Arisella felt tremendous pain just by unconsciously moving the muscles of her left arm due to the damned earth spear that pierced her shoulder bone.

Growling like a wounded beast and breaking out in a cold sweat from the pain she never wanted to experience again….She walked step by step towards Lucelle's direction, restraining herself from making sudden movements that would cause more agony and could potentially worsen her condition.

All while the blood; Her blood was spilled on the ground drop after drop.

To be honest, she was just going by where she thought her sister was based on the direction she was previously standing, but Arisella couldn't actually be sure where exactly she could be, since the smoke still filled the hallway. , and the place did not have the best ventilation, so it would continue like this for a while.

“¡Ugh!“

Groaning again at the waves of pain that sometimes seemed to increase out of nowhere, Arisella put on an exasperated and frustrated expression as she screamed, “Lucelle! Are you OK!?"

There was no answer.

The only thing the wounded prophet could see were the figures of her group covered by the smoke of the bombs or whatever they were, even John Miller was no longer visible since the wind that caused their attack obviously did not last long. Not that he was a threat just yet.

More than that, the fact that Lucelle didn't respond made her very worried, much more so than the serious injury she had.

The abilities were powerful….Who knows? The bastards who kidnapped Elian could have kicked her with legs strengthened by an ability of hers and broken her ribs and spine. Since she didn't respond when she called him, she might even be unconscious or worse... ..paralyzed.

Just the thought of it made him tremble with fear.

If that were the case and high-rank healing potions were not used now, Lucelle would be paraplegic for the rest of her life. After all, those magic potions were not omnipotent.

Or even worse, she could have her ribs damaged piercing some of her internal organs…

Rib fractures were not something that could be easily fixed by taking two high-level potions if left alone for too long. Even using divine magic wouldn't be a good idea, since it would require a complicated operation that couldn't be done here to avoid complications.

Thinking about that made her even more worried.

“If only I could get rid of all this smoke!” She gritted her teeth in anger as she cried in anguish.

Being seriously injured after having her hearing blocked, along with the possibility of the woman she considered her equal to a sister facing a terrible fate, made her slowly lose control of her emotions.

It doesn't help that everything was so sudden.

“¡Ufff…uff…!“

Restraining the desire to put her hand on the wound site, Arisella silently regretted that she had decided to use Craft as 'Magic Concept'. If she could manipulate the wind, how easy would it be to blow away the smoke with blizzards?

But noooo….I had to choose a magic that improves my technique with craft materials! Can smoke even become….?

Arisella stopped, a realization hit her as the image of clouds in the sky appeared in her head taking the form of faces, airplanes and other vague but familiar shapes, painting a beautiful scene that is kept forever in the minds of those who know how to appreciate it.….

That is! I just have to shape all this smoke like clouds!

Treating smoke without a specific form as raw matter to create a work of craftsmanship….if Arisella used her magic to concentrate the smoke into a specific form…

Thinking like this, Arisella tried to concentrate. However, not only did she have to face the pain caused by the horrible wound on her shoulder, which still made her moan while it interrupted her concentration, but when trying to move her Aether, she felt an intense feeling of discomfort.

This damn smoke has something in it…?

I hadn't noticed it before, but the Aether in the surroundings felt strangely erratic. It seemed that this smoke, which he thought did nothing more than seal off his vision given its apparent lack of harmfulness, was a substance that could block the proper use of Aether.

Bastards…!

Determined not to give up, Arisella focused all her spiritual power on moving her Aether and executing her magic as fast as she could, building the rune formula quickly.

And when it was ready, I activated it.

Almost immediately, all the smoke around them slowly began to gather in their direction until it almost completely disappeared from the hallways, taking the shape of a woman with no facial features as she froze.

It took quite a bit of ether to do so as the thickness grew, as a high concentration of this strange substance was stronger to cause problems with magic with a high density of it.

Fortunately, he was successful, and with even more cold sweat than before, Arisella activated her space bracelet and stored the sculpted statue of frozen smoke. She had no idea why the hell she froze, but she didn't care.

There were more important matters.

“Lucelle!“

His sister.

Lucelle was grunting on the ground as she tried to get up with a pained expression, rubbing her back, and when Arisella's scream could be heard with some difficulty hearing, she turned her head in her direction, only to be horrified by the sight.

“A-arisella!? “What the hell happened to you!?”

“My Lady!?” Amelia's scream also echoed through the hallways when she saw her in such a state, and she immediately ran to her lady's side at high speed, supporting her with her hands with a look almost as pale as her own when observing her in that state. state.

The others were no better, staring at her in horror as they approached her.

As for Lucelle, she made an effort to get up faster, despite the pain in her back, and ran with some difficulty to the side of her sister who seemed as pale as a dead person while her face; which was stained with tears and some sweat, distorted into a pained expression, ruining her pretty features as she placed her hand near her hideous bleeding wound.

A sight that chilled his blood and made his heart sink, causing an unpleasant feeling throughout his body.

“Ugh….That bastard Miller attacked me, wanting to kill me…!” Arisella said in a weak voice when Lucelle reached her side, and looked at her with weak eyes, “Are you…okay?”

“Am I okay!? “Worry about yourself first!”

Lucelle exclaimed angrily but mostly worried, as she tried to use her space bracelet to take out her potion reserves.

"Hey? “W-why is it so difficult to control my Ether…?”

“That smoke…was a substance that makes the Ether erratic…and we inhaled it….”

"Shit….!"

Lucelle gritted her teeth in anger as she forced her Aether to move in pain, finally activating the magical artifact and allowing her to draw out her potions and other tools.

“R-quickly, get yourself together! I have to get that damn spear off your shoulder! You help me!” Lucelle ordered them in panic as she watched as Arisella continued to lose blood little by little, containing the urge to make her drink a potion right then and there.

He knew very well that if this foreign object was not removed from his body first, giving him a healing potion was counterproductive.

I-I must calm down…she's not losing much blood, or she would have…died. I just have to get this thing off her and heal her with the potions before she loses too much….!

While Lucelle was thinking frantically with erratic eyes, a voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Lucelle, don't waste potions. I will use all my divine power to heal Arisella. You just make sure I don't get worse at extracting that thing…” Priscilla spoke to her carefully as she looked anxious.

“I-it's okay…” Lucelle took a deep breath, trying to calm down without much success as she watched with trembling hands.

“….Maybe you should leave it to someone else…” The Arcarus spoke again, with a nervous tone that betrayed her lack of trust in Lucelle carrying out such a delicate process in her current state.

Plus, asking him to extract a deadly weapon from his wounded sister is a bit much.

"But…."

“I'll do it!” Amelia announced loudly, interrupting the stubborn Lucelle with firm eyes. She was also shocked at the sight of the injured lady of her, but compared to the alchemist, she had better control of her body thanks to the Aura.

Lucelle bit her lips, but finally nodded since they needed to hurry, “Okay..”

“Oh. Lady Arisella fainted!“ Maximiliano exclaimed.

"That!? Arisella!”

Everyone looked at Arisella and sure enough, she fell unconscious. Lucelle hurriedly placed her head on her chest, and she sighed in relief knowing that she was still breathing, her heart beating….

“¡Lady Bluen, Lady Lucelle!“

Just as he was about to say that they will start at once, a man's familiar voice echoed through the halls. Turning against her better judgement, she saw a group of men riding magical beasts in her direction, all wearing guard uniforms made of Tetran cloth.

“Stop it, identify yourselves!” Several of the [Soldiers] pointed their weapons at them while warning them with cold voices. However, as if they did not understand the lethality of the branches they used, the guards still rode towards them with their Tundra Prowlers.

Just when they seemed ready to fire as an additional warning, Lucelle angrily shouted “Don't attack!”

“They are members of the Leonés de Plata, our people!”

That's how it is.

What arrived as suddenly as the latest events overwhelming them, were some fighting members of the Caravan of Silver Lions.

♦♦♦♦

Feeling a severe headache that gradually diminished as she regained consciousness, Arisella woke up in the middle of a boundless dark space, rubbing in the middle of what seemed like a sea of ​​stars, like outer space.

Confused and disoriented, she looked at her surroundings, which were completely dark, moving her hands similar to what she would do if she were in water…although she could breathe somehow.

Then he looked at his hands.

They were strangely illuminated and somewhat translucent, like those of a spirit. Her feet were the same, which was as strange as the place she was in.

Feeling a little nervous about this mysterious situation. She shouted loudly, causing slight ripples that distorted the light of the 'stars', “Where the hell am I!”

No one answered him, even as his voice echoed throughout the dark space. At that moment, the memory of what happened a few moments ago before she fell unconscious resurfaced, and she called again anxiously, shaking the 'water' harder.

“Lucelle, Amelia, Arman!”

No matter who she called, or how upset she felt, she got no answers. It was just her, 'standing' in a boundless darkness of unknown origin, far from the dungeon that imprisoned her, only to fall somewhere else.

"What's going on?"

Even what should be just a thought was spoken. She wondered aloud: Was she not hurt? Why doesn't she feel anything anymore? That this?

With no answers to her questions, uneasiness grew within her heart at the thought of being trapped forever in this strange realm. She wanted to move, but shaking her hands and feet didn't help her purpose at all.

“I…what do I do now?”

She felt frustrated.

Deciding to find a way to understand something, Arisella tried to use her spiritual power to see if she could get some information from the site.

However, what happened surprised him.

“W-what!?”

The spiritual power caused massive shaking in the area, as if the calm ocean suddenly became chaotic in its fury, and Arisella moved erratically at great speeds amidst this endless starry sea.

No matter how she screamed or how she moved her hands, she moved chaotically through this strange environment at speeds that she was sure would normally kill her while somehow keeping her consciousness intact.

At some point, Arisella 'flew' into the orbit of one of the 'stars', which actually looked like a huge luminous bubble, which was covered by enormous spines that almost completely covered the entire sphere, revealing little of the images it contained. were shown in them in rapid succession...

They looked horrible, malicious, as if they wanted to keep him sealed, away from prying eyes. Although Arisella had no leeway to think about that….Since she was about to crash into that thing!

"¿¡Gahh!?"

Screaming in fear, she crossed both her arms over her head in a vain attempt to protect herself; without realizing that her body was illuminated by a sudden holy light.

As she was about to crash into the sphere like a meteorite, the blessing light made the thorns tremble in horror before quickly retreating from the impact zone.

And just like that, Arisella “entered” inside the huge bubble with a “splash” and the trembling of its surface similar to waves in a lake….

That's when it happened.

The same sacred light that surrounded Arisella seemed to “infect” the sphere in some way, as it began to spread through it at great speed. They tried to resist, but the thorns let out a strange and blood-curdling screech of anger and fear as they began to die at an astonishing speed, dispersing into black ashes...

And then, the bubble was released from its seal, regaining its normal light, shining like many others in this seemingly limitless spiritual sea.

♦♦♦♦

Before understanding what was happening, or why she was standing, Arisella felt how the entire area suddenly lit up, dazzling her eyes.

“¿¡Ugh!?“

And before she could completely cover her eyes with her hands, the light diminished in intensity, and Arisella was now in the middle of a hill, near what looked like the entrance to a forest.

“This is…Argor Forest? What am I doing here?"

While his expression showed his confusion and surprise, also feeling how his spiritual power was becoming weaker for some reason, he suddenly heard the tender but annoying voice of a little girl, scolding someone.

"Atlas! What are you doing up there, wasting your time like a lazy fool!? Get down immediately!

Arisella looked wide-eyed in the direction of the voice, and saw a pretty, brown-haired girl placing her hands on her hips, her brown eyes staring sternly at the little boy sleeping peacefully leaning against a Cabana tree.

Atop one of its upper branches….the sight made Arisella grimace.

“A child sleeping on a tree branch? Isn't he afraid of falling...? And he is strangely familiar…”

She muttered to herself.

“Don't you see it? I'm just resting. “What's wrong anyway?” Responding to the girl, the boy only opened a few of his eyes, glancing askance at the beautiful girl from above, before waving his left hand disdainfully in her direction while his right arm was used as a pillow.

Her beautiful black hair, evidently dyed in her eyes, moved with the gentle breeze of the wind as she kept her eyes closed with a clear unwillingness to move from her position, legs crossed in a relaxed position. He looked quite comfortable despite being in a place that would scare the shit out of another person...

"Hey! You can't spend hours doing nothing! Aunt Alica needs us to help her clean the church sheds! “You have to help us like everyone else in the orphanage!”

“I think Alibama will be fine on its own. She can use Divine Magic or something, right?”

“I already told you not to call her that!”

“Alibama suits him better than Alica anyway.”

“You…!” The girl stomped her foot on the ground, frustrated and upset with her friend. The boy, on the other hand, just smirked as he silently listened to her snatch, as if he would find her cute.

"Hey! Do not make fun of me! Come with me now"

“Are you going to force me?”

The boy, Atlas, laughed out loud at her this time, as if the prospect of being dragged by the girl was itself ridiculous. Well, he looked like a boy of about 14 years old, so little she was helpless in that sense…

“What are you laughing at!? You will see!"

Unable to bear it, the girl walked steadily towards the tree with an adorable growl and tried to climb it, not caring if it would dirty her white dress. The boy was concerned for a few moments before her action, but she shrugged in the end as if he trusted her ability to climb trees.

“Hey, don't do that!” Arisella yelled loudly when she saw the brat doing something so reckless, but her voice didn't seem to reach her.

Furthermore, in some ways that expended more spiritual power on his part, although not in a significant way.

“Losing spiritual power….Is this a vision? But why….? Eh? Now that I think about it…Doesn't that girl look like me?“

Opening her eyes, Arisella screamed against her better judgment, “Am I having a vision of the past!?”

Ignoring the loss of spiritual power, Arisella wondered how the hell this happened without using an ability, let alone why it happened when she collided with that nasty sphere.

“Huh?” Having managed, against Arisella's expectations, to climb with some success to the top, the girl suddenly blinked and looked back, as if she had heard her scream, causing her to take a wrong step.

Oh shit!

"Ah!"

"¿¡Arisella!?"

Hearing the girl screaming in fear, Atlas opened his eyes and looked at her with his bright golden eyes, seeing how she seemed to be about to fall.

Without thinking twice, the boy jumped from his branch with determined eyes towards her, who finally slipped with an expression of sadness and fear.

Taking advantage of her weight and thanks to her quick reaction, the boy reached her and took little Arisella in his arms and, changing his center of gravity with inhuman skill, he landed on his two feet on the ground.

Carrying the girl in her arms like a princess.

Arisella was speechless, especially seeing her smaller self blushing quite a bit after overcoming the fright in the arms of the mosquito who was looking at her in panic, with a pale expression.

“Could I alter the vision, or was it the past? Wait…more importantly, why the hell did I blush like a lovestruck maiden in this scene, and who the hell is Atlas?”