Seas of Freedom

The Sun finally started peering from beyond the horizon, the land which was until now covered in darkness quickly changing its palette from dark blues and grays to warm reds and oranges. The cold temperature of the night finally started shifting and growing as the Sun’s rays warmed up not only the earth it shone upon but also individuals who were fortunate enough to be standing outside at this moment in time. One such person was Leila Vergious, sitting on top of a fairly flat rock adorning one of the many beaches that Fiore possessed.

As the sea in front of her started reflecting the Sun’s shine, glowing with the golden and white hues, the girl couldn’t help but smile. It was this beauty that always drew her back to this land, every single time she left it. There was something special about it, even when compared to a place of near perfection such as the Gardens of Eden. A miracle of this Earthly creation, perhaps? Regardless, all of that was far too difficult to be pondering about. No, the silver-haired maiden was content simply lazing about on this rock and drinking it all in, letting the warmth wash over her.

Stretching for a bit, a sudden gust of wind nearly toppled her slim frame over, those silver locks of hers dancing in one singular dimension. There was something different about how the girl looked today, actually. Almost as if she had spent the last few nights in this very spot, her hair, while still mostly straight, was very messy with strands going in just about every direction possible. And this was not the only strange thing about her right now either. It was her skin, that seemed until now completely pristine, now tainted with darkness all too familiar to Leila.

Especially visible on her face, where a good half of it was covered by it. That half of her face appeared as if it was made out of darker wood, rather than soft skin. Even felt like it, too. This same special ‘skin’ covered most of her left hand, as well as few other parts of her body that were currently hidden beneath her clothing. The usual purple and green attire consisting of an airy shirt and pleated skirt. But above this was also another layer until now unseen, a mostly tattered piece of a brown cloak.

This was her ‘wanderer’ attire, old and used. But she held a certain fondness for it, as the coat was given to her many winters ago by her father so that she would be protected from the elements on their lengthy travels. Though by now it was barely holding together, not exactly capable of protecting her from anything. The nostalgic value was still great enough for the girl to keep it, even wear it. Her entire appearance somewhat screamed of a tattered traveler who has been to many places and overcame many obstacles.

And indeed, Leila has by now overcome many things. Some easier, some not so much. But she was still here and feeling happy. As the blowing wind finally calmed down again, her blue eyes wandered, catching a glimpse of several objects gently floating toward her. With a quick gesture of her hand, she snatched one of them straight from the air, investigating. A pristine white feather. Giving them all another look, it appeared that all of the objects were feathers, of different colors. Some pink, others deep blue. Tightening her hold on the white one, a soft sigh escaped from between the girl’s lips.

“Free like the wind itself…”

The was one very clear thing this feather reminded her of. But before she could even think about it any further, a voice from behind her called out. “Will you never let her go?” Startled enough to jump a bit, the girl hastily turned around to confirm the source of the voice. “Y..yuki?!” Right there, in the sand, stood a seemingly young girl with short and snow-white hair. Her skin was pale, covered only by a short yukata of blue and white colors. Though similar to Leila herself in many features, there were also some very different ones.

For starters, Yuki boasted crimson red eyes that stared straight into her summoner’s soul. A terrifying gaze despite her unamused and seemingly bored expression. She also had a pair of blue dragon horns, as well as a tail that was slightly moving behind her, unintentionally drawing lines in the sand of the beach. She also appeared to be barefoot, though that was of a little issue in a place like this. “W-what are you talking about?” Not really answering verbally just yet, the ice dragon girl would approach the rock and hop on.

Seating herself right beside her summoner, she now appeared to have a strangely gentle expression, her eyes fixated on the small feather in her summoner’s hands. “You’re thinking of Mikka gain, aren’t you?” Those words, so soft as if spoken by a mother to her child, allowed Leila to realize. Now staring at the feather herself, she nodded and sighed again. “I suppose so. But when did you start addressing her by that name?” After all, both her and Yuki knew that girl by a different name for such a long time.

“Since the moment you learned that was her real name. It’s only fair, I think. Though I was able to also sense your sadness, as you had it learn from someone other than Mikka herself.” Another nod. But this time, Leila let the feather go, another gust of wind taking hold of it and carrying it to its destination, wherever it might be. “It all makes sense in retrospect. Jiyu… it loosely translates to “Freedom”. And she always wanted to be free. Free as the wind itself. Jiyu Kazehime. The free princess of wind.”

One would think that such an obvious name would be given away eventually. But perhaps it was the very close friendship between Leila and Mikka that clouded the maiden’s eyes and mind, never even daring to question someone she cared so much for. “You were together for a long time. But now that she is gone, I am sure you will be able to freely soar through the air yourself. Mikka… might have even been holding you ba-” “Please, don’t talk about her like that. There is no way she could have been holding me back.”

It was clear to the dragon spirit that Leila still had feelings for the raven-haired canine girl. “At the very least, you saw how much she changed. From that shaken girl, freshly rescued by Marshal… to a bold and risque individual who was willing to manipulate others. She belonged to a completely different sphere of people. Astrid who betrayed Golden Phoenix, Lucius who became a dark mage… I’m sure that even you can see where she was eventually headed.” Leila could not help but laugh a little as she leaned back and looked into the waking skies.

“Heh, you were against our relationship from the very beginning. You and Aurora even managed to really upset her when we were supposed to be looking for the Heavenly Forge. Such overprotective spirits~” It almost appeared as if Yuki was flustered by that last sentence, her normally pale cheeks showing hints of red as she turned away. “You’re a very important part of the Gardens… of course, we can’t let anything serious happen to you. Mikka wrecked you emotionally more than once. You need to find more stable friends!”

Reaching out, Leila planted her hand on top of the spirit’s head and ruffled her hair with a great deal of affection while grinning. “But stable is no fun! Though, just for you, I will do my best. Mikka is probably not coming back anyway. At the very least, it was her own decision to leave… truly free until our last moments together. I am sure that wherever she is, she’s doing just fine. After all, she knows how to wrap people around her fingers, just as you said.” Saying all that, Leila finally decided to get up and stand on her own two feet.

Stretching a bit, she looked at the horizon in front of them. It actually seemed that they were talking for a good bit, as the Sun was now high enough to regain it's signature yellow and golden colors. A fresh new day when a new adventure would begin. It was… refreshing indeed. Leila felt good, stretching her body as much as she possibly could. Even Yuki got up and gazed at her summoner again. “I’m glad you’re ready to put that chapter of your life into the past. No use clinging to something that is no more.”

Hopping down from the rock together, Leila could not help but nod in agreement to that sentiment. “Yeah… no matter how much I might try, things will never be the same as they used to be those few years back. But I suppose that’s not necessarily such a bad thing. I’m glad you all are still by my side, Yuki.” Giving a warm smile to the spirit was more than enough of a reward for the young girl, who smiled back. At the end of the day, they were all children of Eden. And so they would stand by each other’s side, no matter what.

“Alright! I think it’s late enough for them to be awake now! Care to join me?” Surprisingly, there was actually a good reason for Leila to be here, on this beach. Despite the conversation she just had with Yuki, she didn’t actually come here just to feel nostalgic or anything. There was a small camp of deep-sea scientists nearby, people that she had worked with before. Though she arrived a bit too early. By now, they should finally be awake and ready to discuss business.

“I think I already know what to expect from our prior experience. I will wait outside.” So the spirit was much more wary of them. Well, it was Yuki, so no real surprise there. Leila didn’t exactly see a reason to avoid the researchers too much, and besides, she needed to get the details to her mission this time around. The walk there was only a few minutes long before a camp would start towering in front of them. Several high-tech tents from white fabric, a magical barrier surrounding the whole place and a tall rod of magical metal that allowed them to communicate across long distances.

Yup, this was the place alright. Even more impressive than before, they must have gotten considerably more funding after Leila retrieved that artifact for them before. One that would allow people to breathe beneath the water as long as they remained in the range. They were probably using it to conduct simple close-range research of the sea shelf. Though for her, she would obviously have to go much further. Otherwise, they wouldn’t actually need the help of someone like her. But all that put aside, Yuki already created some distance between herself and the tents as Leila rang the lacrima bell.

It didn’t even seem to take a second for the door to fling open, a familiar face appearing in front of the girl. A somewhat young and awfully energetic researcher named Geoss that wore a long white coat with a swather and tight pants. Seemed awfully warm for someone who spent all his days on a Beach in this weather. And as usual, Leila didn’t even get to say “Hi” before he leaned toward her and started speaking in a voice that bordered on regular talking and outright screaming.

“Ahaha, Leila  Vergious! I knew- Oh my, you look different… I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away from our research forever!” “Well, you requested-” “And since you managed to retrieve that artifact, and even the lost stone map for us, we will be more than willing to cooperate again! Come in, come in!” Somehow it appeared as if he didn’t quite understand how putting in a request for a mage worked. But oh well, Leila just shrugged it off and walked into the tent with him.

A lot of strange devices used for the research of fossils surrounded her, only a bit of them actually being recognizable from Silver Wolf’s own research station. There also appeared to be another chamber within this place, one to which Geoss pointed. “We have already prepared a diving suit for you. Please, go in and change!” “So you were expecting me-” “Since you will be going much deeper than the last time, you will need it. So make sure you’ve put it on properly!”  Giving up on trying to figure him out, Leila just entered the cabin and started changing.

A few minutes later, the door of that isolated space swung open at full force as Leila stormed out. “Hey, what is this supposed to be?” On her body was the diving suite she was supposed to wear, but it was… a bit different from the average wet-suit. It consisted of what appeared to be a leotard so skin-tight that it left barely anything of Leila’s body to the imagination, gloves that started only above her elbows and covered everything moving down, as well as what might have as well been above-knee socks, only from a different material.

Not to mention that this get-up was showing considerably more of the Eden corruption on her body that was previously visible. Now only a single look would be able to easily show that a good portion of her entire left hand was covered by it. The skin that appeared and felt like a bark of a tree was creeping from her face to cover a bit of her chest and back, most of her hand and even a good portion of the leg. Though Geoss himself didn’t seem to have any additional reaction from it apart from that one comment when he first saw her.

Whoever created this design, there was no doubt that they were awfully eager to expose as much of the female form as possible, causing the silver-haired maiden to be quite flustered, her face red as a tomato. Geoss only shook his head. “What that is you ask, a diving suit, of course! It was designed with deep-sea expeditions in mind, made with special magic-infuse fibers. Should feel like you’re wearing nothing at all, thus not restricting your movement at all.” “It feels like that because I might as well not be wearing anything-”

Once again cut off, this time by a small device being flung at her. Catching it before it smacked her in the face, Leila realized it was a mask to cover her mouth. A re-breather of some sort? “While we were able to just use a special lacrima to generate an air bubble around your head the last time around, that won’t be possible now. It wouldn’t last long enough. That mask holds an oxygen lacrima inside, as air-tank would slow you down too much.”

The girl wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it not even having goggles, but her eyes should adjust to the water just fine after a few minutes. “Alright, I’m… dressed for the occasion… what is my task here?” Gesturing her to come closer, Geoss pointed on a map that lied on the table next to him. It appeared to detail a path leading to some sort of ancient structure, deep beneath the sea’s surface and quite the distance from the beach as well. He was not kidding when he said that she would be going much further than before.

“Cross-referencing the map with everything that we have found thanks to the artifact you retrieved, we were finally able to locate the warp gate into “The Deep”, a place that seems to rest somewhere beneath the earth and holds many secrets for us to discover! But, uh… shouldn’t that smaller one be here for this, too? What was her name, Frey? I thought she looked different…” Ah, now that he mentioned it, Leila realized that when she retrieved the map, she was indeed doing it with Frey. That young green-haired mage of Fairy Tail was gone now, just like Mikka…

“It’s Yuki, and I’ll fill her on everything when we’re on our way there. Frey… doesn’t want to go underwater anymore, I’m afraid.” Geoss looked a bit confused at first but quickly accepted it without asking any questions. Perhaps because Leila looked visibly saddened when Frey’s name was mentioned. “Hm, so I see. Well, we have discovered the gate! But we do not yet know how to activate it. The problem is, we cannot figure out how to activate it because there is… well… a giant octopus guarding it.”

“An octopus? Again?!” She already had to deal with such creature when she was retrieving the artifact on her first job for Geoss. “Yes, well… it appears to be especially fond of the gate, perhaps the magic that radiates off of it… doesn’t let anyone approach. We have already lost a few mercenaries who attempted to get past it.” “So I wasn’t even your first choice-” “I believe that your experience and power will assure that you succeed in this mission, Miss Vergious! You are our best asset, by far!”

Just rolling her eyes, Leila nodded and let him continue with few more details surrounding her task. Though it all just boiled down to her having to somehow drive the octopus away from the gate. Well… certainly wouldn’t be just a peaceful swim, it seemed. A few minutes later, she had left the tent and joined back up with Yuki, Geoss deciding he would gladly stay as far away from the water as possible, safe distance as he called it. The dragoness, on the other hand, had a look on her face that clearly spelled ‘I knew why I kept my distance’ upon seeing what Leila was wearing.

A single tired sigh was all the answer she needed. “At the very least, there won’t be anyone ogling you down there.” Not much of reassurance for Leila, but at least something. “What about you though? That yukata looks like something hard to clean if it were to get dirty.” But Yuki merely shook her head in denial of that fact. “These clothes are part of my spiritual form. They are effectively an extension of my body so I can swim in them just fine. Same goes for ‘cleaning them’, just like my skin will get dry again, too.”

Well, that was awfully convenient. Celestial spirits certainly were curious creatures, said Leila who was effectively one of them and made the conscious decision to try and live as a regular human being. Putting the breathing mask on, she realized another potential problem. “I, uh, was given only one of these.” But once again, Yuki simply proceeded into the sea to the point where she was submerged up to her thighs. “Spirits do not need to breath, nor eat and drink as humans do.”

Sometimes, even Leila regretted choosing this physical form of hers. While she adored humans and pretending to be one of them, they certainly did have many different drawbacks. Ones that many spirits and other-worldly beings. But at the very least they did have magic and technology to make up for it, like the mask with oxygen lacrima. And so the two girls were free to enter the water and fully submerge, finding themselves in a completely new world, different from what was above the water’s surface.

The shallows were going for quite a while, actually. Several dozens of meters at the very least. But after they passed this imaginary border, a fairly steep decline appeared beneath them, one that Leila did recognize from her previous journey here. Though it never got any less terrifying. While underwater was beautiful and mysterious to her, it could also be one of the scariest things she has ever experienced, by far. Yuki, on the other hand, appeared to be completely unaffected, as usual. Though it was somewhat amusing to see that bored expression of hers underwater.

“Please, don’t stare at me like that for too long…” The sudden voice inside of Leila’s head scared her a bit, forcing her body to jerk away in shock, her eyes widening as she observed the small spirit as if double checking that she did in fact not open her mouth. “Calm down, please. Did you forget that as a spirit and a summoner, we share a special bond that allows us to communicate like this?” Ah, that was it. Though the flow of magic between them, they were able to mimic telepathy.

In complete honesty, Leila did forget about this. But not because she was a bad summoner, rather, Yuki and few other spirits had the bad habit of opening their own gates before the girl can even attempt summoning them. In fact, she did this today as well when she first surprised her on that boulder she was sitting on. Due to this, Leila often did not even think of Yuki as her spirit. It was easy to forget the minor powers they shared in such a situation. Focusing for a bit, the girl attempted to get that link under her thumb as well.

“Like this… like this, aha! How useful in this situation~” Even with the oxygen mask, it was obvious that the silver-haired maiden could not utter a word while they remained beneath the waves. Communication was often pretty vital as well. While Leila and her spirits could often fight very efficiently together without uttering a single word, but this was a completely new environment for most of them. Not to mention the enemy they would eventually have to fight, not something you’d normally be experienced with.

For now, they just had to follow the directions Geoss gave Leila. The path seemed fairly straightforward but relied on a number of ‘landmarks’ at the bottom of the sea, meaning they had to dive as deep as they possibly could. Not exactly anything new, the girl already had to do this on her last assignment when she was swimming towards the ruined underwater city to recover that map. The job with Frey… truly, why did she get tangled with so many people that seemed to suddenly disappear without any trace? Though Leila knew the actual fate of some of them, at the very least.

“Something in front of us, pay attention.” Snapping her look right in front of her, Leila slowed down, eventually stopping her movements completely. Yuki did the same as she followed all that her summoner did. Few seconds passed and whatever was out there was not quite getting closer. At this point, they were deep enough for the Sun to not perfectly illuminate their surroundings, allowing any predator to remain hidden as long as it would remain far enough from the girls. But this one actually revealed itself, suddenly swimming right towards Leila.

Or so she thought, it actually swerved to the side. It was a shark, though she could not quite tell what kind. Strangely enough, it appeared completely disinterested in them. “Are we not gonna engage..?” To that, her summoner merely shook her head, which incidentally made her messy hair go even wilder as the individual strands moved through the water just about everywhere. “I don’t think it will attack us unless it starts smelling blood or feels threatened by our presence. So as long as we don’t get too close, we should be-” “-ah”

Both girls suddenly turned around to spot a second spirit that had appeared behind them. To their surprise, or at least to Leila’s surprise, it was Libra, the one and only Golden Zodiac spirit that she had in her possession. A powerful being that was part of the twelve mighty constellations. It seemed that she also forced her gate open to get here and was wearing… bikini swimsuit? “What are you… oh no, blood, blood!” Libra was bleeding from her nose, desperately trying to cover it.

“Ah… there was a point when she wondered if she could see you wearing something ‘sexy’ so I informed her about your current attire and it seems she came to take a look.” “Y-Yuki, you traitor, bite your tongue!” Flailing her hands around and trying to deny the real reason why she suddenly got the nosebleed might have normally been a fairly harmless scene, but Leila was a bit more worried as she suddenly felt a shiver go down her spine. That shark who just swam around them turned around and was heading straight for the spirit.

Performing a panic maneuver, Leila infused her left hand with magical energy and took her chance. Just as the beast was about to bite chow down on Libra, her summoner struck it from the side, forcefully moving its entire body to the side and ensuring that as its jaws clamped down, there was no spirit flesh left in them. Yuki did not wait either, as she quickly swam to the other side and waved her hand forward. In that very moment, the water all around the shark froze nearly instantly, completely immobilizing their foe who now started sinking as a block of ice.

Looking at her hand for a bit, it seemed that even Yuki was somewhat surprised by that result. “It would appear that my powers become stronger when underwater, but also less focused.” Leila only let out an exasperated sigh into her oxygen mask. And there was the saved spirit, Libra, who finally managed to get a hold of herself and stop the nosebleed. She was a girl of darker skin-color, many black tattoos adorning her frame along with long hair, half of it pure white and the other raven black.

Her light blue eyes were almost glowing in the darkness of the sea surrounding them as she grinned and scratched the back of her head, her situation obviously the same as Yuki’s where she did not require any sort of mask to be able to survive down here. “Ahaha, my apologies… I forgot that you don’t like when we just appear out of thin air. But I can explain! I wanted to open my gate more gently, but slipped and fell on my nose, that’s why it was bleeding!”

Suffice to say, Yuki was very unimpressed with that excuse, as was Leila to a certain degree. Though she just didn’t want to be wasting her time solving a problem of her spirit getting a nosebleed when seeing their summoner in somewhat revealing attire. “Right, well, you can join us if you want. As long as you don’t attract any more predators…” Libra would just show thumbs up. “No need to worry, even if I do, I will protect us without fail!” “That’s not the point…”

Somehow, the entire situation has grown a tad bit more complicated and Leila’s party far more lively. Thankfully, the three girls finally managed to reach the sea’s floor. A place so deep that barely any light was able to penetrate this far. Thankfully, there was another source of light for the trio, in the form of many different flowers with bio-luminescent properties. A very strange flora that was completely different from anything a person could see on land, mainly due to the pressure that was pressing on all things down here from every direction imaginable.

The spirits had no problems with something like that, and Leila was able to shield herself against the pressure with magical energy that embraced her entire body and acted as a shield so thin that it could not even be seen with the naked eye. Though, naturally, it would not be able to protect her against much more than the water’s pressure. In other words, something useful but not something she could rely on too much. “Alright, now we just have to follow the path I’ve been shown by Geoss and we’ll get to the gate without too much trouble.”

“Ooh, a gate? Is that why we’re here?”

“Have you seriously come down here without even knowing why we’re down here..?”

“Wha- of course not! Y-Yuki sent me a distress message, saying that you two really needed some help!”

“A blatant lie. Subject Libra should be punished for trying to use fellow spirits as an excuse to spy on her summoner to satisfy her perverted desires.”

“Bite your tongue, you traitor!”

Somehow, the bickering of her spirits was even more tiring for Leila than actually working and completely contracts given to her by even the most ambitious employers. That said… she was grateful for this as well. She was quite worried for her spirits after she returned from the Shatter, as she was unable to summon them for quite a while. But the fact that they were all still so lively after their connection was re-established was honestly like a boulder falling from the girl’s heart and mind. In the end, if they could remain as carefree as this, all those troubles were completely worth it.

“Perverted fantasies aside, I am curious… this “Deep” that supposedly lies beyond the gate we’re looking for, what is it?” Slowing down, Leila turned around while still using her legs to propel herself in the desired direction as she started thinking how to answer. Libra appeared to be quite interested in that topic as well. The only problem was that even Leila did not quite know about all the details. It was a place similar to Gardens of Eden in that regard, not much information about it was available, as most of it has long since been lost.

“Well, I suppose the easiest way to explain it is to say that it’s like a completely new world that lies beneath the earth, or more specifically, the sea’s floor. Though it’s currently not clear whether it’s actually several giant caves joined together, or a pocket dimension that is only thought to be there. There is also a legend that says there is a dragon in The Deep, one of a kind. A guardian of that place, kinda like how we are the guardians of the Gardens of Eden.”

Saying it like that, it really did seem as if The Deep was a world completely separate from Earthland. Well, that was why she was here, really. So that the researchers could get the gate open and allow them to explore that place. Though the comparison between The Deep and Gardens of Eden Leila used made her a tad bit uneasy about this whole ordeal, as she would be quite unpleased if someone was trying to activate some sort of a gate to get into the Gardens and explore them, possibly even destroy them. She knew full well how sensitive that place was towards humanity, the proof was all over her body.

Was there really a chance that they would be invading on a Paradise of beings that did not want to have anything to do with Earthland? It was not known what deactivated the gate, after all. Well, if that really would be the case, then Leila would take care of it all herself. If need be, she would shut the gate down again and make sure no one would destroy the beauty lying on the other side. Even if that would mean going against her own employer and not getting any reward as a result.

Some things were just far too precious to be destroyed like that. Humanity was… awfully good and destroying things. It was one side of humans that Leila did not like at all. Hell, there were many humans who did not like that side of themselves. But it came naturally, as life itself was often destructive so that it could survive. But shaking those thoughts away, the girl tried to focus on the task at hand. They still had quite the distance ahead of them before they would reach the gate and its guardian.

“A dragon though… Aria would love to go there if there really is one!” Right, Aria. Another of Leila’s spirits, she was also among the stronger summons the girl had. Not only that, she shared her summoner’s love and admiration for dragons. One of her goals was to see and talk with one, but that was easier said than done. Their last time was when the Rose Dragon was spotted in one of the Wakusei Gates. But unfortunately, they failed back then. The dragon died before Aria got to talk to it.

Those something different came out of that, a lacrima filled with rose dragon’s magic that now had its place inside of Leila’s heart. She was not fully used to the new magic just yet, but it was certainly something special that ‘fell into her lap’. Granted, it had little use underwater so she would probably not get to use it today unless they would somehow manage to get a dry spot this deep beneath the sea’s surface. Not very likely, unless there was something the trio was unaware of. All that considered, none of them were actually properly suited for underwater combat.

Leila had her usual abilities to control nature. Not something that would be of much use, but thankfully, the corruption on her body also allowed her to extend roots and vines from her own body, something that would improve her close-quarters combat. Yuki had her ice abilities, which seemed to be actually strengthened by all the water around them. That said, she had trouble controlling the ice because of all the water as well. Libra’s abilities revolved around the direct manipulation of gravity, though it was somewhat unknown what that would actually do to their environment, with all this water present.

At the end of the day, the Gardens of Eden were just that - Gardens. There were bodies of water there, yes, but not ones that would allow for the existence of a mermaid-like spirit. Granted, Leila had a good bit of potential influence over what spirits would be born in the future, as part of the goddess of the realm. If she were to work with Aurora at least a little bit, surely they could forge an army of their own choosing, one that could topple just about any other world with ease. However, that was a way of thinking that the girl personally quite disliked. Maybe even hated.

There were plenty of beings that saw other life as not much more than tools to be exploited. Data to be gathered. Weapons to be pointed at the enemy. Even Leila was guilty of one of those, her curiosity often leading her into a focus where life ceased to be anything more than raw data for her to discover and process. She was ashamed of this and worked hard to correct herself. But one’s nature was hard to fix, as being aware of the problem was not much more than just the first step towards fixing it.

An important first step nonetheless, though. She would never be able to forgive herself if she were to become a dictator that did not value the life of her subjects at all. Thankfully, Leila did not really see herself as someone who was above her spirits. Rather, given her desire to live like a regular human, one could even argue that she often put herself beneath those very spirits. Although doing something like that was not necessarily the best thing to do, either. All in all, it was an awfully complicated problem to even think about, much less answer.

Eying her two spirits that were currently present, a sudden feeling of mild sadness overcame the girl. There was so much more than they deserved, yet she was failing them. She struggled with her own issues, even right now. Her thoughts were solid proof of as much. Who knows what the future held for her. Nothing at all was certain these days, which worried Eden’s caretaker. But then again… when exactly did this worry start? She used to be so carefree, even inviting the unknown. For that was where the adventure lied. Not in the security of knowing, but in exploring the unknown.

“There, right in front of us!” The sudden internal shout that came out of Libra alerted both Leila and Yuki who affixed their gazes in the direction that the Zodiac spirit was pointing in. While not much aside from their immediate surroundings were visible at this depth, a number of colorful lights penetrated the darkness in the distance. Mysterious and foreboding circular and rectangular lights that beckoned them closer. But that was about the last thing they needed to do, knowing the dangers that lurked around here. Geoss warned them before, didn’t he?

Staying close to the sea’s floor, all three of the girls found a large nearby stone to hide behind as they carefully peered forward. “Those lights seem completely stationary… could it be bio-luminescent flora?” The speculation began. “There was plenty of flora like that until now, right? I can’t imagine anything that would be able to give off this much light, though. It has to be something really big…” “Even if they are stationary, it does not mean it’s not some fish waiting to eat anything that gets close enough.”

And unfortunately, Yuki was not wrong either. Plenty of giant predators could have been lurking around these parts, using lights like that to make smaller prey get closer and then gobble it up. But then again… there seemed to be multiple light sources ahead. It would be a bit strange to see such creatures this close to one another. Well, the only reliable way to find out what they were was to get close enough. “Stay as low as you can and use anything available to stay out of sight.”

A signal for the two spirits to start approaching the lights. Nodding to one another, they both went ahead with Leila following behind. As brutal as it might sound, this was a good tactic in case danger lurked ahead. The spirits were immortal in this world, as even if their bodies would get destroyed, they would just be transported back to the Gardens, ready to be re-summoned in few moments. Leila, on the other hand, while still far from regular mortal, would have much more trouble coming back if her body was devoured by some giant hungry fish.

Not to mention that it was a summons job to protect its summoner. Both of the spirits were happy with this formation, ready to throw themselves in the danger’s way if it meant protecting the one who held their keys. All the more in a situation like this, where the spirits and their summoner were like a family. “Do you think it really is some giant fish?” “Even if it is, couldn’t you just use your powers to repel anything close to you away?”

Striking her open palm with a fist, Libra suddenly seemed much more confident. It was kinda amazing to watch two of her spirits interact like this, making Leila smile, even if it was a somewhat worried smile about her Zodiac spirit who needed Yuki’s help to realize that she indeed controlled gravity - one of the best powers if you didn’t want someone to approach you easily. Still, it was very good that they were getting along. All of the girl’s spirits were getting along… as long as she would not bring out Lisette. That one would probably never really get along with anyone.

The next few following minutes the trio swam across a short distance towards the lights, periodically hiding behind rocks or in particularly long seaweed patches. And finally, they got close enough to properly see what lied ahead. Something that momentarily stunned all three of them, having the girls just gaze in awe at the enormous structure ahead as they laid with their stomachs on a flat stone that helped them at least somewhat hide away from any potential predators. And it proved to be a good decision, too. There certainly was a predator of some kind that they would have to face ahead.

It looked like a temple, structure that would normally only be up above, on the dry land. But unlike those buildings, this one was simply tall and very shallow instead of similar in all dimensions. In the middle sat a very obvious ring of yellow stone, the warp portal that they were supposed to secure. The structure around it was mostly broken, though many pillars and walls still stood tall. Especially what appeared to be three towers, each in a different corner of the underwater temple, all of them glowing with the familiar lights that they were following until now.

“This feeling… those lights were coming from massive ethernano batteries. And I think they’re drawing magical energy directly from the Earth, or possibly something beneath it! But…” The thing they were warned about. What appeared to be an absolutely massive octopus hovered above the gate, its tentacles wrapped around the glowing towers. “A species that has evolved to be able to absorb magical energy. It must have found this place and started feeding on the gate’s energy source. Given how much magic must be stored in these towers, it’s no wonder that it was able to grow this big.”

Libra shuddered. “You’ve gotta be kidding me, even I can’t possibly just repel something this massive with my powers! Not to mention, it has tentacles! You all know how overpowered tentacle powers are! Not to mention that we’re all girls here in easily removable clo-” “Cease your perverted fantasies. If it continues to absorb magical energy from the towers, then we might not be able to defeat it no matter how hard we try.”

“It’s constantly feeding… then we need to somehow get it away from the gate. Otherwise, we will probably not even be able to injure it. I can feel a thick layer of magical energy all around that creature’s skin, protecting it. And it won’t disappear as long as its being recharged by the endless source of ethernano that it’s sitting on top of.” Overall, it was no surprise that Geoss and his team needed help with this one. All of their previous teams were obliterated by this creature because it was sitting on what appeared to be an almost endless source of magic.

“But how are we supposed to drive something like that away?! Surely it’s not dumb enough to just follow us away from this place if it sees us, right?” A good question. None of them were exactly experts on creatures like these. Not to mention that this one was more of an anomaly, meaning it could very well be more intelligent than other members of its species. Suddenly, Leila realized something. “Maybe we don’t have to lure it away at all. The gateway has shut down because the creature started siphoning the magic that was meant to power it.”

The two spirits looked curiously at their summoner as she continued to communicate with them all via their telepathic bond. “Clearly these are all ancient structures created by some currently unknown intelligent species. They are definitely not natural. So perhaps… there is a way of disabling the towers without breaking them? Then the creature would no longer have any magical energy input and once we deal with it, we could reactive them to power up the gate again!”

It was not too bad of an idea. There was only one problem that they needed to address with it all. “We don’t know how those towers work. It could very well end up with us accidentally damaging them.” “Oh, but even if we destroy the towers, Geoss could still have a giant lacrima delivered here, right? I mean, they’re smart scientists. Surely they would figure out how to get a new source of magic to power the gate up if the primary source of energy were to be destroyed!”

While that was probably true, none of them could exactly imagine him being all too happy if that were to happen. That said, it might have been the only real plan of action here. Whatever those pillars were drawing from, it was pumping unbelievably large amounts of magical energy into the creature. “We’ll have to risk it. Taking the squid out takes priority.” “Actually, is it a squid or an octopus?” “Meaningless details aside, we need to find a way to each of the towers while preferably not being noticed by the enemy.”

Ultimately, their goal was the warp gate the enemy was sitting on top of. While fighting it as it was right now was just unreasonable, there was also a very real danger of one of those tentacles destroying the gate in the process. The ideal way to deal with this all would be to disable at least two of the towers to lower its power back to more manageable levels and then deal with it. “I suppose that is where I come into play! Hehe, good thing I decided to tag along with you gals.”

Checking her surroundings once more, Libra fixated on what appeared to be a small structure near one of the towers. Actually, this entire place was littered with these, indicating that perhaps some form of civilization used to live here, all around the gate. Or more likely, it was a place where those maintaining it were stationed. “Grab onto me tight! I’m gonna use max output in our direction!” Immediately understanding what Libra was planning the two other girls attempted to wrap their arms around the dark-skinned spirit’s legs. Given the fact that she wore a bikini and nothing more, it was a bit difficult to hold on to her.

But it had to be enough. The Zodiac spirit extended her hand forward as a small ball inside of the targeted structure could be spotted. One of black color, the space around it seemingly being warped in some way. It was on Leila’s thoughts on how Libra’s ability would work underwater. And she was currently getting an answer. It was actually a bit different from before. Even the spirits could grow in power, and Libra clearly did during her summoner’s absence, as was demonstrated by the tiny black hole looking object she created.

Activating it, the orb started pulling with extreme gravitational force. In a mere moment, the entire group of three was nearly crashing into it as the hole dissipated into nothingness, only a small trail of dislocated water left behind them as it would quickly equalize itself again. The giant sea creature moved ever so slightly, probably catching a glimpse of what happened but not doing anything about it. Plenty of smaller things were swimming about, burying themselves in the sand and trying to escape predators. It was actually only now that Leila noticed a large amount of life here in comparison to the trail.

Was the magical energy of the towers keeping them here as well? She could think about such things more peacefully later, right now they were in the middle of a fairly intricate situation. “Not so useless after all…” It almost sounded like Yuki was only saying that for herself, but then again, all three of the girls had their minds connected right now so they could hear it clear as day. Perhaps that was the intent?

“E-excuse me! I am one of the twelve Zodiac spirits, you wouldn’t be able to find stronger than me if you tried!” “She’s just teasing you, Libra. More importantly, I think I can clearly see the top of the first tower from here and the lacrima pillar inside of it. Can you do that again and shoot us up there?” All three of them would carefully peer out of their hiding space to see the path. Pretty straightforward indeed. There was just one small problem that had to be addressed first.

“I could, but… there is no good cover up there. If I were to get us there, that thing would notice us right away. It seems to be watching the towers pretty closely. Not to mention that I would have to make the star a bit below the tower’s top, else that tentacle wrapped around the lacrima will definitely feel it, alerting the squid and/or octopus!” That was a bit problematic if they wanted to carefully weaken it first, then engage in combat. Thankfully, almost nothing was impossible when it came to spirits of Eden.

“I’ll stay behind and distract it. When the creature’s focus is elsewhere, get up there and disable the tower as quickly as possible.” “Wait, wait! How in the world are you planning on distracting it?” Yuki simply faced Leila as the smallest smile formed on her normally expressionless face. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on sacrificing myself here. You will need me later on when we actually start fighting it.” As confident as ever. And despite the reluctance that Leila felt, she nodded her head in acknowledgment.

Grabbing onto Libra’s torso, who appeared to be awfully happy about it, Leila made sure she would not slip as the dragon spirit prepared herself. The water around her started freezing and taking shape, forming what appeared to be a fairly large-sized spike of ice that the young girl then kicked at full force, sending it soaring through the water at surprisingly high speed. Its target was on the other side of the entire temple complex, a building that was heavily damaged and barely holding together. The moment the spike hit it, the entire section started collapsing down.

That much was enough for the enemy to suddenly jerk its entire massive body, a number of its free tentacles shooting toward that location at moment’s notice. While its entire frame was turned away, Libra already had prepared another star that would pull both her and her summoner to the tower’s top, only a couple or so meters away from the actual lacrima. Though they definitely did not have much time, they had to act quickly. Thankfully, Leila swiftly realized that the entire structure was pretty straightforward. Beneath the suspended lacrima was a beam of concentrated magical energy, headed straight into it.

Not hesitating one moment, the silver-haired girl would perform a kick similar to the one Yuki showcased just a moment ago, her foot connecting with a glass apparatus that was focusing the magical energy into a straight beam. The sound of it cracking was muffled by the ever-present water and the pressure it was exerting onto everything within it. With such force pushing against it, the piece came flying out of the socket and sinking to the floor of the tower. As if automatically detecting that a vital piece of the puzzle was missing the entire tower hummed and shut down.

All of the magical energy filling the lacrima started being quickly drained away, ensuring that the enemy would not be able to get any extra from this tower anymore. And by the time it could realize that the two girls managed to get back to their previous hiding spot. What followed next was naturally one very upset sea creatures, its focus shifting entirely onto the single tower as it moved from top of the gate to the tall structure itself, most of its tentacles wrapping around it as if it was trying to squeeze the magic back out of it again.

As one could expect, such attempts had little success as the entire structure only cracked on the surface, but did not produce any more magical energy. While such being was clearly intelligent enough to know its source of delicious ethernano, it was far from the intellect of a man who would be able to determine what was actually wrong with the whole structure and repair it. Leila was just happy that the entire system was so easy to be disrupted and even repaired afterward. All Geoss will have to do is make a new glass focus to replace the one she kicked out.

“Looks like it worked as planned, but…” “It’s definitely on high alert now, let’s move while it's distracted with the first tower!” There was absolutely no time to waste now, they had to move their assess if they wanted to pull this off, No longer really caring about staying hidden with the creature being so occupied with nearly destroying the disabled tower, Libra started forming another star as close to the second tower as she possibly could. However, the tentacled being did not stay distracted nearly as long as the girls hoped it would.

Spotting them, one of the slimy tentacles flew through the water in an attempt to swat the three of them like they were nothing more than annoying flies. It was then that Yuki once again decided to take action, quickly moving in front of her fellow spirit and summoner to create a wall of ice in hopes of protecting them. Though, as they expected, the magical energy flowing through their enemy was empowering it too much and the semi-translucent ward shattered like a glass dropped from a table.

Thankfully, it still dampened the blow at least somewhat. “Warp yourself, quickly! I will keep it busy to the best of my ability!” As an immediate reaction, Libra grabbed Leila’s hand by force and initiated the gravitational pull, leaving the ice dragon spirit behind. Once again, there was no real danger, as even if Yuki were to be defeated, she would simply return to the Gardens of Eden. But still, it did not quite sit well with Leila who cared for her spirits greatly.

Frustration filled her from top to bottom, her vision focusing on the second tower as she swam toward the lacrima and started winding her hand up. The corruption of Eden covered it quickly, transforming what used to be a hand covered in soft pale skin look like a claw of a monster. And just one strong strike shattered the glass focus, once again interrupting the process of gathering magical energy of this tower. But this time, the tentacle that was wrapped around the storage of ethernano acted right away. Loosening its grip and swiping around, it managed to strike both Leila and Libra this time.

The spirit didn’t fly too far away, hitting her back at a structure right beneath the tower. Leila, on the other hand, had it a bit worse. Her body was flung with enough force to break through a pillar, making a bit of unstable ceiling above it sink to the floor and right on top of her. This left more than just a bit of damage, but her inhuman force did allow her to crawl from beneath all that rubble without needing any help. Yuki, who saw it all from the corner of her vision, clicked her tongue in annoyance as she unleashed another barrage of ice.

It was barely effective at all, but it kept the enemy focused on her. And yet, those rogue tentacles were dangerous, acting as if they had a mind of their own. It easily complicated everything, and the whole situation quickly grew much worse than it already was. All three of the girls were in a different place, and there was still one more tower to be disabled before their enemy would finally become vulnerable. But there was still hope. As the newly freed tentacle moved to try and envelop itself around Libra who will still gathering her sense after hitting the stone so hard, Leila decided to change her role.

Forming what appeared to be a wooden spear in her hand, she infused it with the magic of Eden and tossed it at full force. Enough for it to act as a spike shot out by a harpoon, the pointy end managed to stick itself in the tentacle before it decided to squeeze her spirit dry. While the penetration was not exactly deep, it was still enough for the creature to feel it and instinctively pull back, allowing the Zodiac spirit to move away.

“You’re the closest to the last tower, Libra! Get to it, quickly!” A bit nervous from this development, the spirit of balance quickly started swimming to a point from which she could effectively pull herself with her ability again. Leila had joined Yuki on the front line, her magic considerably less useful in an area like this than it would be above the sea level. But the roots and vines she could pull from the ground were still at least somewhat useful in holding the beast in place for few seconds at a time.

At last, this proved to be the most effective method of dealing with this problem, at least after actually being able to disable all of the towers without being noticed. That said, both Yuki and Leila were suffering quite a bit of damage. Being the powerful spirit that she was, the dragon girl had it a bit better, most of her body shielded by her ice and a small nimble body that could avoid most of the tentacles that were trying to crush them alive. Leila wasn’t quite as good at dodging despite being fairly mobile on land, the already awfully revealing wet-suit she having more than just a few tears in it now.

Thankfully, Libra was just about in the right position. Few meters away from the top of the last tower, but sick of drawing this out. The moment she could see the key component that needed to be pulled out, she created the gravity star in her own palm, giving up on pulling herself to it and instead focused greatly to be able to pull the glass piece out of the structure without having to get too close. And sure enough, as the mighty Zodiac spirit, she was able to do it.

Only a shame she was not able to do this from the start, she needed to be very close as is to pull a stunt like this off. Not that it mattered much, it has been done. Even the last pillar made out of lacrima crystal started fading in color, accompanied by a screech coming out of the enemy that just lost its everlasting source of nourishment. Understandably angry, its tentacles started trashing everything around, breaking apart through the temple. “Agh, it’s gonna destroy the gate at this rate!”

Naturally, they could not allow that. Thankfully, Leila had a plan in place for this. The magical energy was still inside of the enemy. In that way, cutting it off from the towers didn’t actually do much. Not until one considered what all abilities the silver-haired girl could use. Gesturing to Yuki, the dragon spirit nodded and started radiating her magical energy. Frost quickly started gathering around her before a number of ice pillars started forming, going from the sea’s floor and crashing into the beast. The damage was minimal, but that was not even really the point.

Leila needed a bridge of some sort of her own power. Swimming to the ground as quick as possible. The moment her hand made contact with the solid ground, an immeasurable amount of flowers started forming and blooming all around. They spread far beyond any natural way flowers cloud be formed, even scaling the ice towers. “Let’s see how you will like magical energy being drained from you.” Flowers that bloomed in the darkness. They did quite well in this place where the Sun from above could not reach.  And their special trait was siphoning the magical energy from anything that touched them.

And the moment those flowers got on the creature, they would start spreading even faster, being fed by its enormous magical energy. In the end, the three girls did not even have to do anything, not really. The sea creature would drastically slow down and weaken, only flailing around aimlessly with enough force to maybe break through already crumbling walls. But not the gate that still stood tall and completely intact, thank goodness. Once it realized that it was impossible to fight this, the poor squid and/or octopus started to flee, though it was an awfully pitiful looking attempt.

“Shouldn’t we go after it or something? What if it comes back.” Finally able to relax a bit, all three girls regrouped in front of the gate and tried to regain their energy while ‘sitting’ on top of one of the collapsed pillars. It was rather awkward with them being underwater and all. “No need. Even if it does come back, Geoss and his team will be able to easily repel it. There is no way it will be able to consume that amount of magical energy again to obtain such power.”

“Things only got out of hand because this gate and its power source were left unchecked for an extremely long amount of time.” If an active team of humans was to come here to study and maintain the gate, very few creatures of the sea would actually dare to come anywhere near. “I see. Heh, but I’m impressed you were able to do something like that, ‘Mistress’~” Leila could only sigh. “Please don’t call me that. We were lucky that our enemy was a creature like that, rather than something more sentient.”

“When used against a regular mage, the effect of those flowers is nowhere that powerful. It’s because beings like us can easily adjust the flow of magic inside our bodies while that creature could not. So I was able to rid it of all the excess magic it absorbed.” “The power seemingly least useful for this kind of environment assured our victory. Good job.” With the blush on her face not visible, Leila merely scratched the back of her head and giggled. “I’m just glad it didn’t damage my mask.”

Driving the point by tapping on the plastic apparatus still covering her entire mouth and nose, it would have been quite the problem if one of those tentacles managed to damage it. Libra took that little chance to swim rather close and hug her summoner from behind. “Even if you did lose it, I’d make sure to keep you afloat by mouth to mouth breathing~” “Please don’t.” Completely shot down, the Zodiac spirit fell to the seafloor, dejected.

“Should we head back to inform Geoss that it is safe to come here now?” To that, Leila ‘stood’ up and started eying her own attire. “This suit should have a beacon that I can activate to let them know remotely since we need to keep this place safe until they arrive anyway. But, ahh… at this point, the wet-suit is so torn apart I would probably be better if I just wore my undies…” Finally finding it, she pressed a button and a loud ping was sent to the main base above the sea level.

Libra, on the other hand, just showed a thumbs up as she covered her slightly bleeding nose. “I’d say that the torn and super skin-tight suit has a much more erotic aura, so I approve of it mo-” Getting smacked over the head by Leila, the spirit nearly broke her nose on the stone beneath them, but managed to keep herself intact. “S..sorry….” But still, this kind of joking around was pretty refreshing after finishing an assignment like this. It didn’t appear difficult at the surface, but the whole situation had quite a bit of tension.

“But I do wonder… what exactly is on the other side of this gate? It will probably take a bit of time to remake those focusing glasses, so we will not get to see it today.” What followed was a very clearly disappointed, yet hard to describe sound from Libra and absolutely nothing from Yuki who retained her uninterested poker face throughout the entire situation. “Though I don’t doubt they will need our help again once they open the gate up again! We’ll get to the Deep yet.”

Indeed, if there was one thing such researchers needed, it was someone who would explore the unknown land for them so that they don’t have to risk their own skin. And so the three girls continued chatting for roughly another hour before more lights would emerge in the darkness they themselves arrived from. Slightly alerted, they all assumed their respective combat stances just in case it was anything other than what they were actually expecting. It might have been anything, considering that the ground started shaking rather ominously as if a titan of some sort was taking its steps toward them.

But thankfully, it was nothing of that sort. Instead, what emerged from the great darkness was a vehicle of some sort. Leila quickly recognized it by the symbol right at its front as the same one she saw on the camp up above, it was Geoss and his people. Where in the world were they hiding a machine that looked like a super giant tank capable of driving beneath the water’s surface?! As the rumbling slowly faded away, the machine stopped right in front of the temple ruins. Several red lights on its surface turned green as a magical forcefield activated and a gate leading inside opened up.

Who needed airlocks these days, magic-based technology was apparently capable of literally anything. Invited inside, the girls did not hesitate to finally get out of the water. Well, one of the might have hesitated a bit due to the state of her attire, but what choice did she have. Thankfully, Geoss was too focused on the fact that they managed to capture the gate to even really notice as he welcomed them all inside.

“Oh my, there is more of you than before. No matter, you managed to destroy the beast! The gate is now official ours, please, dry yourselves in our celebratory towels.” He certainly was something, wasn’t he? But at the very least Leila had something to fully cover herself with as the three girls tried to get as much of the water out of them as possible. “About that… we were able to do so only by destroying the focusing apparatus in each of the towers that serve as a power source for the gate.”

Libra stepped up and handed the one she pulled out of the final tower to Geoss. “Hmm, unfortunate. But this appears to be fairly standard glass. We will make a mold out of the intact one and remake the others with it, yes, that will work just fine.” “Glad to hear that, but, uhh… what exactly is this thing?” Right now, they were in what appeared to be a smaller hangar inside of the vehicle that could access the outside through the magical forcefield that opened up for them.

Various equipment from the camp up above laid around, but also much more than was needed for diving at this depth for a regular human being. “I suppose it can’t hurt to tell you. This is our morph-able headquarters! You were already inside of it when you visited us in the morning, actually.” “Wait, hold on, are you telling me that beach camp actually transformed into this monstrous thing? Huh…” “We have invested greatly in our research. And now that we have the gate to the Deep, it should finally pay off. But that will have to wait, given the circumstance.”

The three girls looked at each other. “So… do we stay here, or what?” Geoss looked at the maiden in a rather confused manner. “Hm? Of course not! It will take us days at the very least to activate the gate! Not only do we have to remake what you broke, but we also have to ensure the energy routes and secure them! You can’t stay here for that long, we have work to do! No, we will help you get back to the surface in a much faster way than before.”

Gesturing to follow him, the girls did just that. What soon laid in front of them was a capsule of some sort. Big enough to fit all three of them and already with a locker that contained Leila’s original clothes. “Now, everyone, please fit inside.” The simple request was no problem at all. Leila was already half-way inside anyway, going for her clothes so she could finally get out of this ridiculous bodysuit. Libra was eager to follow her in hopes of maybe spying on her summoner when changing.

And then there was Yuki who had the “I don’t buy this shit” face firmly put on, but entered anyway as there was no other way from this place other than actually closing her gate and returning to the Gardens of Eden. “H-hey! I need to change first, can’t you just wait out-” “Now then, we will be in contact as always, Miss Vergious. Have a pleasant ascend.” With those harrowing words, the door to the capsule quickly closed as the pressure inside equalized.

It was perhaps at this moment at two of the girls realized what was coming, the third already figuring it out the moment they were all asked to enter. After a bit of rumbling, an intense force made both Leila and Libra fall to the ground. The capsule clearly started ascending at extremely high speed. Indeed, it was shot right out of the mobile HQ like a bullet, piercing the water and quickly heading towards its destination. At the very least, the scientists had its trajectory figured out rather well. Once the capsule started slowing, it breached the water’s surface and landed right on the beach where they were this morning.

Upon opening of the metal door, two rather dizzy girls flew out, landing face-first in the sand. Yuki, by some miraculous and unexplained force, happened to be just fine and exited the makeshift hollow bullet without any complications whatsoever. “T..that man… will know my wrath… I will demand extra reward the next time he wants anything from me, damn it!” Getting up without letting out the contents of her stomach proved to be a bit difficult for the next few seconds, at least for the one who had a proper mortal body at the moment.

Through the trio was properly assembled in no time, as anyone would expect from beings on such power level. “So that’s done… what now?” An obvious question to be asked. The Deep wouldn’t be available for some time still. Leila merely looked around before noticing a little something in the sand. Picking it up, it was not hard to make the shape out. A white feather with a bit of black coloring at the end of it. “Now, huh…” Yuki could only look to the side, a slight worry visible on her normally emotionless expression.

But to her surprise, Leila smiled wide and bright. “Who knows? There has to be some adventure waiting for us out there, just gotta find it!” Libra couldn’t help herself but grin at the idea as well. Though, there was just one thing extra for her. “I, uh… I think I’m gonna go change, first. Would be a bit awkward like this.” After all, she still had her bikini on. With a small wave, her body quickly dissipated into golden light, gone completely in mere moments.

“I was worried that you would start reminiscing again, but it seems that my fear was unfounded.” Leila still had trouble understanding why exactly Yuki hated Mikka from the very start to the bitter end. But alas, she would not be asking her about it anytime soon. She knew when the beehive was too dangerous to be poked. At least most of the time, anyway. “I don’t think it's a bad thing to be reminiscent from time to time. It’s good to remember where you came from.”

“But this is different.” “I know. Though you could probably argue that she is part of my beginning here. No matter, everything will be different after this. And I’m good to move on anyway~.” Stretching her hands and legs shortly, an exacerbated breath escaped from the girl. For once, it was good to be back in her old tattered attire. As much as she loved underwater, that whole situation was just a bit out of hand for her. At the very least they managed to finish their assignment. Though Leila was slowly realizing that Geoss didn’t actually pay up when they met… she would have to pester him about that later on.

Thankfully she knew exactly where to find him now, and with her powers, it was of no problem to actually swim down there without drowning. Not that she was not grateful for the breathing mask she had received, but she was confident in her own abilities. Sometimes even a bit too much. Putting that to the side, she eyed Yuki for a bit. The younger-looking spirit was still soaked from their little adventure, which was understandable. Leila was actually the only one who changed her clothes to something more suitable for this and now changed back into something dry.

“And what about you? Not gonna go back to rest a bit?” Sitting down on the warm sand as the Sun showered them both in its light, Leila looked up at the skies while covering her face with one of her hands. Surprising how that whole ordeal was pretty taxing on all of them. “No need. If I had to rest after only that much, I would not deserve the place I hold in Paradise.” “Hehe, I guess so.”

Even though she looked like she couldn’t care any less, there was a good bit of pride inside of her, wasn’t there? Well, Yuki was with her summoner from pretty much the very start. Though, funnily enough, not as long as Mikka. That said, Yuki certainly outlived that raven-haired mage. At this point, even Leila herself might have been a bit fed up with her own thoughts and how much they gravitated toward the past. It was time for the future, why was she plagued by these ideas? Oh well, she would surely get better as time went on. It was the only thing that heals all wounds.

Sharing a smile after spending a good majority of their day swimming underwater and fighting a giant sea creature with tentacles was much better! It has been a good while, hasn’t it? A lot has happened in that empty time. One could even say that this was a completely new story of a completely new Leila. Ah, but such thoughts were breaching a certain line that should not be taken into consideration if possible. So the two girls would simply nod to each other and make their way out of the beach, in search of this unknown adventure that was surely awaiting them somewhere. A happy and simple life that the girl yearned for, waiting to be grasped by her.