"...what the heck are you saying, Pearl?" 

Aurum was the first and only one to speak up against Pearl's suggestion. Pearl flinched at the rising harshness in Aurum's voice, but refused to back down. Instead, she repeated herself calmly, her confidence only increasing.

"I...can stop them. I can stop the Hellslimes from destroying this village."

Everyone was silent.

Arianwen stared at Pearl impassively. No emotions showed on her face, but silent, cold calculation could be seen deep in her eyes. Eric and the Elite guard member just stayed out of the conversation, both deciding that this kind of conversation was far out of their expertise.

The silence was far from comfortable.

It conveyed a certain tension that became physically palpable as time passed.

Arianwen eventually turned to both Eric and the Elite guard, giving them a nod. Both understood her orders, giving short salutes before disappearing into the tower that housed the staircase for ascending the wall.

Only Pearl, Arianwen, and Aurum remained, slowly watching more and more of the slimes join into the ever-growing explosive mass, a mass which began to slowly approach the wall. At its' speed, they had, at most, maybe half-an-hour left.

"Pearl..." Aurum took a step towards Pearl again, and Pearl remained rooted in place, unwavering. "Don't be stupid." Aurum spat, venom in her voice. "You...you're too weak. Way too weak! You know that, don't you? You can't seriously be stupid enough to think someone as weak as you could stop that kind of thing alone!"

"Aurum."

Arianwen immediately reprimanded her, but Aurum didn't need her teacher's stern voice to know that what she was saying was wrong. The moment those words left her mouth, she regretted it. But for some horrible reason, she just couldn't stop her mouth from moving.

It made her feel horrible. For the first time in her life, she felt like she was on the same level as those villagers she despised so much. She'd taken advantage of what Pearl had confided in her about, and ripped that vulnerability to shreds, all in an attempt to stop Pearl from doing what she had seen as a stupid decision.

"W-Wait, Pearl. Pearlie, I-"

"Don't call me that, Aurum. And if you don't think I can do this, don't stay around, either." Pearl responded coldly, her voice devoid of that usual warmth it held. Any reservedness was gone, replaced by an immediate distancing from the quarter-dragonling. 

On the surface, she showed no weakness, but inside, those words started to brew inner turmoil. Aurum was one of her two pillars - one of her only friends, one of the people who she thought actually believed in her potential...

"I can't believe it..." Pearl muttered, her hands balled into fists. For the first time in her life, she actually felt...angry.

Was this what Aurum thought about her this whole time? That she was just a weakling? Could Aurum not even have a shred of faith in her, despite the fact that they'd been protecting each other's lives for these past three weeks?

"Miss Arianwen..." Pearl looked up at the Guard Captain. She didn't know her well, but had only seen her in passing, on the rare occasions that she had been by Thomas' house. "I won't ask you to believe in me. I know it's really stupid to think a little girl could stop something like that. But... could you please take me down there? That's all you have to do."

At that moment, Aurum knew that what she had said was something she couldn't take back. The way Pearl completely shut her out, and instead turned to someone that was a complete stranger to her instead, was heart-rending.

All her life, Aurum had shut other people out. Thomas and Arianwen were the only two she bothered fostering any kind of relationship with, until Pearl came along. 

She had no idea that this was how it felt to be shut out by another person. There had to be something, anything she could say to make it up to Pearl.

"Pearl-"

"MISS ARIANWEN!" Pearl yelled, something that neither present had seen happen before. Aurum, ever proud and confident, stepped back from the sheer power in Pearl's voice. Her small frame shivered, clearly wracked with emotion that she was barely containing. "Please...before she says anything else that'll get rid of this determination in my heart. Please."

Arianwen sighed, looking between both Pearl and Aurum. Frankly, she was torn. It was a critical situation, and leaving a girl like that down there was tantamount to murder. In what world would a responsible adult send a child to take care of an issue that they should've been prepared for in the first place? 

Putting aside the issues developing between these girls, her immediate answer to that heartfelt plea would've been a cold, immediate 'No.'

However, she had to consider the deal made between herself and Diamante. When she considered the Crown Princess' terms, it was almost like she had been expecting something like this to happen.

The terms of the deal, put simply, was this: 

"Until I become the Queen, become my sister's arms and legs. And for her own good...make her stronger, please. For my purposes, I require a challenger, not a weak waste of space."

Essentially...she would be returning to service, not as Diamante's personal protector, but to that of her sister - the hidden second princess of the kingdom, Lulu Tesora...or as Aurum called her, "Pearl."

And in those interests, she had to bring Pearl down there. Even if it went against her principles, she had to keep her end of the deal. 

If it was for her son, she'd become a demon to give him the life he deserved.

"Okay." All of her thoughts and feelings were summed into a simple, one-word response, as they usually were. She turned to her student, nodding towards the direction of the city. "Aurum, go and find Thomas. If he's not in the city, good. But just in case this goes wrong, I need both you and him to be out of here, and safe. I'll stay and watch the wall - if Pearl can't do this, then I'll bring her outside the village with me."

The only person that cared more about Thomas than her, was Aurum. While she would've prefered to secure her boy's safety herself, she knew that Aurum's love for him ran deep. Deep enough to get her moving.

"Y-Yeah...okay, ma'am." Even if she was struck by her own betrayal of Pearl's trust, she knew that her teacher's words were right. If she couldn't do anything here...it was second-best to try and make sure Thomas was safe.

Besides...some part of her really needed to see him right now.

The golden form of her wings materialized behind her, filling the area with a radiant glow. Aurum turned to look at Pearl, trying to search for any opportunity to apologize - but Pearl wouldn't even meet her gaze.

She sighed deeply, using her draconic strength to launch herself into the air and soar, disappearing into the rest of the village in the distance.

"...were you sure? Aurum doesn't open her heart to just anyone, you know." 

Now that her student was gone, Aria couldn't help but question the conflict entirely. Of course, she wouldn't interfere in these young ones' developments - nor was she particularly good at fostering relationships, but she did know that she enjoyed it most when her son was happy.

And he seemed the most happy when the three of them had been together over the last 3 weeks. The happiest she had ever seen him since his father was still alive.

"If she really cared about our friendship...then she wouldn't have said that." 

With those words, Pearl walked over to Arianwen, who merely nodded and picked her up, easily traversing down the wall and towards the moving slime mass with impressive speed, the two moving fast enough to feel the wind rushing around them.

It was a few minutes before they arrived near the slowly growing slime. Despite their distance, none of the smaller slimes even bothered to attack them, mindlessly charging in to help the main mass grow.

"...If it gets too dangerous, I'm pulling you out." 

Arianwen spoke, in a tone of authority that left no room for disagreement.

"Yes."

But for once in her life, Pearl didn't feel uncertain of what she was doing. Aurum's stinging words still echoed in her mind, but they didn't make her falter. She only felt her resolve strengthen even more. 

The giant slime slowly approached, its' gelatinous form towering well over her. It was reaching almost half the size of the walls that surrounded the entire village of Aureal.

Her hands lifted to grip her scarf, which glowed with a faint gray aura. She took a deep breath, focusing on the mana that resided within her. Just like always, she could feel her uselessly large level of mana. 

"Because you're weak."

"You can't seriously be stupid enough to think someone as weak as you could stop that kind of thing alone!"

"You always do that, don't you?" 

Ever since she was a child, not a single person believed in Pearl. By the time she was old enough to remember, her mother was already dead. Her father, the King, never paid attention to any of his children.

Most of her days were spent locked in a room far away from anyone else, wistfully staring out at a garden she didn't even have the chance to frolick through.

She had large amounts of Mana, but there was no purpose to it.

She had acquired a Treasure at a young age, but it only enabled her to channel the weakest type of magic - Natureless magic.

She had no friends, she never went to a school of any kind, there were no supporters backing her, and she obviously had no chance at even glancing towards the throne. Her sisters didn't even consider her family, let alone the royal family as a whole, which refused to acknowledge her existence.

What was her proof for living in this world? 

What was her role?

Why was she even born? 

She thought she'd finally found friends, but after opening her heart, one of them had used her own feelings, her deepest and innermost thoughts that were never shared with anyone, to hurt her.

There was really only Thomas left...and she couldn't see him right now. If he was here, she was sure he'd come up with some sort of super smart plan to save everyone, in the same way he saved her life.

But it was up to her. 

Useless Pearl.

Weak Pearl.

Indecisive, unwanted Pearl.

If this was what trying to connect to other people caused - this sort of pain, then Pearl was done even attempting to rely on others. If all her connections would do was hurt her, then all she needed to do was become someone who didn't need any connections.

If everyone took advantage of her because she was weak...then all she needed was strength, right?

"Phew..."

People within the world of Treasure Quest have a mostly flawed understanding of magic.

Due to magic-related Treasures being used as catalysts for magic, most don't even bother with attempting to go through the complicated process of trying to manipulate it personally. Even for the greatest of mages, using magic outside of what their Treasures allowed was a task of extreme focus and dedication, one that required endless years of study. 

After all, if you had talent for magic, you'd eventually find a Treasure that allowed you to use it. Why go through the trouble?

However, for Pearl, locked up within her room, all she had was magic. Ever since she was old enough to read, all she did was study magic endlessly. Even if she couldn't cast magic manually, she could at least learn the principles behind it.

It was why she could cast spells so quickly and efficiently. She was weak, but when it came to manipulating her mana, she was matched by very few in the palace. 

It was also why she began to grasp the true power of Natureless magic.

An element without form or connection...mistakenly, most just thought that it meant forming the magic into buffs. That was all that most people could imagine, with their limited amounts of mana, and limited imagination.

However, with Pearl's extremely large mana pool, and her dedication to magical academics, she reached an understanding that nobody else could.

If you had a large amount of magical energy that had no distinct form, shape, or connection to anything else...

Didn't that just mean that you could turn it into whatever you wanted, if you tried?

"First, gather the mana..."

Pearl murmured to herself, with her hands reaching out in front of her. She knew that if she even bothered holding out, that it wouldn't be enough to stop the giant slime's explosion. Therefore, she reached deep inside herself, pulling out every ounce of magical energy that she could.

The world in front of Pearl faded into darkness, leaving only her and a large, slowly growing ball of grey-looking energy. It was a mass of energy without purpose or form, one that likely would've just disappeared into nothingness if Pearl didn't move quickly.

"Remember that feeling..."

She inhaled.

Thinking back to that small shield she made to protect Thomas, it had just been out of instinct to protect him.

'That means this energy follows what I want to do. If I'm precise enough with it...'

Color returned to the world, and with it, the large ball of energy that Pearl had summoned.

Arianwen, just a little bit behind Pearl, rose her eyebrows in surprise. That magical power...not only her, but every magician in the radius of the village of Aureal must have noticed it.

That magical energy was something usually even the greatest of Archmages in the continent couldn't hope to output. It was more similar to that of an intelligent, named Demon, or those with a direct link to the goddess Tesora.

Yet this little girl wielded it, forming and shaping it to her will in a process Arianwen had never seen before. She wasn't a magician, but she used Sword Aura, a similar ability to magic. So she understood it - how much what Pearl was doing broke the laws of everything they had seen before.

The ex-strongest knight, the woman who wielded some of the greatest swordsmanship across the entire continent, unfathomable by most humans, couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculousness of it all.

Still, the giant Hellslime continued moving, now having reached its' full size. It was maybe only a few feet away from touching Pearl, and once it did, it would no doubt incinerate her small body on its' way to the walls.

Arianwen readied herself to grab Pearl and run - even if it meant interfering in that ridiculously huge spell.

But Pearl wouldn't need that help. She had already stepped into a realm among Diamante, Aurum, and the others...no, perhaps she was even beyond that.

Pearl had no idea, but she was innovating in the field of magic entirely - with the creation of a type of magic never seen before.

[Unique Magic]

"Follow my will...take form, and shape..." 

Pearl spoke the words that naturally flowed into her brain, a chant that she had never heard before, but just knew to say. 

The magic began to ripple and form, turbulent like a wave of water. 

"And allow me to grant you a purpose."

It happened in an instant - the magic exploded outwards into a sphere, one that completely encircled the Hellslime. Pearl's eyes glowed slightly, and she clasped her hand. 

The sphere closed, tightening in on the Hellslime, crushing it completely.

The monster, feeling the pressure, knowing it was soon to die without fulfilling its' purpose - exploded. 

Pearl almost fell from her feet, as she poured more and more Mana into the sphere to stop it from breaking, cracks spreading more and more through the surface. Fire leaked out through the cracks, as the explosion continued.

Arianwen prepared herself, already moving to grab Pearl, but by the time she reached her, it was already over.

The sphere fell apart, disappearing into nothingness, and left in its' place was a scorching hell of magma and fire - the aftermath of the slime's explosion, all contained within one small area.

Pearl faltered on her feet, feeling her consciousness fade. She had used up almost every bit of her giant mana reserves for that, but she had already decided - she'd never let herself be weak in front of another person again.

So she stood. 

She stood, knowing that she could now truly call herself strong.

In front of the nearly-ruined village of Aureal, Lulu Tesora had just created her first legend among many, cementing herself as a rightful contender for the throne with her power alone.

A girl originally destined to be assassinated, growing her power and having it bloom at this exact moment...it was a domino chain of effect, all caused by the actions of one variable.

A single extra.

overclockedw

I awaken and return...only for me to go back to writing again. Sorry for this huge pause guys, but I've actually been guilty of writing something on the side. I write on both AO3 and FFNet and I have a fanfic I'm very into doing right now. Uploads for this story will probably slow to about...3 a week? I want to have time to work on that other story as well. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!