I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

They had arrived, finally. The neighborhood was still the same, or well, not the same as it had been almost two years ago, it was different. The houses were the same, yes, the streets were the same. The park, the store, and even her old school were the same.

The school she had planned to go to on her fifteenth birthday was there, one of the schools with single-bedroom apartments for the students, but one that required among the hardest tests to get in.

What was different then? The people.

The old granny that always gave her candy when she was little was gone, instead, a young couple was in that house, her old neighbors were gone, instead other people stood in those houses, different families, different people manning the stores she had gone to all her life. They had asked at first, what had happened with the people that lived there. Most had answered the same, and Elizabeth hadn’t wanted to keep asking after the fifth time they answered the same thing.

They had moved on, they sold the terrains and houses and left, they sold cheap, and most hadn’t even sold it in person, using a third party. She…had suspected that could be the case, she had suspected that her parents had seeded most of the people that had lived near her, either as bodyguards or as associates.

It was convenient, and it was for safety reasons. Not many people could live near powerhouses and be safe, and while it didn’t happen often, it could happen, [Villains] attacking the house of a [Hero] wasn’t that farfetched.

They all thought that attacking the defenseless house of their nemesis would work. They were wrong of course, as the man that once orbited the sun could prove, but even so. It was a risk. So her parents engineering the whole neighborhood wasn’t that weird, it wasn’t like she had looked forward to meeting people who might remember her.

“Are you okay Elizabeth?” Asked the red-haired girl who followed all the way here. Watanabe Rena, the girl who didn’t need to come with them, but decided to do so anyway. Even though she had her own problems to deal with.

“Eli-Eli? We can leave and return later, you don’t have to do this now. My parents own a hotel nearby, you can wait there while I check on the house.” Her girlfriend, her always loving and caring girlfriend said. The girl who even after everything was at her side.

“No, we need to do this. If anything this helps us, I won’t have to explain myself to Granny about anything, she was kind of nosy…” Elizabeth said, she had feared that encounter, the old woman who lived near her house had always taken an interest in taking care of her, she was the go-to nanny for most of her childhood, and a figure she looked to.

Even if the woman wasn’t her actual grandmother.

“Your Grandmother lived near?” Asked Rossie, unsure of what to make of it. The girl even cast some tracking spells around to look for mana flares.

Nothing came up, of course, [Avalon] had some of the strongest mana defenses around, and not many spells could survive the atmosphere of this city.

“Not in the sense you think, it was an old lady that took care of me when growing up, those times Mother and Papa were too busy to cook for me, she would come with dinner and would take care of me. She taught me everything I know about presenting myself to high society.” Elizabeth said fondly, that the old woman was one of the reasons she had coasted middle school as an exemplary honor student.

“...” But for some reason, Rena and Rossie looked at each other and shook their heads.

Rude!

She could act with property too!

Even if she didn’t look like it!

….RUDE!

Either way, they continued their walk through [Avalon], the place was full of people roaming around, more than she remembered, and many people she didn’t recognize, it took a moment for her to understand why.

“The barriers are gone…” Elizabeth mumbled the barriers that had ripped apart this place from the rest of the world. The barriers that her parents put in place to protect her from the darker aspects of the world at large.

“Yes, [Avalon] is no longer isolated, so many people are probably using this chance to come as tourists.” Rossie answered after Elizabeth, “That is why my parents bought a plot and made a hotel here, they are earning quite well from this tourism. Even though this city doesn’t have anything to offer.”

“Even so, people will flock towards shiny new things. Even if they earn nothing from it or think they will not earn anything.” Rena added her little bit of opinion.

That was probably painted more by her expectations, she hadn’t resolved what they would do with Rena after all, Elizabeth wanted to do her justice, but she also wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.

“Right…Hope they aren’t crowding outside my house.” Elizabeth said, if there was a part of [Avalon] that should get tourism it would be her house.

She had a vague recollection of people coming outside the house when she was little, probably after the incident with the guy orbiting the sun, but not much memory about it beyond that. It had been, after all, a very traumatic experience for her. Even if she didn’t remember much of it.

“No reason why, most people don’t remember why this place was isolated, nor what made it special, so they all go around the public spots, the housing is ignored unless they are renting. And your place wasn’t among those open for rent.” Rossie consoled Elizabeth.

“And even if they knew how important it was, didn’t Master Albert say that no one was sure what the deal was with the house?” Rena added her a little bit after Rossie consoled her, it was still weird to listen to Rena refer to people with such…degree of respect.

“Well, we will find soon enough, it's around the corner,” Elizabeth said as they neared the end of the street, her house was a block away now. She could already see the roof in the distance as soon as they turned to the right and walked to the other side of the street.

Sure enough, it was…. mundane. Nothing special was on the houses around, if anything they looked bland, this wasn’t part of any Home Owner Association or anything, Mother despised those things with fervor. But even so, most of the houses followed the same design. Or used to, a few had started remodeling their houses from what Elizabeth could see.

Before it was obvious why no one dared to, would you try to mess around when two powerhouses lived one minute away from you? Only if you had a death wish.

But that didn’t matter, Elizabeth felt a wave of mana coming from the house and it resonated with her before dispersing. It had been one of the wards her Mother installed, one that would make sure no one entered the house unless they were whitelisted by her.

Of course, she was whitelisted, so the barrier didn’t affect her, she did notice the mana had resonated with the papers that proved she was the owner of the deed to this house. Even though they were in her [Inventory]. Mother you monster, what kind of ward did you install!?!?

Even so, at least the ward detected it was her and powered down. As soon as it did both Rossie and Rena walked to her side, both girls had continued walking past her house and returned with confusion on their faces.

“You know, I thought it would be a bigger place, this seems like a house for a newlywed couple who just started living together,” Rossie said from her side as she opened the door into the front yard of her house.

“It is cozy, I would love to live in a place like this with my family…” Rena said as she walked into the front yard.

Right, it was indeed a cozy house, Mother made sure of that, and while Papa was strict with his rules, Mother was always more of a free spirit, part of the reason that Elizabeth had ended how she had was that while her Father, [The American Crusader] was strict with how he lead his household. Her Mother [The Stardust Explorer] was laxer with her parenting.

So long as Elizabeth wasn’t on drugs or slept with males, she was free to do whatever she wanted, Mother didn’t ask her for good grades, nor did her Father. Both would support whatever endeavors she wanted to pursue.

“Will you continue to mop around, or will you come in?” A voice resounded through the [Mana].

A voice whose origin seemed to come from within the house…A voice that she didn’t recognize. The response of Rossie was swift, she quickly shone in bright light and turned into her [Sylphie Starheart] form. Rena on the other hand manifested her sword first, then shone in a red light and turned into her [Demon Slayer] form.

It had…changed, very little, but it had started to shift, for example, she now had a ribbon on her head and a ponytail. When before she didn’t have anything at all on her head, her wrist had a very humble bracelet with no decorations, and she was wearing a necklace with an azure dragon eating its tail.

It was very little, but she was indeed wearing jewelry.

As for Elizabeth?

She stood there, staring at her house, unsure of what to do. Her first instinct was to release her [Shift] and move forward, searching for whoever was in [HER HOUSE]. But… the voice seemed to be something she had heard before. And the same was with the mana, something about how it was weaved seemed…familiar.

“What? Are you brats going to keep me waiting? Really, I told Catherine that she needed to whip the fear of god into you.” The voice spoke once more, and then as if she was getting tired, three magical circles manifested below them, one per girl. “Can’t bother to wait for you to listen, so come Mass Teleport.”

And sure enough, the magic circle flared before any of them could react the magic of teleport flared and the three appeared at the dining table, her dining table, in her home. The place was like she remembered from two years ago when she was leaving for the MPI.

“What? Never got teleported because your Mana Manipulation sucked?” The old woman at the end of the table spoke to the three girls.

They had each appeared in a chair, sitting properly, with their hands on the side, Rena’s sword was gone, and Rossie’s spell seemed to have been canceled. Elizabeth couldn’t help but notice how they had moved from a standing position to a sitting one, something that…shouldn’t be that easy to do on a whim.

“Who are you?” Asked Rossie at the side, the girl seemed to want to cast a spell, but her mana always fell flat, there was a tendril of mana going from the old woman into Rossie and…literally slapping away the mana when it got too close to even form the beginnings of a magic circle.

“Who am I? Who are you? You don’t introduce yourself, come with my granddaughter, and then flaunt about your shabby mana manipulation at me? AT ME?!?” The old crone grunted.

She was an interesting character, dressed in robes, very old robes, the design seemed to be similar to the robes Mages liked to use, but unlike theirs, the robes of this old woman seemed weathered by time and thrummed with mana.

“My Name is Watanabe Rena,” Rena spoke at the side while Rossie only glared at the old woman and tried to form spells from within her [Soulscape] to try and cast them in the real world.

The spells always faded away when they tried to form in the real world since the crone just pulled at them and the mana faded away.

“Who are you, and why are you in Elizabeth’s home? We just got the deed to this place. And before that, it was owned by the Singh.” Rena said more…diplomatically. The girl was still tugging at her [Skill] to try and manifest her sword once more. But no matter how she tried, her [Mana] never quite managed to form the right way.

“That is better, a polite one. Elizabeth, ditch the pink one and keep the red one. Pink-haired haired always are a problem anyway.” The crone said with a laugh, she was actually cackling like a mad witch. No wait, pink hair?

“I’m Stelliana Fortuna, The Witch of Lucky Encounters and Miracles.” The old crone said taking out her hat for a second while she gave a small bow to them. Her Hair was platinum and seemed to shine with a mysterious vibe, it also…didn’t quite seem like normal hair. “You may call me Grandmother, Gran, or Mother if you wish. Now that my stupid student decided to become a goddess.”

Then the old crone started cackling once more, not a single moment went by when the threads of mana that came from her allowed the mana in their bodies to move, even while she was having a good time laughing “That was funny, the moment I felt her use the very same spells she hated, the very same ones she learned only because she wanted to counterspell them when someone attempted to ascend near her. At least she proved my theory that they worked.”

“...Wait, you designed the spells that [Odyssey] used to ascend?” Asked Rossie, she had stopped struggling for a second to ask that.

“Of course I did, do you think that air-headed bird-brained bimbo could even design something that complex? She may be called the Mother of Magic here, but from where I come, she is barely competent.” The old woman said dismissively. “Unlike this girl here, Catherine had no talent for Magic. She had talent for Healing yes. But Space Magic? None, elemental magic? Nope. All that you have seen her use was premade by yours truly. She studied yes, she learned. She worked hard to get to the spot she was. But that was effort, not talent.”

That…well, that sure as hell explained why some of the magic her Mother used seemed to be so rigid, so she was incorporating what she learned and kludging together her magic against free wielding the magic?

“And you claim to be Elizabeth’s Grandmother?” Rena said, eyeing Elizabeth with worry in her eyes, “As far as we are aware…”

“Elizabeth's family does not exist in this world.” Rossie said on the other side, “Her Mother’s side is dead, and her Father’s side…should be also dead, and shouldn’t be on the magic side.”

Right…

“My Mother’s family are all dead, and Papa never spoke about surviving family members. Mother did speak about a grandmother…but she never came, nor did we ever go to them.” Elizabeth said, turning her [Eyes] to the woman in front of her.

The Old Crone shone with silver light, and yet…She couldn’t even seem to find any evidence of a [Soulscape], actually…this woman had never used [Idea], had she?

“I knew this would happen, stupid disciple…” The crone mumbled, “I am Catherine Saintsworths teacher, when one takes a disciple we become family. I am closer than Catherine’s original Mother because I was the one who stabilized her Mana Core into one that would allow her to traverse the dimensions in search of her home after she arrived at my house with a cracked Soul.”

She what now?

“And then, years after when she returned with a smile and a man at her side, I was the one to marry her with that…abomination of mana.” The crone shuddered, what had she seen in her papa? “I am hurt that she didn’t deem to come with me for help, but then again. If she did you wouldn’t be alive…You…. I want to ask, what are you? But like Catherine, I have a soft spot for damaged girls.”

Rude!

She wasn’t damaged! She was very fine!

“So, what are you doing here?” Rossie asked, her glare had diminished, but she was still fighting for the control of her mana, she was struggling so much that her eyes shone with the heart motif again!

So cute! And so sexy!

Wonder if she could get her to show those when she kissed her next time…

No Elizabeth! Focus on the old monster you have in front!

“Like I said, I have a weak spot for damaged girls. I was house-sitting till you arrived,” The crone said while pointing at Elizabeth, “I was going to leave, but then I saw those Echoes, so I had to stay…Tell me, girl…Are you going to do something about them? If not, I will take them with me.”

The what now?

Was she looking at the [SoulGems]?

“Those are of Rossie and Rena, well I already ate the one that was from Rena… If Rossie doesn’t mind you taking them, I guess you can have it…? What will you do with the [SoulGem]?” Elizabeth said, she…. was not sure if that would be the right thing, that gem may be useful later. “If you confirm me the owner of this one is dead, I don’t mind giving you this one.”

Elizabeth took the gem that was from Akira, she hadn’t decided what to do with it either, but if she could... she wouldn’t mind taking one or two skills from Akira. If anything, should she manage to get the [Divine] ones, that would be very useful.

“What? Why would I want those? I don’t deal with Soul Fragments, besides that one…Yeah, I don’t want to even touch it, that mana is disgusting. Good job in purifying it, but speak to me again in 200 years when that thing is clean.” The crone dismissed the [SoulGems], weren’t… these kinds of important? “No, I mean the red-eyed girl and the yellow-eyed one that seems to be waiting for you.”

And with the snap of her fingers two images manifested in front of the three girls, a black-haired girl with silky hair sleeping in a black void at the side of a blonde girl who could pass as Elizabeth's younger sister. The two seemed to be hugging a shadow dragon.

“Alice…” Elizabeth mumbled as she tried to touch the image, only for her fingers to pass through it.

“Alice huh…A fitting name I guess, so are you going to do something about this girl who fell through a hole into Wonderland? If not, I can take her with me.” The crone said turning to her.

Was Alice the [Echo] she spoke about then? What was an [Echo]?

“Where is Alice? What is happening with her? And do you mean an [Echo]?” Elizabeth asked turning to the woman, she didn’t like this feeling of impotency, someone had the answer she needed.

She would not let this go, not again.

She would not be ignorant again.

The words resounded within, and her body shone in white light, gone was her normal clothes and form, instead, she stood up, not as Elizabeth Starbright, but as [The Stardust Weaver].

“Answer me. What happened to Alice? Why can’t I summon my [Shift]?” Elizabeth demanded as the [Mana] in the air reacted and started weaving magic circles. She felt the presence of the mana threads from the woman start to worm towards her magic, but her mana was no match for Elizabeth’s [Mana].

“Hmm…. good mana manipulation, enough control over the area…And I think this is the beginning of a domain? Interesting, you girl are what any witch would love to have in a successor.” The crone said with a smile, this time it wasn’t a crazy smile nor cackling like before, but the smile of a caring grandmother.

Then with the snap of her fingers, the image dissipated, and the weird mana threads disappeared, gone was the imposing figure of an ancient witch monster. Only leaving behind the image of an old woman.

“Let’s start easy then…. An Echo…Well, I guess that for you it would be an [Echo] no, too much mana…An [Echo]...God I hate these stupid local laws, why do you even use this language? I swear to god, that stupid girl should have kept this to them, you only waste causality half the time!” The crone went on and on cursing purple-haired Roman girls for some reason, “Anyway, an [Echo] is….”

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Chapter 100: Grandmother knows what is best, and what is best is a cliff