I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

After making sure that both [Lunar Shade] and [Law Bringer Sentinel] were safe, they started moving. The monster of a blue-haired woman didn’t say anything nor attempt to help them while they moved the unconscious girls.

 

“They should be safe here right sis?” Alice said aloud to Elzbeth as they put both girls against a wall in one empty room.

 

It was the kind of place they would have used to spend time in a normal situation, but at the moment it would have to do. They couldn’t wait for them to wake up.

 

“Yeah, I’ll try to set up some kind of [Ward] to keep them safe, but…to be honest they aren’t my area of specialty. Elizabeth never cared much for them so she didn’t set [Spells] for them either.” Elzbeth answered as she focused on making the spell.

 

Alice could see the mana moving and weaving around the girl, she seemed to want to delimit an area and create an effect on it. But it seemed as if she was having a hard time making the mana move outside of the preset routes her spells had.

 

Why? Her sister had talent at moving her mana, she had seen her move it almost effortlessly while casting spells and moving them from place to place. And yet, she seemed to have a hard time.

 

Perhaps…She wasn’t suited? No, that shouldn’t be the case, what had Elzbeth said? That Elizabeth didn’t care for this school of magic? Why? Having set up a defense system seemed like the correct thing to do no matter the situation. Why wouldn’t she want that?

 

Was she dumb?

 

Well, that was an overstatement, wasn’t it? Perhaps she had another way to ensure it? But what would that be? Alice couldn’t think of any other way…Except…

 

Something was nagging at the back of her head, that she had an easier way to do it. “Reginald? What do you think?” Alice said aloud looking at the pendant that had been the small dragon.

 

The blue-haired monster turned to eye her pendant with interest, but she ignored her. Elzbeth was too busy trying to mold the mana at the moment too.

 

“....rawr.” The grumble was low, almost pained too. The small creature hadn’t gotten better with time, if anything it felt as if he was becoming weaker and weaker too.

 

“You are right…it shouldn’t be this hard.” But at least the small thing had some merit, as he had stated. Her sister shouldn’t have this much of a problem, Alice wasn’t sure if she had talent for mana manipulation or not. To be honest, she didn’t have nearly enough mana to care for that either.

 

What she had was…a limited amount of mana and shadows to play around.

 

“How to go about it…” And right now, she had to help her sister. “ Listen to my whisper, oh those of you who walk among us hidden by the shadows….”

 

The words seemed to flow naturally to her, it was…kinda intoxicating, each time she wanted to use her Powers for real, the words came to her. Almost as if they were Right.

 

“... Accompany those who rest, guard those that slumber, protect the innocent from the might of the Tyrants…And safeguard those that strive to be better and care for the innocent.” As her words finished she felt the drain on her mana.

 

But with that, the shadows started moving without her input. Small motes of light darting into the shadows and one by one they moved, they mixed with the mana that Elzbeth was trying to use to create the area, and guiding her hand they made a mandala.

 

A complex magical circle full of formulas that Alice didn’t understand, but Elzbeth seemed to approve, as she infused her own mana to kickstart the barrier.

 

“ Wow, didn’t know you had it in you Sis. Did you wake up some of Elizabeth’s power?” Elzbeth said with a smile as she breathed a sigh of relief.

 

“No? It felt right so I did it. To be honest I am not quite sure what that voice and words is.” Alice answered.

 

“Words of Power, not quite [Idea]. But even so, it has power.” The blue-haired monster said. “And as far as I’m aware, Elizabeth can’t do that. Or she hasn’t shown this skill.”

 

Words of Power?

 

“Are you for real?” Alice scoffed, “You are saying that merely speaking is enough to create this?”

 

That was ridiculous, words couldn’t hold such power, that was stupid.

 

“And yet…Or are you saying that you know how you managed to create this [Ward]?” The blue-haired woman said, “As far as I can tell this one is quite powerful, most B-Tier metahumans won’t be able to pierce it…And you…You don’t quite hold up to those levels. [Elemental Weaver] may have the power of an upper C-Tier [Magical Girl]. But you Alice? You are barely D-Tier.”

 

Oof.

 

“Don’t bully my sister.” Elzbeth said standing in front of her, “We promised to help Elizabeth all right, no need to antagonize us.”

 

“Let’s test it if my words have power or not then,” Alice said angrily at the blue-haired monster, this woman had come to them, ruined everything. Made her sister tremble in fear, threatened to kill her sister, and forced them to do a favor for a girl who she didn’t even remember!

 

So she said words had power?

 

Alice smiled while raising her finger and pointing it at the blue-haired monster, “Die.” And uttered that single word.

 

Nothing happened, she didn’t feel a drain on her mana, nor did she feel any of the shadows move. “Nope, you are still alive. See? Your words were bullshit.” Alice smirked as she felt within the connection she had with Elizabeth. “Well, let’s move then. We need to find that girl you all speak of.”

 

Alice said as she moved towards the outside of the building, she didn’t turn back to look at the blue-haired woman nor at her sister. Neither spoke at least.

 

What she did, however, was feel her mana. It had diminished after her stunt with the barrier. And she could feel Reginald start to become weaker too. That worried her, the small lizard had been with them almost since day one. She liked it, could Elizabeth really be that important?

 

Would she help her sister live? Reginald? Would she even consider letting them go?

 

Alice didn’t want to depend on maybes, but at the very least…Elizabeth was her only hope to get away from the blue-haired monster, perhaps she could help them leave the continent away from the shadow man?

 

She could strip whatever kind of mystical power that was hidden within her body for all she cared, so long she could keep her sister and Reginald…Alice didn’t need anything else. A normal life on a farm with her family was a nice thought to have. Her soulscape thing was in the form of a farm, after all, perhaps she could live like that with Elzbeth and Reginald?

 

—----------------------------------------------------------

 

“Are you sure is this way?” The blue-haired woman spoke again.

 

“Yes, my connection toward Elizabeth becomes stronger the more we move towards this direction,” Alice answered for the fifth time, they had been moving away from the center of the mana terrorism explosion.

 

At the start of their travel, the blue-haired monster had teleported them straight towards that spot, but Alice hadn’t felt anything. Elzbeth had puked blood and the blue-haired monster had seemed to be annoyed at the smell.

 

But Alice hadn’t changed at all, if anything her mana had seemed to refill a little, but that was about it. Besides that she hadn’t noticed anything different, prodding at that weird sense she had within her soul hadn’t given anything new, but she did notice that the shadows around seemed to warp as if calling to her in a direction.

 

No one else seemed to notice it, and when she asked Elzbeth she said that to her the shadows looked normal. The blue-haired monster barged into the conversation and assured her that everything was normal.

 

But to Alice, the shadows looked different, to her eyes, it seemed as if the place wanted to superimpose itself with another city. If she closed her eyes and focused she could almost see a city covered in shadows, a monochromatic reflection of Germania.

 

And the shadows called to her, they wanted to guide her. As if there was an undercurrent of worry, a billion shadows hidden between the cracks of reality and the underworld. All asking her to hurry, to rush, to go and help Elizabeth.

 

It annoyed her, it made her angry. Where had they been while she had been suffering? While they cried and couldn’t sleep?

 

“Sis? Are you okay? You look…angry.” Elzbeth pulled at her arm making her stop focusing on the shadow world her eyes had found. “...your eyes…aren’t red anymore.”

 

“...So we are getting closer then, that or you finally learned how to stabilize your [Mana].” The blue-haired monster said at the back, she seemed to be getting antsy about their speed. “Good, we should be able to speed it up.”

 

“Then my eyes are what? Black?” Alice said ignoring the words of the blue-haired woman, she had noticed that while she could threaten them as much as she wanted, she couldn’t track Elizabeth. So they walked at the speed she dictated, the monster seemed to have some way to notice when she wasn’t being honest about their direction, but that was the limit of her input.

 

“...Blue? I don’t mind losing my red eyes, but why blue?” Alice said as she walked to a nearby store to see herself on the glass window. Her eyes weren’t red anymore but sky blue. Not the same color as the monster. But closer to what [Lunar Shade] had while she was on her Magical Girl shift.

 

Sky blue eyes that seemed to be closer to a calm sea.

 

“I love them, they are pretty,” Elzbeth said standing at her side, her sister also had blue eyes. But hers were more normal. Alice’s eyes no matter how one looked at them, they weren’t normal.

 

“They are like a comet traveling across the night sky, like a shooting star.” Elzbeth smiled on the reflection.

 

Alice couldn’t help but feel like this was a bad omen, she could feel herself growing in strength the more they came to their destination. But to the same degree was how much Reginald was losing mana and his presence was turning thin.

 

Elzbeth was having a harder and harder time using spells, why was she the only one becoming stronger? Why was she feeling as if she was becoming more…Real?

 

What was happening with Elizabeth?

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“How much more? When we left the city I told you, if you are planning to get me to an isolated place it will be meaningless, you will only make it easier for me to fight if I don’t need to mind the civilians.” The blue-haired monster spoke as they walked amidst the forest.

 

The reflected shadow world had made a path for them to follow, the entities within the cracks peeked at them and pointed at them in the direction they needed to go, she could see far in the distance a mountain clad in shadows surrounded by storm clouds.

 

“At least we have a nice weather, right sis?” Elzbeth spoke, but Alice couldn’t take her eyes away from the mountain.

 

“Elzbeth, does that mountain look weird to you?” Alice asked pointing at the mountain she could see in her eyes.

 

“Mountain? There is nothing there.” Elzbeth answered looking in the direction Alice had pointed.

 

Turning to look at her sister…she could see something weird, she could see her sister dressed in her Magical Girl dress yes. But she could also see the appearance of someone else, a black-haired man.

 

Looking at the blue-haired woman she could see hundreds of people behind her, standing tall among those figures was the colossal form of a man, what was happening to her eyes?

 

“There was a mountain there, but it was demolished in a fight against a supervillain five years ago.” The blue-haired monster spoke, “Now all that remains is a lake.”

 

“Well, Elizabeth is in the mountain,” Alice said pointing at the distance.

 

“How sure are you of that?” The blue-haired monster spoke as one of the figures behind her stood forward, it was the old man dressed in robes. He silently started waving his staff as magical circles started forming around them.

 

“Very sure, the shadows are pointing there,” Alice answered as she saw with her eyes the magic circles form around them.

 

Teleportation. Designate Coordinates. Link. Safe Arrival. Ward against divination. Barrier. Erase traces. Silent Cast. Delayed Spell. Trigger.

 

The mana spoke to her, revealing the identity of the spells.

 

“Okay, we are teleporting then. We will land near the lake, it should be empty since it is a forbidden area. They were still cleaning the area after that event.” The blue-haired woman spoke as the magical circles finished forming and the old man taped the blue-haired woman’s hand.

 

That made a magic circle flare into her hand, Trigger. The mana spoke to her, so that was the activation?

 

“How do you know that? Maybe they fixed it already.” Elzbeth said as she grabbed her hand. After [The Elementalist] almost separated them with his spell, Elzbeth had started grabbing her before any teleportation attempt.

 

“The [Nine Stars] database still marks it as cleaning in progress, [The Monk] hasn’t gone around to this spot. Since they don’t have an easier access to a teleportation network their work is slowing down.” The blue-haired monster smirked, “[Teleport]”

 

And in that tune, the mana around them flared and they teleported away.

 

Alice was the first one to materialize on the other end, she almost tripped when she noticed the divergence between the real world and the shadow realm. For one her feet seemed to want to step in the mountain.

 

She could feel it, and all it took was intent on her part and she was sure that she would be able to step on it.

 

But she didn’t. Her sister and the blue-haired monster materialized a second later, neither seemed to be aware of the divergence she was experiencing.

 

“Here we are. And I don’t see my baby sister.” The monster spoke.

 

Alice closed her eyes and focused hard, she felt the world around her turn bright for a second and when she opened her eyes she could see the lake, it was a beautiful lake with some buildings around the shore. It even had a pier with some chairs on the side, probably for fishing.

 

“Are you sure it is here? I can’t see any place for someone to hide…” Elzbeth said worried, was she worried for them? Or for Elizabeth?

 

“Yes, she is in the cave,” Alice said as she let the mana run free, she had been holding it with all her might to keep it in place all this time.

 

Letting it go was all she had needed to do for it to do its bidding.

 

The first change was that her clothes burst in an azure flame as they transformed into an obsidian armor, she felt her hair grow short and a pair of daggers materialize on her back. She wasn’t sure how it looked to everyone else, but she was half sure that her eyes were shining brightly with an azure flame on them.

 

“She is there,” Alice said as she walked towards the pier, neither Elzbeth or the blue-haired monster said anything as she stood at the end of the wooden pier. “Those of you who hide within the cracks of reality, I have come. So open the way, make way so that we go and find the dragon’s dwelling.”

 

She felt the mana rumble as her words seemed to resonate with reality. “Let us walk into the abyss, so we may find that which has discarded its humanity…And see if she still can be saved.”

 

Oh…..Oooooooooh.

 

“....This….this may be harder than I thought,” Alice said as she took in the words that had come from her mouth. She didn’t pay attention to how the lake started boiling as a black liquid started rising from the bottom of it.

 

Alice didn’t pay attention as this same liquid rose from within the lake and ripped open a rift in the air, showing the alternate reality she had been seeing to everyone. Nor did she say anything as the blue-haired monster's appearance shifted and she turned into an almost four-meter-tall armored figure.

 

No, instead she rushed toward her sister who was crying on the floor.

 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She kept repeating as soon as the mana from within that alternate reality spilled out.

 

“Elzbeth, everything is fine. Remember, Elizabeth will help us, you only need to hold a few more minutes.” Alice said as she soothed her sister, this close to that alternated reality Alice could see more clearly the situation of her sister.

 

Whatever happened to the body she took, it seemed that it reacted poorly to the Mana coming from that mountain. It was as if it was scared. What had done Elizabeth to this body?

 

It was time to find out what the deal was with this Elizabeth Starbright girl, what this blue-haired monster wanted. And…why everyone wanted to go to her. Alice only hoped that after this was dealt with…That she could still spend time with her sister.