"Y-You. Where did you come from?" Captain Lewis asks blankly. He points at Senna still trying to process the situation.
"Me? Since I made everything go black with my spell." Senna giggles seeing their blank expression. She maintains a smiling expression, while finally allowing herself to relax after the tiring act of pretending to be an overlord. {So tiring. It's a good thing I made it in time.}
Senna and Mika had been traveling for a full 8 days towards the closest city in the area. She detected the battle just as it fell into the limits of her [Detection] ability. Before dashing off to scout the situation, she casted a few spells on Mika. Mika wanted to come along, but they had already determined that Mika's body would be unable to handle the strain of Senna's high speed movement. Thus, Mika was forced to fly behind at her own pace in order to catch up to Senna.
Senna blinded everyone with a simple spell as she arrived to stall for time and determine the sides. The complicated situation of carefully analyzing the background of everyone would take time, so she made preparations. She formed a mass of magic to use as a puppet and coupled it with her spell to create something incredibly eye catching. A benefit of her ridiculously strong growth was the massive improvements to spell. It allowed her to make it as realistic as possible, while distorting not only their sight, sound, and touch, but also mask her spell entirely from a magician’s senses. With her spell active, she could take her time and gather as much information as needed with her [Identification] and [Analysis] skills.
However, not everything well according to her plan. When she was still gathering information, Mika's voice rang in her mind. {Sis! I'm almost there!} Senna quickly glances at Mika's direction.
{I'm almost done here. You don't need to rush.} Senna replies.
{Ehhh... I want to help! Let me do something!} Senna feels a wave of Mika's devastation hitting her at full force. The immediate shift to a restless plea transmits clearly to her. The negative aspects of the Blood Contract began to affect Senna. Even though she wants to shield Mika from the brunt of any danger, it is equally difficult to reject Mika’s desire for participation because of their strong emotional connection.
Senna sighs giving in. {Okay. Fine. You can help me fight some humans that are hiding right now.}
{Yay! Where are they?} Mika mentally cheers.
Senna gives a wry smile at Mika's emotional flip. {You're not going to ask what's happening?}
{If they're fighting Sis, they must be bad. They deserve to die.} Mika replies with a cold blooded ruthlessness.
Senna smiles freezes as she facepalms at Mika’s blind faith. {Got it. We need to talk later.}
{I’m kidding.} Mika adds.
{Okay. Either way, let's talk later.} Senna sighs and notes Mika's current position. {Fly to the right...There! Burn everything! No need for restraint!}
{Okay!} Mika immediately releases a strong stream of fire quickly melting the sand and igniting it. Mika gained some experience fighting against wild animals as they traveled and with Senna's protection, Mika learned various ways of using her magic. However, while Mika could control her magic to precisely attack a target, she still preferred to attack with full force. She happily complied in attacking with pure power and with no concern to controlling her magic.
Senna hastens her information gathering, while making sure Mika stays safe. Since most of the desert wildlife has been cleared out due to the assassins' stake out, the two of them could destroy everything in the area without worrying about the consequences. Mika has a tacit understanding that Senna will clean up the aftermath and restore things to normal no matter how much destruction either one of them causes.
Senna occasionally gives directions to Mika allowing Mika to round up all the assassins in a circle of fire. Mika used the same tactic of rounding up her targets before dousing the interior of the fire circle with even more fire. Her flames melt down the desert sand forming a layer of molten glass just like Senna, and continue to burn and spread atop the molten mass.
Feeling the threat to their lives, the trapped assassins attack Mika without restraint. However, Mika's body is covered in a protective layer of fire in addition to a second layer made of pure magical energy. Any weapons used to attack her melt upon touching the . Most spells are weakened passing through the . However, they still end up dispersing upon striking the pure mass of energy from the spell.
Senna's protective side really shines with these barrier spells. On Mika's legs are three bracelets originally created for Senna. Senna passed them to Mika to have an extra layer of assurance and warped the bracelets to fit Mika's legs. , , and enchanted bracelets protect Mika when she battles on her own. Senna also made it a point to refill the magic within the bracelets before engaging in this battle, so that the enchantments could function at max capacity.
Mika forms a patch of molten lava with her , but is still going strong despite the magical power used. Senna notes the death of the assassins on Mika's side and tells Mika to stop. Mika reluctantly rears in her pyromaniac tendencies and flies back to Senna's side.
After gathering all the information she needed, Senna started to move. By that point, the white had just been fired. What both parties failed to notice was the actual heat emitted by the spell. A barrier was secretly formed around the lance to contain most of the residual heat from the white . If not, everything within a hundred meter radius would have instantly ignited and burnt to ash. At the impact point, Senna formed a barrier to contain the spell, but made some intentional openings to still be able to make a show with the weakened version.
The elimination of the assassins was simple and direct because it wasn't an . The spell was cast while aligning with the immobile Black Being to make it look like it casted the spell. The spell actually carved out large trenches in the sand before Senna sealed it with to eliminate all trace of the destruction. In a way, the show was excessively grand with corpses, weapons, and magical tools being destroyed beyond recognition.
Senna proceeded to heal all the injured with an advanced . The thought of adding a based healing spell to supplement the magic from the healing circle crossed Senna's mind, but she decided to abstain. She consciously went overboard with the attack spells, but opted to take her time and slowly treat anyone that ends up needed extra healing.
With the situation resolved, Senna calmly waited for the Royal Guards to run away, so she can properly clear the remaining destruction. The glass spoon that was formed from molten sand would be especially useful once it was re-melted and clear of impurities. She didn't anticipate that they would make such a large commotion and end up approaching her though. She chose to reveal herself since it wasn't a complete negative to reveal her existence. In addition, the arrogant tone of the Black Being is quite the tiresome act for her to maintain. Continuing with the farce would take more effort and time to spin a believable story. It would be easier to be upfront at this point rather than get caught in her lie later. With that, the situation developed to Senna's current conversation.
“My puppet played his part, so I dispersed the spell since it was no longer needed.” Senna replies.
"Wait! An spell? Everything just now was fake?" Captain Lewis interrupts. His eyes bulge processing her words. The other men also stare at her in the same fashion of blank shock.
"It depends on what you decide to call fake. Most of it was real to an extent. However, that thing was simply meant to be a realistic statue. Also, how you want to view THAT is your own choice." Senna replies pointing behind them.
They turn around and remember the large molten glass crater burning behind them. The red glow of the crater makes them shudder once again at the pure magnitude of the destruction.
"If you have something you wish to ask, then please feel free. I will be cleaning up the area in the meantime." Senna bows slightly and walks to the side.
“Wait.” King Victor calls out.
“Yes?” Senna stops in place and turns back to the group.
“I am King Victor Erein, monarch to the Erein Kingdom. On behalf of the Erein Royal Family, I thank you for saving us all.” King Victor expresses his gratitude. “…But, why did you help us? From what I understand adventurers don’t offer their assistance unless they receive a reward for their actions.”
“Well, that view isn’t wrong. Most of them are like that. Mmm……” Senna laughs with a wry smile. “…Since you asked, I’ll answer honestly.” Senna points at Princess Liliana. “It would be unpleasant on my conscious to leave a child to die. That’s all.”
Their gazes gather on the young Princess. "Me?" Princess Liliana points at herself.
"Yep." Senna nods.
"Muuu... Don't treat me like I'm a kid! I'm already 8!" Princess Liliana declares sticking out her chest proudly. She stands on her toes as she holds her head high in the air.
"Yes. And I think it would be a waste if you were killed at your age." Senna smiles back.
"Is that really your only aim?" Captain Lewis asks dubiously.
"Yes. Otherwise, why would I go to the trouble?" Senna chuckles. "If I wanted you dead, then I wouldn't have bothered to help or even go so far as to heal everybody. Frankly, there's no merit in making enemies with the ruler of a kingdom."
"...That's true." Captain Lewis is forced to assent to her reply.
Senn shrugs at his reply in a carefree manner. "Regardless, I should clean that mess up before it causes too many problems. If you need any medical treatment, then just give me a call."
Senna launches herself into the air flying over King Victor's group. The guards tightly grip their weapons as she passes over them, but she ignores them landing at the edge of the crater. She lifts the glass spoon into the air with magic and snaps the handle. Tossing it over the bowl portion of the spoon, Senna reignites the residual flame and superheats it. The glass drips down melting into an open box shaped barrier. When the last of the glass melts, manipulates the collected molten glass and discards the impurities. Collecting the excess flames, Senna discreetly uses
