"Wow," Mia said, eyes wide as she stepped foot into the cleared-out conference room Nikki had taken over for tonight's rituals.

The tiles on the floor had all been merged into a single cohesive floor by what was undoubtedly the working of an Earth mage. It looked like the whole floor had been carved out of a single, enormous chunk of granite, and into that chunk Nikki had carved an astounding amount of intricate shapes and sigils, some of which Mia actually recognised as runes.

"You came just in time," Nikki said, glancing up at the two women, her eyes lingering for a moment on Carmilla with some hesitation. She shook it off quickly enough, then she was back to being professional. "I'm just about done with the preparations and I'll be needing your help with it."

"My help?" Mia asked, tiptoeing around a palm-sized rune sitting in the middle of a triangle which itself linked up with other shapes holding other runes a few steps away.

"Yes," Nikki said, a frown on her face as she looked down at the latest engraving she had done. "To be blunt, the purification ritual is being difficult and I just about figured out why, but I'll only know for sure if I ask. So, do tell me, what would you say symbolises purity in your culture?"

"Purity?" Mia asked dumbly, blinking as she thought the question over. Others would have thought Nikki was just being eccentric by asking such a random question while working magic, but Mia had learned from her short experience with spellcrafting that symbolism was important. "I guess the colour white? White feathers, a … white dove maybe? Lilies! Those are pretty little white flowers."

"White?" Nikki raised an eyebrow in apparent confusion. "How? Why?"

"What?" Mia was just as confused. White had been the colour associated with purity for centuries, the colour brides wore as clothes and like, a million other things. Hell, even on the other end of the world, for oriental cultures the white lotus flower represented spiritual purity. "It's not like that for your people?"

"No," Nikki said, now glaring down at the etchings like they owed her money. "Blue is the colour most associated with purity in the Mystic Realm, as it is the colour mana takes on in its purest form. A soft, light blue. It's also the colour of untouched springs and ponds, and of the sky above. White … is ice, snow and air."

"That's … fascinating," Mia said, tapping her lips with a finger as she thought of the implications. She had known Nikki came from a culture fundamentally different from any on Earth, despite some stark similarities, but now she also had a clear example to drive the notion home. Camie coughed, and Mia gave her an apologetic look as she got back on the topic. "But how does that concern us and this ritual?"

Camie had started learning Imperial Common herself and Mia was pretty sure the vampire only needed that final fifth native to talk with to complete her own linguistic quest. She could even understand a simpler conversation or sentences already, though Mia suspected her inherited bloodline memories — spotty as they were in most aspects not associated with advancing her power as a vampire — had helped her. After all, her progenitor had been a native speaker of the language.

Meaning, she could probably sorta understand what the two of them were talking about.

"The purification ritual was being obstinate and I didn't know why," Nikki said, pointing at a particular section of the circle where a tiny vial sat in a small bowl-like indent. It was nothing magical to Mia's senses and by the look of it, it was likely simple water. "I was trying to use this vial of water and some blue paint combined with runes symbolising the sky and purity to establish the connection we need with the Argent Plane. But of course it didn't work, not with the Spirit Realm being so different here. I don't even know how I forgot to account for the fact that I'm not in the Mystic Realm anymore."

"The ritual is dependent on the spirit realm?" Mia asked, trying to get as much esoteric knowledge out of the woman as possible. "And it's different here? What does that mean?"

"The Spirit Realm is … complicated." Nikki frowned. "It has several layers to it, and the first layer — the one closest to our physical reality — is a reflection of it. It is an imprint, you could say, of everything of import that happens in our world. We are going to use the imprint generated by your culture's concept for purity by using its symbols to access a Plane on the second layer. The Argent Plane in specific, a dimension filled with purifying silver energy, which we will use to purge any lingering miasma from the monster cores."

Mia nodded thoughtfully, making sure to memorise everything Nikki was saying. She remembered that ritual, the one that would let her summon a pair of spiritual knights and bind them to herself. The runic lexicon it had been in said one of the requirements was to cast the ritual in a location once drenched in blood and carnage, with another one being a location where a heroic warrior met their end.

So that's what that meant! Mia thought. The slaughter would have left an 'imprint' on the spirit realm, and the ritual is supposed to draw energy from that? Or would it also just be using it to access some other Plane deeper into the realm?

"I didn't get even half of what she was saying there," Camie whispered to Mia, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"She's explaining the theory behind how the ritual works," Mia said in German. "Want me to translate it for you?"

"No," Camie said. "Maybe later, once this is done. I don't want to keep you back."

"Alright." Mia smiled at the vampire before turning back to Nikki and switching languages. "So we would need something to replace your symbolic objects?"

"Yes," Nikki said, nodding dourly. "And I will have to somehow modify the part responsible for using them up … I think I will need to inscribe another whole circle around this one to take care of the backlash if I mess something up."

"Sooooo," Mia said warily, flinching a little as the woman's icy glare turned on her. "What should we get? I could probably get a few of the army guys to get us what you need. How many of these symbolistic objects do you need?"

"Three different ones would be best," Nikki said, visibly forcing her tight facial expression to relax. "Three that are all somehow linked together to the concept of the colour white symbolising purity. A white feather, lily flower and something else would probably work."

"Okay, got it." Mia nodded, then spoke up after hesitating for a second. "Should we do this tomorrow instead? … you look exhausted."

"Don't worry, even if I look like a walking corpse, I won't mess up a ritual this simple." Nikki grunted, back to glaring at the circles before she took out a small notebook and started sketching out something in it. "There are some points of failure, but they will be down to external variables I can't really control or your own mana control. Get me those conduits and we can begin."

"Okay," Mia said, a bit cowed by the sudden intensity in the woman. She thought of clarifying that she had just wanted to be nice and let Nikki rest, not worried about the ritual failing like the woman was thinking, but thought better of it. I really should have been worried about that instead. It can't be good to do magic this complicated while being so tired. "Come on Camie, we gotta get some knick-knacks for our ritual."

"Knick-knacks?" The vampiress asked as she turned to follow Mia out of the room.

"You know," Mia started, starting to count on her fingers. "Frog legs, a bit of virgin blood, bottled moonlight and maybe some pickled spider eyes."

"Right," Camie said, sounding unsure whether Mia was messing with her. "Where will we find any of that stuff?"

"I have no idea," Mia said with exaggerated cheer, waving an army guy over as she walked. "Thankfully, what we actually need is a bit simpler."

"Yes, Miss?" the soldier asked, sounding just a bit grouchy about having to stand up from his comfy chair. "What can I help you with?"

"I will need some swan or dove feathers, a lily flower, preferably white and maybe a white bridal dress," Mia said. "Can you get me any of that? If not, alternatives of each would also work. The only important thing will be that they are white and somehow symbolise purity."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"I … see," he said, nodding slowly despite clearly not understanding a thing. "I will call up my superior and the warehouses. If neither has what you need, I'm sure we can collect some from the citizenry for some minor compensation."

"Alright, thanks!" Mia said. "We will be in my room, or down in the gym. Thanks for the help."

"It's my job." The man shrugged. "Will that be all?"

"Yes," Mia said. "For now."

*****

"Think this'll work?" Mia asked, holding up a tiny feather that was supposedly sourced from a poor swan that was just a little too slow to escape an overworked soldier's Water Manipulation.

"Won't know until we try," Camie said with a shrug. "I'm just glad we didn't have to run around trying to catch those damned birds ourselves."

"Yeah," Mia said, putting the feather back into a small cardboard box next to the other two. One which held a fresh lily someone got from a nice old lady's flower garden who'd been generous enough to give it to them for free, while the other held a folded up bridal dress. "I suppose there are more benefits to having the military be indebted to us than just the magical stuff and books we got."

"It comes with power," Camie said with a faraway look in her eyes. "The stronger we get, the more influential we become and the more everyone weaker than us will fawn over us. You should get used to it."

"You think so?" Mia raised an eyebrow. "Where did that come from anyway? Vampire memories or TV shows?"

"Vampire memories," Camie said, then her cheeks warmed up a little. "Mostly. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong!"

"You're right, it doesn't," Mia said, tapping her lips thoughtfully before shrugging and shouldering the backpack holding all the conduit items in their cardboard boxes. "Let's get going. It's dark outside and we have stuff to do tomorrow."

Both of their Body stats were getting high, which reduced their need for sleep some. But while Camie could function on one or two hours of sleep every other day by now, Mia still needed at least a handful of hours every night to feel suitably rested.

As they made their way back to the room Nikki had claimed as her ritual room, Mia was thinking about what Camie had said.

Or rather, the flip side of it. The vampiress said she would have to get used to disingenuous fawning, but Mia knew that for everyone reacting positively to someone getting powerful, two more will be the opposite.

How many people will absolutely lose their shit about some petite elfin girl with more power in her pocket than a tank? How many of the erstwhile world leaders and people in power will freak out about losing control of their citizenry?

Because lose control they will. As well as trust and whatever facade of dependability they had. Sure, no one could have expected them to foresee the magical apocalypse, but a lot of people died. No one will trust the old governments and the militaries to keep them safe ever again.

Maybe the few people who were saved from monsters by the army directly would, but those would be a minority. From what Mia heard, the military focused its presence in the largest handful of cities in the country and left the rest to fend for themselves.

If the people of the countryside and those living in smaller towns survived — which was a dubious prospect just by itself — they would be rightfully angry at the army for abandoning them.

This will be a shitshow of astronomical proportions even if we manage to kill every single monster in the country tomorrow.

"What are you thinking about?" Camie nudged her with an elbow as they walked, making Mia jump a little. "You smell depressed."

"The world's really fucked, isn't it?" Mia said in way of an answer. "Like, even if we manage to survive this bullshit, Earth is dead. The Earth we knew is anyway. Even if all the monsters dropped dead right now and all magic went away, things would never be the same."

"Why would you want things to be the same?" Camie asked, not confused, nor condescending, just … inquisitive. "Sure, all this is pretty apocalyptic, but we have magic and stepped onto the path to true power. We can be immortal, bend reality to our will, reshape mountains on a whim … once we get strong enough. But it's all on the table now, what did we have before? I was dead and you worked on making websites look fancy."

"I worked on making sure idiots didn't mess up making websites," Mia corrected mildly, huffing. She had nothing against graphic designers, but that was an artsy profession. Those people would never know the pain of looking for a bug in a thousand line long code, only to find a simple colon at the end of a line where a semicolon should have been. "But I get what you're saying … still. Two thirds of the city are dead or dying. There had been about eight billion humans on Earth just a few months ago, how many still live? Two? One? Less than even that?"

"It is what it is," Camie said, eying Mia carefully for any explosion or negative reaction, when she found only a frown, she shrugged. "I know I'm being callous, but I don't really care. Sure, I pity everyone who got hurt, killed or whatever else by this apocalypse … but I'm alive again, with people who I like more than my own parents. If someone gave me the choice to change everything back to how it had been, I wouldn't take it. Not in a million years."

"I understand that," Mia said, and she really did. More than she would have liked to admit. If she got the opportunity to change everything back, would she? She was pretty sure of her answer by now, but didn't want to admit it and even then, it made her feel guilty. "I think I do, anyway."

"I think you do too," Carmilla said with a gentle smile that cut through the haze of guilt around Mia's heart and bathed it in a comforting warmth. "You shouldn't feel guilty about being selfish. Also, all those are just hypotheticals. The world is never going back to how it was, so there are only upsides to enjoying every silver lining in this new reality as much as you can."

"Since when have you gotten so good at words?" Mia grumbled, crossing her arms in an exaggerated show of indignation as she pouted.

"I never had problems with speaking, and I'm pretty good at reading emotions," Camie said, her lips curving into a smile. "Supernaturally good, you could say. And now I'm starting to understand what they mean too."

"Well, there has to be some upsides to dating a mind-reading vampire I guess," Mia huffed playfully. "Come on, Nikki will chew my head off if she figures out we'd been messing about after getting her stuff instead of heading right over."

*****

Mia watched Nikki dash around the room, making final touch ups, running the strange tool she had used to carve the ritual circles through some curving etchings once or twice more, nodding to herself after each in apparent satisfaction.

"Alright, okaaaaaaay-" Nikki said, icy blue eyes squinting suspiciously as she spun around in the middle of the room, her piercing gaze questing for any imperfection as it washed over the room one final time. After two spins, she turned to Mia and Camie. "Everything seems to be in order. We can start."

"Okay," Mia nodded, some of her sagging enthusiasm returning now that the ritual was finally beginning. "Do you need us to do anything? Or should we just watch from a distance."

"Yes," Nikki said without hesitation. "I could have added a mana conversion circuit, but the 'tranquil mana' ritual, which we will be starting with, uses Arcane mana as its fuel anyway so it'll be better with your mana fueling it. Come over here please and don't step on anything!"

Mia happily floated over to the blue haired woman, barely having to pay attention to the etched lines on the floor to avoid stepping onto them. Her heightened cognity and dexterity had let her run through a forest in a sprint without having to worry about tripping, her subconscious handling most obstacles. A few finger-deep etchings were barely worth a thought.

"This circle here," Nikki said as Mia crouched down next to her, pointing at a simple circle etched into the floor with lines traveling away from it, but its insides left empty. "Place your palm here and channel your mana into it. Don't worry about control, just push it out through your fingertips and let the circle take it away."

"Is that safe?" Carmilla spoke up, not in German but in broken Imperial Common. Her crimson brows furrowed in concern as she looked at Mia with her hand hovering just a few centimetres above the circle. Then continued in German for clarity. "I mean, if you charge the thing, won't you also make yourself susceptible to a backlash?"

"What?" Nikki asked with her eyes still wide in surprise, looking at Mia, then gave a slow nod when she explained the vampire's reasoning. "No, you don't need to worry. This is a rather low-power ritual, which is why you can power it by yourself at Rank 0. Also, even if it has any backlash, it will be omnidirectional and generated at the centre of the circle. You might get some more resonating damage because your mana powered it, but it is negligible."

"Define 'negligible'," Mia requested, sending a calming smile at Carmilla, which seemed to have the intended effect.

"You will get a mild headache and some bruises along your mana channels as the worst case scenario," Nikki said after a moment of thought, seemingly deciding to take the two inexperienced mages' worries about safety seriously. Which was a smart move on her part, as Camie looked murderously protective as she loomed over the other two. "Though it's all but certain to work and not come to that. This is an extremely basic ritual with a hundred different variations developed by diverse groups of researchers all around the Realm. This one in specific had been made with novice mages just starting out in mind at one of the foremost academies on the Aeternum Plane. It's as safe as a ritual can be."

"Okay," Mia nodded, quickly relaying the information to Carmilla, who calmed noticeably before aiming a question of her own at Nikki. "And what does it do? You called it 'mana serenity' or something?"

"It quells the tides of ambient mana," Nikki said like she was quoting it from a book. "In practice, it basically makes ambient mana almost static in a small space for a small time. Which helps stabilise any other rituals cast in that space. It's a must for us, especially with the ambient mana being as chaotic as it is around this Plane … -et."

Mia nodded slowly, trying to do her best to suck up all the knowledge like a sponge. As far as she knew, Nikki was some variant of an Ice Mage or just exactly that, but she still knew some rituals. That had to mean they were important, and that having a Ritualist Class or something similar wasn't a requirement for doing them.

Now that she thought of it like that, spells were the same way. One didn't have to be a Mage to do them, but it most certainly helped. She had even told Lina about the possibility of her manually casting Air spells if her Air Mana Manipulation skill became good enough to mould her mana into the required shapes. Spell circles were complicated, but not that complicated.

"I see," Mia said, nodding. "Thanks for answering. I know it must be annoying. You've learned all this stuff in whatever goes for elementary school where you were born and I'm here grilling you about it."

"Don't worry about it." Nikki waved her off. "I don't mind, especially if you ask me your next question after we are done with these rituals and I'm lying on a sofa with a warm mug of hot chocolate."

"Fair enough," Mia said with an apologetic smile, returning her gaze at the circle below her. "Alright. Tell me what I have to do."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.