Lain’s ability to never lose her cool turned on her at this time.
(…No good?)
Her body did not obey her, and there was not a drop of magic energy left in her. And more importantly… She lost her willpower.
Her brain understood her situation all too well, and quickly gave her the result that she was about to die. She was so confident in that answer, that she felt like laughing a little.
(…I didn’t think it would end here.)
There was so much that was left.
Being accepted by her mother.
Being acknowledged by her class.
Taking the Florencia family to even bigger heights after becoming a brilliant sorcerer.
…Apologizing to her, to Ririi, for what happened that day.
There was a clanking sound, as Lain’s staff fell from her hand. Rather than picking it up, Lain slowly closed her eyes. And just before they were completely closed, she saw the slime king creeping up near her feet.
“…It shouldn’t be like this…”
Something got on her feet. Moments before she would die, she recognized the strange cold feeling and thought ‘oh, so that was the spring all along’.
“…”
She let go of her thoughts, and only noise echoed vividly in her head. It seemed her ears insisted on doing their job right until the end.
She heard the unpleasant sounds of her body being swallowed up, the sound of the wind, the pleasant sound of birds chirping, and…
“Lain!”
A voice that she was not supposed to be hearing.
◆
(…What’s goin’ on…?)
She finally found Lain, but the situation she found was far beyond what Ririi could understand.
One thing she did know, and it was that Lain was being attacked. A giant bouncy had swallowed half of Lain’s body at this point.
“Ririi…?”
“Lain, are you all right!?”
Ririi was about to take off running towards Lain… But she was stopped.
“Ririi! Forget about me and run!”
“Eh? Eh? Why…?”
“Just do it! Hurry!”
Ririi was taken aback and froze at Lain’s threatening attitude. But the slime king did not miss this opportunity.
“Booooooo…”
The slime king slowly moved its body in Ririi’s direction. This freed Lain, but she still did not have the strength to stand up.
“What are you doing!? Get out of here!”
“Hum, hum…”
Ririi looked around, as she panicked and could not even think about what to do. In the meantime, the slime king drew closer.
After looking back and forth many times, she noticed that Lain was sitting on the ground and not moving, despite being freed from the bouncy.
(Is Lain… Hurt…? Did the big bouncy do it…?)
Ririi stopped and turned her eyes to the slime king. The bouncies she knew were kind beings, but she got a bad feeling from the big one.
Weiss would have called this hostility, but Ririi did not understand that yet.
“Booooooo…”
“Ririi! Don’t fight that thing! Run!”
(That big bouncy… Really is bullying Lain.)
Lain’s grief filled screams led to Ririi understanding the situation. She quickly drew her staff from her pocket, and pointed it at the bouncy.
…That part was easy, but Ririi could not work up the will to actually use magic.
Now that she was actually pointing her staff at a living being, she felt as though an incredibly big wall stood in front of her.
Unlike Lain, Ririi severely lacked the nature needed for actual combat.
“…Uu…”
While emotions whirled inside Ririi, the slime king moved right in front of her.
Lain grabbed a rock, and threw it at it as hard as she could.
“You…!!”
“Booooooo…?”
The rock was swallowed by the slime king. An attack like that did no damage whatsoever to its liquid body, but it did succeed in turning its attention back to Lain.
The slime king slowly turned, and made its way towards Lain again.
“Uu… Uuu…”
All Ririi could do was watch in silence, as the situation in front of her overwhelmed her, and tears started streaming from her eyes.
She wanted to help Lain, but could not figure out how.
And as she reached her limit, she suddenly remembered a conversation she had on a certain day. The one she had with her father the day the test was announced.
“What if you’re out on a picnic, and a scary monster attacks a bouncy?”
“Ririh’ll help!”
“How?”
“With magic!”
“Is it okay to attack a scary monster with magic? Scary monsters might have families too.”
“…Hm… Ririh doesn’t really get it…”
“Then… How about this? You only fight when you want to save someone.”
“Only to save?”
“Yes. In this example I was using, the scary monster was attacking a bouncy, right? Only fight in those times.”
◆
“Only… To save…!”
Those words fell on Ririi’s heart like a streak of light brightening a sky covered in dark clouds.
Her body started filling with energy.
She roughly wiped away her tears and looked up. The bouncy was still trying to swallow Lain. There was no time to hesitate.
“Itchy itchy…”
Ririi pointed the staff at the bouncy again, but this time with no hesitation. She concentrated all her magic energy in the tip of the staff.
“Itchy itchy…”
A red magic circle appeared in front of the transparent staff made of crystal dragon materials. It absorbed Ririi’s magic energy, and grew bigger and bigger.
Eventually, it became big enough to engulf the slime king…
“Tah!!!!”
A red light covered the entire area around it.
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Thanks for the treat <3
I’m really excited; I hope Ririi and Lain will become friends after this.