"That white animal really surprised me," Aladdin said.
"Hakuryuu, you look pale," Alibaba observed. "Are you alright?"
"Did it hurt you?" Hope asked.
"Morgiana saved him, so I wouldn't think so," said Faith.
"... I'm alright," Hakuryuu said, still trembling a little.
"Morg, are you alright too?" Aladdin asked.
"Yes. That monster's claws just grazed me," Morgiana replied calmly.
"It doesn't look too bad, but let's treat it before we move on," Hope said, and she and Alibaba started looking through the bags for bandages.
"Um... Lady Morgiana, I'm sorry. It was my fault," Hakuryuu said with regret. "And also, I won't hold you two back next time!" he added to Alibaba and Aladdin. He felt bad. The twins hadn't done anything either, but at least they had been able to move out of the way.
"Don't worry about it," Morgiana told him. "It was really nothing."
"Hakuryuu, you are too serious!" Alibaba told him with a smile.
"..." Hakuryuu didn't feel any better.
"Kyaah!" they heard a faint echo that sounded like a screaming.
"?" Aladdin and Faith said.
"Did someone just scream?" Hope asked, furrowing her brow.
"What is it? Is it from the first room?" Alibaba asked as they ran back the way they came, following the sound of the scream. Aladdin and Alibaba made it out first. They could see someone small fighting the sunflowers and other creatures.
"!?" Aladdin gasped.
"Eh!? Why is that kid here!?" Alibaba exclaimed. It was the chief's granddaughter! She had a knife clutched in her hands, but the creatures had hold of her legs.
"Ah!" Hope gasped when she saw. She quickly pushed past the boys and rushed over to intervene. "Put down the knife! You're scaring them!" Hope called.
"I'm scaring them!!?" the girl said incredulously in the Torran language with tears streaming down her face. She was terrified. Hope waded into the fight and grabbed the girl, picking her up off of the ground. The creatures were so startled by her sudden appearance that they let go. Hope set the girl down and stood in front of her.
"Go home!" Hope told the creatures. "We're not going to hurt you, so go home." Alibaba and Morgiana hurried forward to help Hope clear up the misunderstanding. Aladdin, Faith, and Hakuryuu stayed with the girl.
"I told you not to follow us!!" Hakuryuu scolded her.
"Huh? Did you know about this?" Faith asked him.
—∞—
One explanation later...
"I see... you entered here to help your mother and your father," Aladdin said, once Hakuryuu had told them the whole story.
"... Sorry about this, it is my fault. I should have stopped her with more force... to think that she would be dragged into this as well," Hakuryuu said, feeling guilty.
"Don't feel that down, ok?" Aladdin told him.
"Sorry," Hakuryuu said glumly.
"..." Alibaba stared at him with a closed-eye smile. "How should I say it..." He put his hand on Hakuryuu's shoulder. "You are quite a pain in the ass for someone so serious, do you know that?"
"..." Hakuryuu wished he could say something back about that.
"That's something, coming from our number one pain in the ass," Faith said with a smirk, smirking more when Alibaba shot her a look.
"It's alright," Hope told the Torran girl with a reassuring smile. "We're strong, so we'll protect you while we save your parents and capture the dungeon."
"..." the girl stared at her. Hope's smile made her stop crying, but she didn't understand a word.
"Translation, please?" Hope asked, sweat-dropping.
"She said it's alright, because we're strong, so we'll protect you while we save your parents and capture the dungeon," Alibaba told the girl in the Torran language.
"Yes. Sorry... and thanks," the chief's granddaughter said in her language, crying with relief. The twins smiled. That didn't need to be translated.
"By the way, I didn't catch her name...?" Faith said.
"Uh, what's your name again...?" Alibaba asked the Torran girl in her language.
"It's Tiare," she replied.
"Tiare," Alibaba repeated for his friends.
"Right, Tiare! Let's go kick this dungeon's butt!" Faith said, getting excited again.
"I will not let you do that," another voice said.
"!?" Alibaba, Aladdin, Tiare, and the twins said. They looked up and saw a blue man standing on top of a really large leaf growing out of a tree. He jumped down and approached some of the dungeon creatures. They could see now that he was wearing some kind of mask/hat that reminded the twins of a Mardi Gras jester.
"Are you alright, Francois?" he asked a sunflower. "Are you hurt Arianne?" he asked a mouse creature holding an axe. "I see... there, there." he patted both of them on the head.
"Who? Who is he?" Alibaba asked.
"Well, he's blue, so..." Faith said.
"Could he be the Djinn...?" Hope finished, surprised he came to them.
"Correct! Now, you," the Djinn said, looking at them. "You will do me the favor of not bullying my cute little bears, right?" He snapped his fingers.
"...!!?" the others gasped as he suddenly grew in size, towering over them.
"Welcome to my stylish dungeon!!" the Djinn said grandly. He grinned at them. "I am the 61st Djinn, Zagan."
"T-The Djinn suddenly... appeared!" Alibaba exclaimed.
"..." Zagan regarded their group for a moment, looking for weaknesses. He reached out and snatched Tiare from their group.
"!?" she gasped.
"Hmm... a village girl? Guess I missed you before..." Zagan said, tapping her on the forehead with the tip of his long, sharp nail. Tiare was absolutely terrified.
"Stop!!" Hope shouted, clenching her fists.
"Let her go!" Hakuryuu demanded, turning his polearm on the Djinn.
"..." Again, the Djinn stared at them. "Eh?" he said, tilting his head. "What should I do... after you say something like that to me?" He licked Tiare.
"Ugh!?" Faith and Hope grimaced sympathetically.
"This girl... I wonder if she she is the most delicious one?" Zagan said, turning Tiare upside down. She cried out in fear and embarrassment as she hurried to use her hands to hold her skirt up. He pinched one of her legs, as if testing its tenderness.
"You bastard!!" Hakuryuu, Hope, and Faith shouted, all three of them plus Alibaba aimed their weapons and wand at him.
"!" Alibaba said when the jewel on his sword, where the eight-pointed seal of his Djinn was, glowed. "Uwaah!?" he exclaimed as something shot out of his sword. "A-Amon!!?" His Djinn was floating there in front of them, large as life.
"Sorry, Alibaba. I used a little of your magoi. I have to confirm something with him..." Amon said.
"Tch... Amon... of all things," Zagan said, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "Shut your mouth, you stinking old man."
"Zagan... Do you still intend to not choose a 'king'?" Amon asked.
"!!?" Alibaba gasped.
"Heh... that's right!" Zagan said, smirking. "I really hate those humans!" he said, making a disgusted face. "That's why I will not choose a human, and go there in that ugly world on the other side where humans hate each other." He acted like he was going to throw up. "Uoooeh, I feel so awful... I will not go there even if they kill me." Then he smiled. "It is a lot better to live together with... these stylish dungeon creatures I created. While I kill time bullying those eyesore humans that wander aimlessly around my dungeon!" he squeezed Tiare in his hand, making her cry.
"T-That bastard!" Alibaba and Faith shouted.
'Come on, Ipos...!' Hope thought, clenching her teeth. 'My life may not be in danger, but still...!'
"Hey!" Zagan said when something was thrust at him.
"Let her go!!" Hakuryuu said, holding his polearm, ready to attack again.
"..." Zagan stared at him. He smiled brightly. "Okay!" he said and shot up out of their reach, flying through the air to reach the higher levels. "If you will come to the treasure room! I will prepare one path for you!" A new door formed in the wall behind them. It had Zagan's mask on it.
"What the hell... someone like him is really a Djinn!?" Alibaba asked warily, stunned.
"What a total nutcase!!" Faith exclaimed. Hope frowned as she stared up after the Djinn.
"It is alright..." Amon said. "He is a Djinn... and he still has the disposition of choosing a king vessel if someone arrives to the treasure room... as proof of that, just a moment ago, he appraised you." Amon started to fade."Muh..."
"!! A-Amon! What's wrong!?" Alibaba asked. "You appear all of a sudden, and now you are disappearing!?"
"Yes... Because this time I cannot borrow the magi's power... the concentration of rukh inside of the dungeon is high, so I can materialize with less magoi than above ground, but this is the limit," Amon explained. "I'm surprised Ipos didn't come too."
"I think he's busy..." Hope said. He was probably still keeping her illness in check. Especially if there were more rukh around than usual.
"I see..." Amon said, staring at her.
"It takes more power up above? Is that why you didn't come when I called?" Aladdin asked.
"No..." Amon said, shaking his head. "Djinn are not supposed to materialize on the surface. Above, Djinn are to be pure power for use by a king. That is the purpose for which King Solomon made us."
"... ?!" Alibaba and Hope said.
'King Solomon... made the Djinn?' Hope thought.
"..." Aladdin stared up at Amon.
"Goodbye, Alibaba... We will probably not meet each other for a while..." Amon said, fading more.
"Amon!" Alibaba said.
"That's right... Alibaba... there is one last thing I have to say to you..." Amon said.
"What is it!? Amon!?" Alibaba said anxiously.
"I... I.... I will give birth... soon," the Djinn said with a soft expression, holding his belly, like an expectant mother.
'!?' Alibaba thought with wide eyes. "..." He watched Amon disappear back into the sword. "What the hell is he saying? That old man... It was kind of gross..."
"Sure was! Let's go, Alibaba," Faith said, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Let's go, Alibaba! Faith!" Aladdin said as he and everyone else headed for the door Zagan made for them. The door opened as they approached.
"So... this is that 'one path'?" Alibaba said as they walked through.
"Does anyone else think this screams 'trap'?" Faith asked.
"Yes, but we'll just have to risk springing it," Hope said. They all stopped, staring at the scene before them. In front of them, the floor dropped away, and there were these cubes floating in the air. Some of them had little rabbit-like animals in witch's hats sitting on them, holding staves. The coast looked clear on the other side of the abyss, where the floor picked up again.
'This is like something out of a video game...!' the twins thought.
"We have to pass through this... plus those creatures," Alibaba said, sweat-dropping. "Things will get bad if we fall."
"For now they seem quiet," Aladdin said. "What should we do?"
"This actually looks doable. As long as we're careful," Faith said.
"I'm concerned about the animals, but the only way out is through," Hope agreed.
"We have to go! No matter what kind of traps await us, this is the path to the treasure room!" Alibaba said boldly. Morgiana went first and helped the rest of them as they went. Hakuryuu seemed to need it the most.
—∞—
"You have a magi plus Amon and Ipos with you," Zagan said, staring at an image of them crossing the blocks. "You are too strong... I will raise the dungeon level a lot."
—∞—
"Aaaahhh~"
"!?" Morgiana gasped when she heard the singing again. "A strange voice is coming from above again!?"
"Isn't this Zagan's voice?" Alibaba asked.
"... Plus... this is the same voice from the other time..." Morgiana said.
"You mean when the white bear went crazy?" Hope asked as the bunnies twitched and started changing.
"I'll smash you flat!!" the one behind her shouted as it opened its face, revealing four flaps of skin lined with teeth and a huge eyeball at the center.
"What is this!?" Alibaba cried as they all changed to become more aggressive.
"I knew it! It is the same thing that happened when that white monster began to go on a rampage!" Morgiana said. "I'm sure that Zagan's voice... makes the dungeon creatures become ferocious!!"
"Grar! Grar! Grar! Grar!!" three of the rabbits growled, teaming up. "We'll smash you flat...!!"
"Uwaaaah!?" Alibaba cried, dropping low to cling to his block when a rabbit zoomed past and nearly knocked him off it. Aladdin fell off his when two rabbits slammed into the space he was standing at once from opposite directions.
"Aladdin!" Hope yelled, grabbing his hand as he fell past her. She gripped him with both hands and helped him climb up to stand on her block, then jumped to the next one so they each had more space to move.
"We can't advance like this!!" Alibaba yelled.
"..." Hakuryuu furrowed his brow. He gripped his polearm. "In that case... we have to defeat them all and block their movements!!" He launched himself at the nearest rabbit. He tried to slice it in half, but an energy barrier popped up between them, crackling where he hit it. 'It was repelled!?'
—∞—
"That's useless. These children are magic users!" Zagan said. "Their best techniques are floating magic and borg!!"
—∞—
"Uwaaah!!" Hakuryuu cried as he fell. He landed in a pair of strong arms. "Lady Morgiana...!" She had her legs wrapped around the neck of the rabbit driving her block to keep it from causing trouble. "Uhm... for a girl to hold me in her hands... you can put me down..." he said, getting flustered.
"Don't move, please," Morgiana said calmly. She tried punching a rabbit, but it put a borg up.
"Borg...?" Hope said.
"In that case...!" Alibaba said, drawing his sword. He launched himself at another rabbit, covering his sword with flames as he stabbed the borg with it. The borg cracked. "I knew it! Amon's flames are working! Could it be because it is a power from the magoi!? But if they continue to fly around like that... Amon's sword will never reach them!!" He gritted his teeth and furrowed his brow. 'I have little magoi left... because he materialized in here!!" Two rabbits started targeting Hope the same way they had gone after Aladdin.
"Hope!!" Aladdin and Faith called, alarmed. Hope furrowed her brow and braced herself. At the last second, she sprang up into the air, jumping above the two rabbits attacking her. Ipos must have decided her life was sufficiently endangered, because she was able to summon her claws. She landed on top of one rabbit, punched a hole through its borg, and threw it at the other one. The first one slammed into the second's borg with enough force to send them both rolling off the other block. While she still had her Djinn equip, Hope began jumping from one block to the next, clearing them of rabbits.
—∞—
"What...!?" Zagan said, surprised by how suddenly she seemed to level up. He knew she had Ipos, but still... she was clearing away all the rabbits far too easily.
—∞—
"Aaaaahhh~"
"Not again!" Faith complained as the rabbits all suddenly shifted their blocks several degrees, making Hope miss the next one and fall.
"!" Morgiana gasped, but before she could even begin to try to leave Hakuryuu somewhere safe to save Hope, Faith intervened.
" 'Iidfae!" Faith shouted, and Hope was pushed horizontally onto the next nearest block.
"Oof!" Hope said, struggling to balance with the wind knocked out of her. Fortunately, she stuck the landing.
—∞—
"Oh please... with such simple attacks you cannot win against my little bunnies that can fly anywhere!" Zagan gloated.
—∞—
"... They can fly anywhere..." Aladdin said. "In that case, we can do it! Faith!"
"Ah, I gotcha!" Faith said, grinning. They both raised their staff and wand and formed balls of their respective elements around themselves. Aladdin formed numerous fireballs, while Faith formed three strength balls.
"What the hell is that!?" Alibaba asked. Faith grinned.
—∞—
"There are fireballs around the magi...!? And are those balls of black strength magic around the other magician...!?" Zagan said.
—∞—
"Har-Har... Rasas!!" Aladdin said.
"Qua Rasas!!" Faith added. Both fire and strength balls flew towards the bunnies. The bunnies were startled to find that no matter how much they changed direction, the balls continued to chase them, hot on their trails.
"!?" one of them exclaimed with it was caught by one of Aladdin's fireballs.
"!!!" a few of the other rabbits exclaimed in alarm when was obliterated. One of Faith's strength balls caught up to another rabbit and smashed into it, breaking its borg and pushing it into the rabbit next to it with enough force to break its borg as well. The rabbits became so focused on trying to dodge the balls of magic that a few of them crashed into each other.
—∞—
"Each of them is moving like a living thing..." Zagan observed. "To concentrate that much 'strength' and then make it move like that... That female magician isn't bad. But to be able to control so many fireballs... He really is a magi after all!!"
—∞—
The remaining rabbits combined together to form one giant rabbit monster.
"We will crush you!!" it growled. Aladdin and Faith remembered what Yamraiha taught them about magic users having a support role. They sent their balls of magic to Alibaba and Hope. Alibaba absorbed the flames with Amon's sword, and Hope's claws absorbed the strength magic and her armor came out. Together Alibaba and Hope tore the rabbit monster apart. She sliced it with her claws, and he burned everything that was left.
"!!!" Hakuryuu gasped as he and Morgiana stared in astonishment. 'They... They are... strong... so strong!!' he thought, watching as the four of them smiled and waved back at them to let them know it was safe. 'If I have to compare myself... with them..." he bowed his head and gripped his polearm tighter.
—∞—
They made it safely across to the other side after that, and soon found themselves walking through a circular corridor lined with columns.
"Well... you were incredible, Aladdin..." Alibaba said. "Hope and Faith, too."
"Don't add us in like an afterthought," Faith chided him.
"But y'all really were amazing!" Hope said.
"Yeah! What was that move you just did?" Alibaba asked.
"Fufufufu..." Aladdin and Faith said with matching smiles.
"It is one of the new magics I learned!" Aladdin said. "Har-Har Rasas is a middle level magic that is a complicated because it uses a lot of ceremonial orders... It's exhausting because you have to concentrate!"
"Yeah, figuring out the formulas was a pain," Faith added, nodding. "Strength magic is surprisingly abstract..."
"Not really. It's pure force, isn't it? I'm impressed you could keep it contained and condensed like that," Hope said.
"Right!?" Faith said, glad someone appreciated her struggle.
"Hohoho... you are beginning to sound like a magic user," Alibaba told Aladdin.
"Fufufufu... or so Yam told me," Aladdin said, making him nearly face-fault.
"You were just repeating her words!" Alibaba said, play fighting with him. Aladdin laughed and played along.
"..." Hakuryuu stared at them.
"Are you alright? Were you hurt somewhere during the previous fight?" Morgiana asked him.
"Ah, no..." he replied. "Umm... Lady Morgiana... and the others too... I have a favor to ask..."
"What is it?" Alibaba asked.
"I have realized my lack of strength. I'm deeply grateful to you for saving me.. but from now on... Let me face this dungeon... without relying on your strength."
"What are you talking about, Hakuryuu?!" Alibaba exclaimed.
"... No matter what happens, don't help me. I want to survive in this dungeon by my power alone! Ignore me even if I'm dying!"
"Hakuryuu... you..." Alibaba said uneasily.
"..." Hakuryuu avoided looking them in the eye. A vein popped up on Faith's head.
"Don't wanna!" she said bluntly, making the prince flinch in shock. "Don't be so selfish. You're a prince! You can't die in a place like this. It'll inconvenience a lot of people. Do have any idea how much Hope will blame herself if someone dies right in front of her and she didn't even try to help them? Get a grip and have some consideration!"
"I'd say you were the last person who should be lecturing others on 'consideration', but... She's right! You should not be so reserved!" Alibaba said more kindly.
"..." Hakuryuu stared at them.
"Aren't you thinking too seriously about this?" Alibaba said.
"You know, no one here conquered a dungeon on their own. It's all because we had other people helping us. It was a team effort," Hope said.
"Yeah, I think it is a good thing if we help each other!" Alibaba agreed. "So don't sweat it and rely on us! Okay!"
"They're right!" Aladdin said. "I still have tons of techniques left!"
"... Don't sweat it... you say?" Hakuryuu said, furrowing his brow as Alibaba reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. He slapped Alibaba's hand away. "Something like that should be alright!?"
"Whoa," Faith said.
"Like she said, I'm a prince... I'm not in a position that I can be satisfied by borrowing someone else's help," Hakuryuu said. "I must win Zagan's recognition and the strength... to do what must be done."
"What must be done...?" Hope asked.
"..." Hakuryuu didn't answer.
"Hakuryuu..." Alibaba said. "You know, don't say that to us. I know how you feel, but..."
"... I don't need you to pretend like you understand me," Hakuryuu told him.
"I'm not pretending!" Alibaba said honestly. "You know... in the past, I..."
".......?" Morgiana wondered why he stopped.
"The guy with black hair is right!" Zagan's voice echoed from above, making most of them jump.
"!?" Hakuryuu and Alibaba said.
"You are helping each other too much, and that troubles me," Zagan said. "You are too strong, so... if you fight as one I can't identify your individual abilities! That's why, for the next test... you will be divided into three groups!"
"Divided... into three groups?" they all asked.