda bellowed and threw up its arms to block, but the first spear pierced straight through, exploding into freezing shards that ate through flesh and bone like acid.
The second creature tried to rush to its partner's aid, but Serafall flicked her wrist again, redirecting the next volley into its path.
The entire field vanished behind a blizzard of white and blue.
For a moment, the world went quiet, just the even breaths of Serafall who looked at the scene curiously, and dare I say, hopeful. My mighty steed, next to me, made a sound similar to a snort.
I soon learned why, as I felt movement from below the snow-covered field.
The snow exploded outward as both gorillas burst free, half their bodies encased in frost but still moving, still furious. The first one slammed its hands together, black flames running along the cracks of its body, purging the ice.
The second beat its chest like an enraged titan, and the shockwave alone flattened the dunes around them.
I could feel their pain and defiance through the bond, primal feelings, but also a flicker of respect for the opponent who'd wounded them.
"Alright," Sera muttered, her tone shifting from playful to focused, "That's enough warm-up, I think."
Her wand dissolved into motes of pink light, replaced by a massive glaive of pure frost that extended from her hand.
The weapon was filled up to the brim with runic arrays, all of them shining as white as her snow.
She met my eyes briefly, the glint of excitement in her eyes making me grin.
"Permission to break your toys?"
I shrugged, smiling faintly. "The point of this is to learn their limits, go wild, Sera."
She tittered behind her glaive, "You give me the best gifts, Eli."
The ground where she stood shattered from the force of her acceleration. When she reappeared, she was already inside the guard of the first Kushanāda, her glaive carving a crescent through its chest. Ice spread from the wound instantly, blooming outward like a flower of frozen light.
The second guardian swung to intercept, but she caught its strike on the haft of her weapon and spun midair, using its momentum to fling herself above them both.
She raised her free hand, and for the briefest second, her demonic power roared to life.
A ring of magical circles appeared around her, and from it poured a beam of pale energy so cold it refracted the spectrum into a rainbow. The beam struck both Kushanāda squarely in the chest, pinning them to the ground. The earth cracked, frost racing for kilometers in every direction, and even my Deathloop shimmered as if stressed.
But it held, which was informational at the very least. That last attack was something I would have to shield myself from, with Serafall looking focused as she did so. It was a Satan class attack.
When the light finally faded, both guardians lay half-embedded in ice, still conscious but unmoving. Their massive frames trembled, the black fire under their skin dimming.
Serafall lowered her glaive, exhaling softly, her breath turning into glittering mist. "Durable bastards," she admitted, wiping a strand of hair from her face. "I can't believe they are still alive."
Exhaling through my nostrils, I looked at my Kushanāda in a different light. They were not useless, and I could feel a surprising number of them inside my hell gate, ready to be called. Hell… some of them were roaring, as if wanting to come out.
Ignoring them for a moment, just having the image of the bigger kushanada inside, I bit back a giggle that wanted to come out. I loved this. I could feel… a reasonable amount, enough to use them somewhere to keep my people safe. This alone made it so that the wizarding world was no longer a small, defenseless group. I could have a small group of kushanada protecting the area around Hogwarts or something like that, along with my perk to hide and ward the place. With Ajuka's help, I could make something worthwhile out of it.
If I didn't know better, I would genuinely wonder if the Grimoire gifted me what I needed, but I was simply lucky this time.
Waving my hand, the Gate of Hell appeared, with twin chains flying out of it and returning the pair of gorillas inside, ignoring the shouts from their brethren. I closed the Gate one more time before turning to Sera.
"That was informative," I chuckled, still in the high of having an answer to many of my problems, "They can go rest and regenerate with the rest of them."
"The rest?!" Serafall asked, shocked. "Are there more of them?!"
Thinking about it, I didn't exactly know if I could call more, at least now. Deciding to try since I was testing the limits, I felt a wall. As if it wasn't enough energy to do so.
But not magic in general. No, it was more as if my 'Hell's' energy was running empty for that, as if they couldn't appear because the world actively fought it. And I had no idea how to replenish that energy, at least for now.
But I had an inkling that I needed to fill Hell with sinners, so that said energy could increase.
"Many," I replied absentmindedly at Sera, who looked gobsmacked, "But don't worry your pretty head about it, it seems as if I can't call for more right now. As if something is recharging. But I can feel bigger monsters inside the Gate, so take that as you will."
The drawback didn't matter to Sera, who looked at me as if I were an idiot, but I was so happy to care now. I needed to… experiment with it sometime. Maybe not now, since I had many things coming, and hopefully none of them would include a large-scale battle, but knowing my luck? I will fill my own personal Hell in the future.
"Care to go for another round? I think this beauty will surprise you," I smirked at Sera, who returned it happily, before her eyes widened and she pulled out her phone.
"Sorry, Eli. I have things to do in a bit, so you'll have to decide. Do you want me to test your lion, or yourself? I fear I only have time for one, because I have a feeling I'll end up drained after that."
Looking between the Gulltoppr and Sera a few times, I sighed. As excited as I was to see my new companion in action, I realized I could do it myself, and I learned how greedy I had been. Serafall was someone with a life outside of us, with many, many responsibilities with her race. I was acting as if she owed me, when she was just doing me a favor.
"My apologies, Sera," I bowed my head a bit, "Let's spar for a bit, and if you need something, be sure to let me know. I owe you for this."
She looked at me with wide eyes, before a beautiful smile appeared on her face.
"I'll keep that in mind, Eli," she said teasingly.
With a thought, I sent Gulltoppr outside, but not before sending my order to control his aura. The mighty steed huffed, letting a bit of fire come out of his snout, but he lowered his power as if putting a lid over it. A blue fire… my blue fire.
My girls, especially Rias and Iris, wasted no time in throwing themselves against the lion-horse hybrid, rubbing his mane against his will.
The rest were quick to approach it, with Mione looking quite interested in it, and even Latia approached a bit before she stopped with a flush.
"Well? Let's do this, Sera. I want you to push me as hard as you can!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as my holy essence exploded out of my body.
Serafall floated up, legs crossing daintily in the air.
"Try to stay alive, Eli," she said brightly, the teasing tone obvious for anyone to hear.
I laughed, too loud and too honest. "I do not think I can die anymore. You are welcome to try."
As much as the Grimoire said, I didn't want to test it now. But knowing I was immortal was… freeing, in a way.
She gaped for a heartbeat, just as I hoped. Smirking at her expression, I just moved.
Blue fire cracked from my palms, brighter than usual, hot enough to melt the shape out of her first ward.
She snapped a magical circle into being with a flick of her wand, and the blast cut sideways, splitting into a fan that carved glassy trenches across the dunes.
I was already there, apparating through my own flame as it fed on her demonic power. The fire ate the residue, turned it into fuel, and bloomed higher.
Sera's eyes sharpened, but her smile widened.
"That's some bullshit," she said drily, and the air turned white.
"Celsius cross trigger!" she sang.
The land rippled into ice like a frozen sea. Spires grew from nothing, each one denser than even the strongest ones she used against the Kushanāda, each one tuned to different refractive angles.
Her storm bit at my ankles, then the frost climbed upwards and tried to lock my core. I let the cold hit and then pushed Aetherius through my veins.
Gold bled across the blue. The frost hissed and guttered, not even melting as it ceased to exist. I raised my hand and called my sun.
A miniature star roared into being over my shoulder. It was small, the size of a house, a patient thing that dragged the air slowly. Gravity itself began acting wonky around it, and the spires groaned, pulled, and snapped.
Serafall's lips curled into a grimace.
She answered with fire. A simple fireball, in theory. In practice, a mountain-eraser. Flame met the sun and turned into a spiral of white heat that made the horizon bend.
"On the record," she said, darting above the shockwave, "Things have been… tense in the underworld. People learned about your actions during the peace talks, and let's say that reception with the lower class is… complicated. The nobles are restless, and we haven't heard anything about the Old Satan Faction or the Great King Faction, but I'm sure they are fanning the flames."
"You know why I did it," I said drily, "I don't regret it, and I will do so again, Serafall. I don't hate devils, that should be obvious now. I like them, as much as people warn me against them, I can see the good in some of you, but that doesn't mean I won't act if I see something outrageous."
"That's what people are afraid of," she shot back, and threw a wall of cold at my face.
"Tell them to stop being assholes, then," I slid through it, leaving a trail of crystalline steam, and met her with a palm coated with green shadows that exploded on contact.
The impact rang like a bell. Shadow folded around her and tried to put her inside the affected area. She tore it apart with a flat sweep of her wand.
Smirking, I answered with ice of my own, clouds coalescing into needles that pinned all her angles. She smiled and broke them with a competitive sneer.
Her weapon formed in her hand, making me hide a shiver as the area got even colder. That was a bullshit weapon. And it was coming from me.
My fingers twitched into empty air before I felt a familiar weight. Durindana answered my call in a heartbeat, weightless at first touch.
I wrapped the blade with the Aetherius, as I usually did when I sparred against devils to avoid harming them. The normal holy properties of my holy blade were not as… cautious as my own light.
She responded with a vertical cut that split the air and sent a seam of cold through the ground. Parrying it with my blade made me grin at the gentle sound, as if it barely touched it.
Her follow-up was not as gentle as my moves. Five thrusts in the span of two seconds, four feints to weave through my counterattack, and a kick with enough power to crack the bones of my arms as I blocked. I let it hit.
Staggering through the hit, I lowered my attention to heal myself and got hit again for my audacity. I grinned anyway and answered with a wave of blue fire.
I had thought that I got her, but it was just an afterimage, much to my chagrin.
We traded a dozen passes in the time it takes to gasp. Then she stopped pretending.
The sky howled as her magic rose to levels never seen before, at least by us. Not even during her fight against Satanael and Kokabiel did she get this serious.
Celsius Cross Trigger expanded until Deathloop's walls screamed in protest, but they still held.
A literal city made of ice formed inside my barrier. She snapped her fingers, and the buildings themselves moved. Pillars swung like hammers, and the floor flipped upside down as I was sent flying.
I let it hit me and learned.
"Good. Try and catch this."
The temperature fell again. Ten magical circles flared at her back, each one humming with her magic. The same beam she used against my Kushanāda formed, and for the first time since this fight started, I felt the genuine whisper of death.
I raised my free hand and called the Door. The main thing I wanted to try.
Gold and black flame traced a circle in the air, and the Gate of Hell yawned open behind me with a sound like chains being dragged.
I stepped forward as bone-white light poured out and wrapped around my torso. The armor assembled itself fast.
Human bones, making me shiver as I tried to ignore the implication.
My soul snapped into an older rhythm. I felt soul energy filling me up to the brim and then some more.
"Let me see your limits, Sera," I said seriously, feeling almost high from the power. "Let us see what it means to be a Satan!"
Chains burst from the Gate, not two, not ten, enough to weave a web between us.
They passed through her shield as if they weren't even there.
Serafall snarled in shock and severed three at once, then five more, then froze the next wave solid and shattered them with a twist of her wrist.
As easy as she made it seem, she was panting, looking at the disappearing chains with shock and fear.
I appeared behind her back, then struck true. She caught the sword with the flat of her glaive and reversed the motion into a hook that would have torn a lesser man in half.
My armor took it. I felt the power of the blow, making me grit my teeth, but I was unmoved.
"You must be joking," she said between strikes, "I can't promise that they will change, Elias. And they have a reason to be afraid of you, you know?!"
"I can be as polite as they are, Sera," I rolled my eyes, "Like I said many times before, I'm not an angel, I don't lead the heavenly host, I don't even follow many of their teachings. But that doesn't mean that if I see some egregious acts, I won't stop them."
She laughed again, and there was some pride inside it, "You have no idea how it feels, knowing you speak the truth, Eli."
"But I think we should finish this," she said softly, and I felt it too.
She was bloodying the snow-covered floor, coming out from her temple, arms, and legs. I was no different, my golden ichor flowing freely from some of the hits she connected.
I stepped in and broke her balance with my shoulder. Durindana kissed the haft of her glaive and slid up to her throat, close enough to tickle.
The chains settled around her arms and legs. I took a long breath, feeling Serafall do the same as she looked torn between shock, giddiness, and wariness.
Then the cheers hit like a wave. Our audience shouting at the top of their lungs, with a few exceptions. Asia just looked glad that no one was overly harmed. Xenovia was kneeling on the ground, looking and filling me with her worship.
Latia looked in shock, which made sense. For devils, the Satans were an invincible mountain, and she had just seen one lose against an unknown.
As for the witches in the hollow? Well, they were dumbstruck. Daphne looked at me in shock and a bit of fear, lowering her eyes as mine glanced at her, acting almost reverently. As for my cousin? Well… I didn't know how to feel at the literal fire in her eyes. I could see ambition worming its way into her soul.
I stepped back, and the chains unspooled around her dainty feet. The armor cracked like a shell and fell away in flakes of light that turned to ash before they hit the ground. I dismissed my power by itself, the Gate of Hell lowering to the ground and dissipating from this plane.
Serafall floated for a second, then wobbled. I caught her by the elbow. She grinned up at me, flushed but pleased, a little pale at the edges.
"What does the winner get?" she asked tiredly, and honestly, a bit loopy, "If I had won, I would have asked about you taking part on my show… I think the devils would love the lovable magical girl Levi-tan falling into the holy hands of the messiah."
Shuddering at that, I almost dropped to the floor before I realized that it honestly would help to show I wasn't a danger to them. Then I squashed the idea and locked it in the deepest parts of my mind. As much as it would help, I would not do it unless there was no other option. I wouldn't be able to handle the embarrassment.
I just allowed my light to flow gently, soaking into her skin. The strain bled out of her shoulders. I fixed hairline fractures around her body where I hit too hard. She watched in silence, a small, gentle smile on her face as I focused on her battered body.
"You really are a good person, Eli," she said after a moment, feeling a lot better, I'm sure. "If you want dinner for winning, let me know. I've been told I'm a great cook."
I stopped cold in my tracks. In truth, everyone did, to the point that even Serafall stopped as if to understand what she had just said. Her cheeks tinted red, but I just smiled softly.
"Perhaps you can teach me, then," I ran my hand through her hair, feeling its silky smoothness. "I think some classes can work as payment, when we both have time, yeah?"
She laughed softly, looking as if she was talking with herself instead of me, "I know that the underworld will see what I do, and you will show them that war is something of the past."
I helped her sit down on the sand.
She squeezed my hand once and, before pulling away, already straightening her skirt like she had not just tried to skewer me with every kind of weapon known to men. She was a vicious little thing when she wanted, but that just endeared her to us.
Behind us, Gulltoppr shook his mane and snorted in satisfaction, as if approving of his new master.
"That was a good match," Serafall grinned, looking relaxed and excited. "I don't know why, but I feel like I learned a bunch of things, and I feel like I can grow stronger."
Remembering the effect of the light orb hanging from the Door of my hollow, I grinned. Well, at least she was getting something more out of this.
"I'm glad to hear that, Sera-tan," I pushed her back, swatting her hair with my empty hand, "You can come whenever you want, you know?"
"I'll take you up on that, wonder boy," she nodded, "I'll let you know one or two days before Ajuka is ready, that way you can get in touch with the Wizards here. See you all later!"
She flicked her magical wand, and with a flash of pink and periwinkle light, she disappeared from the hollow.
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