
Anna opened her eyes to the black room sprinkled with white dots like stars in the universe.
Of course, the black fog was all around.
She walked up to Anavel, sitting on her throne with her head resting in her palm and legs gracefully crossed. Anavel looked tired, as was usual when she had so much corruption in their space.
“We should—”
“…Make ourselves immune to it, yes,” Anavel said, her cold gaze looking at the fog with absolute disgust. “I’ve grown tired of filtering it myself—it is disgusting to live in such filth.”
But Anavel bore with the corruption for her sake.
“Do it tonight,” Anna said.
Anavel nodded. “I will still be able to harness the deplorable power, but I can shove it far from my presence.”
Anna didn’t even think of that! She didn’t know how to feel about having that power within her, even if it caused no harm. It was odd, to say the least.
“Why store it at all?”
“Because it is the ultimate threat.”
That… was true. Even Elyanthra would surrender if such a power was brought directly to her face. Well, that depended on the stakes. But the point still stood!
“Will it go smoothly?”
Their soul was anything but ordinary. However, it wasn’t a good idea for her so-called resistance to only be because Anavel was there. If there was ever a time when she wasn’t…
She didn’t want to think about it—Anavel was a constant that brought immense relief just by Anna knowing she was there.
“It will.”
“Okay,” Anna said, nodding. “Then let’s do that after.”
“Indeed.” Anavel lifted herself up, straightening her body. “For now, we have a few more pressing topics of conversation.”
Anna took her usual spot in front of the throne, sitting down while having to stare up. Did Anavel like that? Probably.
They should really get another chair in there.
“Aria’s sigil merging and the missing key.”
“Yes, merging…” Anavel nodded. “A very intriguing phenomenon. And as much as I would love to claim responsibility, that particular advancement was not solely because of us.”
“What?”
“Shocking, is it not?” Anavel lightly shook her head. “Well, it is a bit misleading to say that we did not cause it. I do believe upgrading her soul made it happen.”
“Are you saying we were just the catalyst?”
Them upgrading—Anavel upgrading—Aria’s soul made something change rather than adding something new.
“Most likely.”
“But… but how?”
Was it some kind of innate feature they simply unlocked?
Anavel took a minute to respond. Eventually, her lips curved slightly in a rare smile. “I have a theory.”
There it was again. Whenever Anavel said she had a theory, she would only say it when someone—Anna—asked her what it was!
It was pretty cute.
Anna bit back her smile. “What is it?”
“I believe we upgraded her soul to a higher order.” Seeing Anna’s confusion and coming question, she continued, “I am not entirely sure how to explain it…”
“Ranking?” Anna asked. That’s what it sounded like.
“Ah, yes. That is the way to describe it…” Anaval placed her hands side-by-side but with one slightly higher as she continued, “I believe the soul and sigils exist in somewhat of the same ranking. But sigils are higher.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means that while we absorb sigils, they simply exist as tools we can activate but not really own.”
“Sounds like that means the soul is above.”
“Fool. If that were the case, why can we not understand how the sigils work, what they are, and how they function within our soul?”
“Ah… I guess…”
Yeah, that was a good point. Anna had no idea how any of her abilities worked—they were just a limb she could activate whenever she wanted. Technically, that did sound like her soul was above. But she didn’t really understand the abilities she had.
“As I was saying,” Anavel said, raising her other hand even higher. “I believe sigils are of a higher order because of how easily they integrate within our souls. But we raised Aria’s soul.”
“Wait, doesn’t that mean she won’t be able to easily absorb sigils?”
“Of course not, because she wants to absorb them.”
“So, we basically made her soul higher ranking than the sigils, and now it can directly control them?”
“Something like that, yes.”
Anna leaned into her hand. “It’s a bit… confusing.”
They spoke of the soul like it was a separate entity living within them, but it was just… them.
Anavel lowered her hands. “Her soul took complete control over the sigils and is making them better—that is my theory.”
And it made the most sense.
“Will the same thing happen to Elyanthra?”
How much stronger could someone like her be if her soul did that?
“Perhaps, but they might be too beyond for that.”
“What about mine? I’ve had Hyper Enhancement for almost a year now.”
“Unupgraded. I believe upgrading them slightly raises their order.”
So that’s what it meant. It made more sense to think of it like that—souls and sigils existing in a hierarchical ranking.
“And that won’t happen since Aria has control over them so early and hasn’t upgraded them?”
“Yes.”
Anna briefly chuckled. “It’s like a master and a pet.”
“Crude, but correct.”
“So we pretty much have the power to upgrade people’s soul and the entire way they use magic.”
“Yes. But this is all theory, and I would need to see the phenomenon happen again. Preferably, to us.”
Anna wryly grinned. “I’m starting to feel like we have a little too much.”
“On the contrary, we do not have enough.”
Right—Anavel was quite the greedy character. She wouldn’t mind if the entire universe bent the knee to them. In fact, that was probably exactly what she wanted!
“Okay, sure. And what about our next issue?”
“The key.”
“Yep.”
Despite how she sounded, it was eating her heart. If Anavel didn’t have a solution, they would be locked into spending who-knew-how long searching.
“Contrary to your fear, I do not believe you and Aria missed something—if you had, I would have informed you before.”
That was both relieving and scary.
“Then, what?”
“The answer is quite simple,” Anavel said with a slight smirk as if mocking Anna’s foolishness. “Amusingly so.”
“W-what?”
“Tell me, where is the labyrinth located?”
What?
“On an island in a… massive hole…” Her eyes widened, and she immediately felt like an idiot. “Right…” Anna nearly laughed at herself. “The island!”
“Precisely.”
It seemed obvious now that she thought of it. The temple was on the island! And it was a massive island they hadn’t even explored for a moment!
In retrospect, it seemed obvious they’d find something up there. But without any acolytes or aura for them to find, they had just ignored it!
“Wow, I can’t believe we didn’t think to search the island,” Anna said self-deprecatingly.
“It is better this way—a simple final piece.”
“Assuming it’s there.”
“It will be.”
“I certainly hope so.”
Normally, Anna would love nothing more than to sit and chat with Anavel for a while. But she could hardly wait to have their soul immunized!
Anna stood up, but before she could say that Anavel should take control, Anavel raised her hand.
“Before… before you leave, there is something else I wish to discuss.”
“Oh?”
It was rare for Anavel to take the initiative! Usually, it meant something super important was about to happen.
“I’ve… been thinking of our future growth,” Anavel said. Those words prompted Anna to return to her sitting position.
“Oh?”
Anavel raised four fingers. “We have four abilities: Hyper Enhancement, Spatial Storage, Imbuement, and Appraisal.”
“Not a very combat-oriented set,” Anna said. “Is that bad?”
“Yes, it is.”
Anna didn’t disagree. If they were going to end up fighting two sentient accursed, Anna herself would be of little aid to Aria and Elyanthra.
Imbuement was powerful, but her imbued items were too easily avoided and so difficult to control! Plus, they were—regardless of what made them move—physical objects.
And her golemancy was definitely not useful!
“What do you propose?”
“I suspect the next supportive ability we absorb will merge with Hyper Enhancement, and we will have another slot in our capacity.”
“Oh! We might actually get a really, really good buffing ability because of it.”
“We will. And that will apply to healing sigils we obtain as well—we will have more capacity for combat abilities.”
“I haven’t really thought much of combat.”
She was kind of just taking things as they came. If there was a sigil she liked, she’d absorb it.
But capacity wasn’t unlimited!
“But we must.”
“Ideas?”
“I would place my focus on golemancy.”
“Oh?”
Anna wasn’t opposed! She was greatly interested in making something as durable as the Lizardman statue and making it even stronger!
“I wish to have an army; golemancy represents that option.”
“You just… want… an army?”
Anavel immediately and confidently nodded. “An incorruptible, powerful army in which we hold absolute authority.”
Anna giggled. “My interest doesn’t go that far, but I do think golemancy is a good field.”
“And that is…” Anavel looked down. “That is why I asked—we must discuss where we wish our sigils to take us.”
Adorable! Anavel was only getting more and more… human… the more they spoke. She really was just a nice sister.
“I want to have more ranged spells,” Anna said. “I hate how close I have to get to fight, and I wish I had more than just throwing physical projectiles. Honestly…” She sighed. “I kind of want the more… magical side of things.”
Anna wanted to see the more fascinating sides of magic. Everything so far had been about killing and fighting—destruction and defense against destruction. That wasn’t really the magical world she dreamed of.
It was childish, but she’d like to see more interesting magic effects! Appraisal was like that, and it felt incredible to appraise so many things.
But she needed combat ability.
“Our interests align.”
“But as much as I enjoy golemancy, it’s not to the point where I’d want my entire focus to be that.”
“That is why we must have this discussion.”
“Different goals?”
“Not necessarily—the route I wish to take our golemancy does not conflict with what you want.”
“But what I want seems pretty loose.”
She could only break it down to just… interesting abilities.
“I’ve come to accept your fascination with magic and will not object to any sigil you wish to absorb in that pursuit,” Anavel said. “But there are some sigils I may feel was must absorb.”
“And I wouldn’t reject that!” Anna quickly said. “If you think we need one, I’ll absorb it without objection!”
That was the least she could do for someone who had helped so much. And it would never be a bad ability.
Anavel briefly avoided meeting Anna’s eyes. “My plan for golemancy won’t interfere with what you wish to do.”
“Plan?”
“It is only an idea, but I wish to pursue the possibility of implanting golems with sigils.”
Anna’s eyes widened. “Golems with abilities?”
“Yes.”
“That’s… that’s like the corruption.”
“That is where I get my idea, but it will not be comparable.”
“Do you think we can actually do that?” Anna quickly asked. “That would be insane!”
More than insane—it would actually make fighting the corrupted easier for literally everyone. How many lives would they save with such a method?
“I believe it will be possible, but we lack the ability to make it happen. Not now and not anytime soon. Everything exists as an idea in my head.”
“What do you need?”
“Something that can let me interact with sigils directly, first of all. The rest can come later, but none of it is simple.”
“Appraisal isn’t enough for the first part?”
It kind of made a database of everything.
“No—I need to see its inner workings.”
“What kind of power will help with that?”
“I…” Anavel lightly sighed. “I do not know. But it must exist because sigils were created somehow.”
“Yeah!” Anna said. “I’m sure we’ll find one, and we can focus on figuring it out together.”
“Our future goal is decided,” Anavel said. “In the meanwhile, I suggest we absorb direct mana abilities—they should all combine.”
“Ooh~ yeah, that does sound amazing, too!”
And that was actually possible in the short term. They hadn’t found a mana ability despite how common they were supposed to be, but there was probably some method to it.
“So our path is decided,” Anavel said. “We will simply get what we think is useful while pursuing golemancy.”
“Doesn’t sound very defined.”
“Discovery is a pleasant thing. This will do.”
Absolutely!
“Well,” Anna said as she stood up. “I can say for certain that I want to find a ranged skill, more buffing skills, and a healing sigil.”
“That will do.”
“Perfect! That sounds good to me.”
And it made her excited for the future. Having a sigil she definitively wanted to get was a good feeling—now, it was just a matter of searching.
“Good,” Anavel said, similarly getting off her throne. “Now, let us upgrade our being.”
“Yep!”
Anavel immediately and confidently nodded. “An incorruptible, powerful army in which we hold absolute authority.”
There is not a more power hungry arrogant bit*h in the universe.
And now we get them to create a whole new system of magic. Or two. Maybe three.
Precisely ninety six.
TFTC!