After the conversation with Ram ended, Roswaal and the maid exited the carriage and into a second dome that the clown created inside the one Omega had already made, just as they had done the night before.
While they were in the smaller dome, Roswaal fed mana into Ram's forehead, where her horn had been broken off. As it turns out, this wasn't healing magic, which made sense since Roswaal didn't have an affinity for it, and instead, he gave Ram the mana that she needed to survive.
According to Echidna, an oni's body requires an incredible amount of mana to live, and they usually absorb the mana from their horns. This meant that, since Ram's horn had been cut off, she needed somebody to manually give her the mana.
This explained a lot of things from season 1, specifically the weird cuddling scene, and it gave you an answer for why Ram might not be affected by the miasma as much as everybody else.
You weren't given an explanation as to why they had to go into a separate dome, but you didn't question it. If it was between you seeing the two getting all close together and having them completely out of sight, you'd gladly take the second option.
Now, since you didn't have to drive for the rest of the night, you fed Patrasche and made yourself comfortable inside the carriage, which had seats that were much more padded than the one outside.
As you sat back, relishing the comfort of the seat, Meili scooted closer to your left side, since Omega was on the right. "Umm..." she muttered uneasily, "I know that you two kind of talked about it earlier, but how exactly are we gonna get to the tower if we can't get closer to it?"
"Well," you told her, "I don't think we need to try and do the same thing we did today, since just trying to go forward the normal way doesn't seem to work. There were a few ideas I had, but I really don't like what they mean for us up there in the driver's seats..."
Meili looked confused at your hanging answer, so Omega finished the thought. "The most prominent theory I have devised suggests that we must travel toward the Pleiades Watchtower during Sand Time, as there must be a warp in space between us and our destination, and during the sandstorm, I believe that there will be a moment in which the space collapses, allowing us to move into the domain of the Tower."
The child didn't look any less lost, so you did her a favor and simplified what Omega just said. "So basically, we have to move during Sand Time to actually get closer - or so we think."
"But why?" Meili asked, running her fingers through her dark blue hair as she tried to understand the theory.
You heard Echidna chuckle with anticipation in your head, but it seemed like she decided to hold back on the explanation since it actually came out as a short version of it.
"It is elementary, my dear! Sand Time is the only unusual phenomenon here in conjunction with the space distortion, so they have a high probability of being related to one another!"
"Oh..." Meili sighed, as if she was a little disappointed with the odd simplicity of the answer.
You got up from your seat and toward the center of the carriage, where a compartment beneath the flooring held the food. As you did so, you said, "Hey, be glad that we're trying the simple one first."
Meili shrugged. "Whatever you do, I'll just keep the animal-chan's away." Shrinking back down, away from her confident stature, she added, "I just wanted to get there fast so I don't fall asleep again and cause more trouble for everyone."
Before putting a piece of jerky that you found into your mouth, you shook your head at the remorseful Meili. "Don't be sorry. You can ask Omega here if you don't believe me, but all of those mabeasts were light work. We didn't slow down, and the carriage never took any damage, so no worries there."
The mabeast user shifted in the padded seat. "But keeping them away is the only thing I'm good for, and even though I took a nap earlier, I got sleepy again. I just had one job, and I didn't do it."
"At the very least, you are the most pleasant and resourceful member of this party to travel with besides (Y/N) and myself." This time, it was actually Omega who stepped up to console her, and you weren't sure how it would turn out. "You have performed many services other than this primary task you have mentioned, so do not be crestfallen at this insignificant event, as it is a natural thing to succumb to fatigue."
You bit down on your jerky with a grin of approval for Omega. Her way of making Meili feel better was unique, as she always was, but it definitely wasn't bad.
In fact, Meili brightened up significantly after this, her expression seeming to ask Omega, 'do you really think so?'
With that, the child's confidence came back. "Hey (Y/N), since you're focused on munching on our food, can you bring some over here? You want some too, right Omega?"
Omega really didn't have to eat at the moment, but in order to keep Meili's morale high, she nodded her head, while she conveyed to you to bring her the smallest piece you could find.
You did just that, and as you closed the compartment, you brought Meili a decently sized piece, and as you handed Omega's small piece to her, you heard the sand shuffle as Roswaal brought his dome down.
As you sat down and finished chewing on your jerky, the flicker of the magically lit lanterns inside the carriage made the clown look like a shadow as he entered.
Behind him was Ram, and you couldn't tell what kind of expression she was making since Roswaal's actual shadow was covering her face.
Sighing, you leaned your head back and closed your eyes. "So now that we're all back, I have a question for you, Roswaal."
He waited until he sat down to respond. "Hmmmmmm~ Is that so?"
"Yeah. How did you guess that we weren't getting any closer to the tower? Did you know too, by any chance?"
You couldn't see this, but you could tell that everybody's head turned toward Roswaal to see what answer he would give.
"Ahhhhh, that!" Roswaal replied. "Why do you suspect me of hiding such a thing? Will you not believe me when I say thaaaaat if we were as close to our destination as we shoooouuuld have been, either you or Omega would have announced this?"
You didn't give any reaction. "Yeah, I was just making sure. After all, like Ram said, we should be making the most of what we have here, so spill the beans whenever you think you know something."
"Ooookay!" Roswaal said too enthusiastically. He crossed his legs, and this time, he asked, "But while we are on this topic, whaaaat do you plan on doing tomorrow?"
"As we have already explained to Meili," Omega answered, "we will attempt to travel during Sand Time, as I believe that there is a space distortion keeping our target at a constant distance from us, and we should exploit the strange phenomenon in this desert to produce a solution."
"I see~ In thaaaat case, I shall maintain this dome from any attacks as youuuuu sleep first, Omega."
Each night, Roswaal and Omega took turns making sure that no mabeasts broke through the dome. Both mages possessed insane reflexes, so at any disturbance, they would be able to either kill the outside threat or strengthen the earthen dome.
Luckily, very few mabeasts came toward the dome since it wasn't moving like the carriage was during the day, but the night before, there had been something that hit the bottom of the dome, and none of you wanted to risk a sand earthworm or other mabeasts breaking through while everybody slept.
Of course, Omega could just sleep while Echidna did surveillance using her senses, but since Ram didn't know about her true identity, Omega agreed to trading shifts with Roswaal.
Omega said nothing as she followed your motions and closed her eyes.
The sandstorm outside acted as ambient noise, and both of you were able to fall asleep rather quickly.
Time Skip
You woke up to Omega gently shaking your shoulder.
At this point, she had probably been awake for about two or three hours, and since she had the second shift, she was already awake when the night's Sand Time - which was actually the longest one - ended.
'Our true ordeal will not begin until the morning Sand Time begins, but as you know, we need to begin moving within the hour so we will be "warmed up", if you will, when we travel straight into a violent sandstorm.'
'Yeah, makes sense.'
You stretched your back as you yawned, and when your eyes focused on the dim lighting, you saw that everyone else was still asleep.
In this now-quiet dome, Meili was curled up next to you, and in the seats across from you, Roswaal sat rigid with his hands straight on his lap, even while sleeping. Maybe he was actually awake, but that would be even creepier.
Next to him was Ram, who was hunched over, her head laying on her arms that rested on the handles of Rem's wheelchair.
Hopefully, by the end of this mission, you would be able to wake up one morning and see Rem already up, just like she said to Subaru.
However, it didn't seem like Shaula would have any idea how to help Rem, much less actually being able to free her from Gluttony's Authority.
So, at the very worst, it seemed like you would just have to wait until you could find Gluttony, more specifically Ley Batenkaitos, since he's the one who ate Rem's name and memories, and kill him.
But since this was the Pleiades Watchtower you were going to, maybe you could find another way of helping her.
'There is one thing that could give us a more definitive answer - if Flugel was able to create it, that is. My greatest hope is to find a library in that tower, one that can give us many answers.'
'A library? So, since Flugel was the actual Sage, did he make a library like the one you had Beatrice stay with?'
'No. This library is one far greater than the meager one I am accredited with. I shall demonstrate its nature if we are to come upon it.'
'Right... so what I'm hearing is that we're here to get Shaula and hope we can find some information in the library?'
'As much as it pains me to admit, I believe you will appreciate the library far more if I refrain from giving you an explanation beforehand. The mere shock you will experience when you first walk into it, if it exists, will leave you speechless.'
'I'm not sure if you're really playing too much into your Greed or if this library is worth all the hype, but I hope we see it when we get there.'
'Indeed. Now, as for actually getting there, let us wake the others so we can all prepare to move onward.'
Since Meili was the closest to you, you gently tapped on her shoulder. The mabeast user was quick to wake up, since she was well-rested enough to be in her light-sleeping stage.
While Meili was rubbing her eyes, Omega smacked the side of Roswaal's head.
The clown remained motionless except for his eyelids, which snapped open. "I doooo believe that this was a little unnecessary," he commented.
Omega shrugged her shoulders. "Nonsense. It is a very efficient method, as I only had to execute a single motion to awaken you."
"But haaavvve you considered that your hand hurt me deeeeppper than my skin?"
Omega scoffed. "You are quite the expert at jesting, I see. You play your part quite well."
"Ah, but can anybody realllly understand what role another plays until their act is complete?"
"Adversely," Omega countered, "how can one tell when their act is complete? Perhaps there will be an unexpected twist, or perhaps a second part to it that changes the meaning of the first."
Menacingly, Roswaal ended with, "Or perhaps the story can be cut off quitttte early."
'He should not give me such suggestions, if he cares for himself,' Echidna said to you mentally, not wanting to continue with the clown.
'I mean, if he tries some funny business somehow, I'm not entirely opposed to the idea. Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do, and since it's Roswaal we're talking about here, that decision isn't too hard to make.'
At this point, Ram was stirring awake, and Meili was already making sure that no mabeasts would approach the dome.
"Anyway," you interjected, "we're going to move out soon to get ourselves ready to tackle Sand Time when it starts up again, so I know this is obvious, but we need to get ready ASAP."
Ram looked at you with her eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean by that irritating word? Perhaps your education needs to be expanded beyond our alphabet, unless you are imitating Barusu in making words that nobody understands."
"Oh, that's actually my bad," you apologized, "ASAP stands for 'as soon as possible.' Where I'm from, we use a lot of shortened words that stand for different things."
Meili's ears perked up at your mention of a home. "(Y/N), where exactly are you from? I don't think you told me yet. Maybe I was in your town once with Elsa!" After thinking about it for a moment, she added, "Even though that would have been a bad thing for those people..."
Ram, who related to your fabricated story, respectfully remained silent, and her expression turned somber.
"Well," you explained, "I used to live in a small village that was right outside Lugnica's borders, but it was destroyed. It wasn't on any map I'd ever seen, so unless you've been somewhere that remote, I doubt you've ever been to it."
"Oh... I'm sorry," Meili said. Unable to conceal her curiosity, she asked, "But you said that you lived outside of Lugnica, right? Elsa came from Gusteko, so did you live in that county too?"
Somehow, you had never been presented with any questions that nitpicked the details of the imaginary village that you claimed to have lived in with Subaru.
Your very first instinct was to refute Meili's question and say that you lived in a different country, but you actually thought about the question before you answered.
Gusteko, the frozen country to the north of Lugnica, was the closest country to the capital. The other countries, Kararagi (the one Anastasia came from) and Vollachia (Priscilla's homeland) were both closer to Lugnica's other major cities, so if you claimed to be from either of them, somebody could start wondering why you chose to go to the capital instead of one of those cities.
Of course, you could make some other excuses, but the deeper you dug the hole of lies, the easier it would be for somebody like Roswaal to cause trouble in the future with this information.
'(Y/N), while I do appreciate your increasing application of overthinking, this is a situation that can be resolved with something quite simple: claim that you do not know the answer and provide a fake name for your fake hometown. No matter how much searching that anybody may do, they will not find this village, which would coincide with your story.'
You ended up doing just that, and the list of lies you told grew ever much longer.
Time Skip
A little while later, the dome was undone, and everybody was ready to start a new day of traveling.
The next Sand Time wouldn't start until about two hours after sunrise, which translated to about an hour and a half later, so you would have Patrasche start relatively slow to conserve a little energy while still warming her up, and the real work would start when the violent sandstorm began.
In the time before it began, the passengers elected to leave the window open for now so that they could also verify that the watchtower really wasn't getting closer.
"Hey," you called back to Meili, "this might sound like a stupid question since we just woke up, but are you feeling sleepy? When we go through Sand Time, Patrasche and I will be pretty strained, and Omega will make a moving wall so that Patrasche won't get sand in her eyes and stuff, so it's going to be a lot harder to dodge mabeasts, so I just wanted to make sure."
Meili giggled from behind you. "You don't have to worry, (Y/N). That was a one-time thing, because I get sleepy at important times as much as Elsa-nee sits out of a fight."
The thought of Elsa happily letting such an opportunity pass by was an oddly disturbing thought, and it really put into perspective how professional Meili usually was. With this said, did she really just get exhausted, or was the miasma already taking a toll on her?
Echidna really wanted to make a comment on her opinion on that thought, but for the sake of not giving you another lecture and the pain that making a short summary would cause her, she refrained from saying anything about it.
Nah, just kidding. Of everything Echidna knew, passing an opportunity to educate you about something was a concept she still hadn't been able to grasp.
'I believe that it is a combination of those two factors, for the potency of the miasma, even as far as we still are from its source, could most definitely affect humans negatively. This, combined with the lengthy nature of traveling, could have caused yesterday's drowsiness.'
'Well, that really does make all of this a race against time... If some of us are already being affected by the miasma, then I really hope we can get to the tower in this first attempt.'
'You have set your expectations high, I see.'
'I mean, this is your Plan A, and you have a pretty decent track record when it comes to plans, so I believe in you and this plan. I mean, at the worst, we have a few backups, even though they're pretty complicated.'
'We shall have to wait for our trial to begin to test this faith of yours, as I have admittedly fallen into quite a streak of falling back onto secondary plans or revising my original plans based on new information.'
'Well, you know what they say... what's the point of having any faith if you don't have it tested every now and then?'
A Little Later
Patrasche had been moving at a moderate pace while Sand Time was inactive, but you could definitely tell that the unchanging silhouette of the Pleiades Watchtower was starting to get blocked out by a quickly approaching wall of sand.
You pulled your mask up and put your goggles on as you pulled the reins, signaling for the earth dragon to speed up in anticipation of the storm that was about to envelop the carriage.
The transition to a full running speed was swift, and during the smooth acceleration, Omega created a thick, moving ice wall with a Huma variant, which actually took her full focus to maintain.
Thankfully, the ice didn't melt quickly due to the fact that the desert was not that hot, but as soon as the first wave of sand barreled into it, holes were quick to form. As a result, Omega had to constantly repair it.
She could have used one of the Dona's to make the wall, but that would mean that, if you actually broke through Sand Time to enter the tower's domain, you would be unable to see anything ahead of you, which could be very dangerous.
Because of this factor, Omega chose to make the ice wall, and by what you could ascertain through all of the sand that began to fall from beside the carriage to your seat, it was working well to keep sand out of Patrasche's eyes.
Once again, Patrasche's Divine Blessing of Wind Protection kept all of the wind from hitting and knocking the carriage over, but as soon as the full force of Sand Time arrived, the inertia from the sand was enough to make all of the small grains hurt as they propelled forward and battered your body.
Omega was also being assaulted by the swarming sand, but she was so concentrated on maintaining her spell that it didn't seem to bother her.
With that said, it was becoming increasingly difficult to even see her, even though she was sitting right next to you. The wind was screeching loudly enough to hurt your ears, and all of the sand that whipped toward you began to cover your goggles, and as soon as you tried to clear it off, more sand replaced it.
At this point, you were only holding onto Patrasche's reins to make sure she was still on the other end of it. The earth dragon was taking care of the steering since you couldn't see anything in this violent sandstorm.
'THIS STORM IS INSANE!'
You couldn't even hear your thoughts above the sound of the shrill wind and the pounding sand, and Echidna, who was watching all of this unfold from her Castle of Dreams, winced at the sheer volume of your inner voice to compensate for this.
'I am well aware of that. Keep on moving forward until the end of this particular Sand Time, as we must fully exhaust our options until we succeed.'
'WHAT?'
You couldn't even hear Echidna's telepathic voice, and all of the excessive noise was beginning to make your head pound. Your face was already taking a beating from the sand that felt like a million tiny fists punching you, so the fact that it started hurting from the inside made this situation a lot more miserable.
Now that you thought about it, how much time had passed since Sand Time began?
It felt like an hour had passed because of the sheer stress it was putting on your body, but you knew that at the most, only a minute had elapsed so far.
Sand Time lasted for hours, so you had to do something to be able to survive the rest of the storm.
"Akra!" you shouted to yourself as forcefully closed your eyes and focused on enveloping your body in a golden glow.
Being able to cast a spell with this amount of noise and sand was as difficult as counting to one- hundred with a room full of people screaming random numbers at you while they shoved you around, but since you had been training with this magic for over half a year now, you were able to manage to cast the buff to your body.
Suddenly, the sand didn't hurt anymore, and the noise was on a slightly lower level than it was before. Granted, it was still louder than what had to be safe for your ears, but it was finally bearable.
If anything, casting Akra demonstrated to you just how impressive Echidna's skill with magic was, since she had to hold her concentration to keep her ice wall moving and regenerating at the same time.
Thankfully, no mabeasts seemed to be attacking the carriage yet, so Meili seemed to be able to use her Divine Protection even during this sandstorm. Of course, the inside of the carriage would be much less chaotic than your position, but it still must have been rough to be rocking around from the force of the sand hitting the sides of the carriage while putting up with the loud atmosphere that enveloped them.
You couldn't hear this, but from inside, Meili was actually screaming.
"YAYYY!! This is so fun!" The child was holding on to her seat as if she were on a thrill ride - not that she knew what those were - and she was having a great time as her heart began to pound with excitement. All of the apprehension that she might have felt before disappeared as she placed all of her trust in the people who were outside and gave herself over to the side that wanted to have fun.
Ram, on the other hand, was not enjoying a single moment of this. She winced at every jolt of the carriage, and she was having a difficult time staying on her seat because both of her hands were being used to hold Rem's wheelchair steady. Of course, Roswaal could have helped, but he sat in place with one leg swung over the other, ignoring the girls and focusing on making a plan of action in case you were successful in reaching the tower.
This went on for over half an hour before you felt yourself getting fatigued. Of course, you could hold the regular Akra for almost two hours now, but the sheer force of the storm was wearing you down. You could also tell that Patrasche was starting to struggle to keep her top speed, since there were moments where you would suddenly be leaning forward because of the inertia resulting from the sudden decrease in speed.
"YOU GOT THIS, PATRASCHE!" You yelled, even though there was no way the earth dragon could hear you over the storm. If anything, this was meant as a reassurance for yourself.
After taking a deep, slightly sandy breath through your mask, you rolled your aching shoulders around and tried to straighten out your hunched back. Exhaling slowly, you pushed through the creeping fatigue and stayed focused on the goal right in front of you.
However, as soon as you set your resolve once more, you felt a tap on your leg.
You couldn't see her very well through your sandy goggles, but you knew that you just felt Omega's hand, and by the way she tapped you, it didn't seem like good news.
Taking one hand off of the reins to keep the sand out of your goggles, you turned to Omega to see what she wanted to tell you. You couldn't hear her here or telepathically, so she had to convey her message through motions.
It didn't take much for you to understand what she meant, since you could make out a shaking head and arms crossed together to make out an 'X'.
Omega must have thought that either you, her, or Patrasche couldn't last long enough to make it out of Sand Time and then get all the way to the tower, so she was calling off this charge through the wicked sandstorm.
You clicked your tongue in disappointment and pulled on the reins to slow Patrasche down.
The only problem was, she didn't.
The prideful earth dragon chose this moment to completely ignore her driver, and now that you had absolutely no control over her, she actually began to move erratically, making the carriage creek dangerously as it swayed side to side.
"PATRASCHE!" you yelled, trying to get a hold of Subaru's favorite animal who wasn't listening to you anymore. "WE CAN'T KEEP THIS UP! I'LL GIVE YOU EXTRA TREATS, SO STOP!"
Whether she heard you or not made no difference, because Patrasche kept pressing forward.
Noticing that the earth dragon was not responding to you, Omega considered using magic as a means to stop her. In this case, Murak would be the most efficient, non-violent spell to resolve the issue, as it could be used to decrease the effects of gravity on both Patrasche and the carriage, and with enough application of the spell, it would elevate both targets off of the ground, forcing them to come to a stop.
As she prepared to disengage her casting of the ice wall, the sun's rays, not blocked by the sand anymore, suddenly enveloped everything.
Both you and Omega winced at the sudden brightness, and you nearly flew out of your seat as Patrasche came to a rough halt.
The booming wind and the pelting sand was now gone, so for a moment, your entire body tingled, and you found yourself almost paralyzed by the sudden change in setting.
As you slowly repositioned yourself in your seat, you took both the sand-covered googles and the tight mask off of your face, and your eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden direct exposure to the bright sun.
'We did it...' Echidna whispered with a tone that seemed like she had honestly given up on breaking through Sand Time on the first attempt.
When your eyes finally acclimated to the light, you gasped with both amazement and horror at the same time.
The Pleiades Watchtower loomed over the carriage now, and it was close enough for you to be able to make out the massive front door.
The pearly white tower itself was circular, and it had to be as tall as a skyscraper. There seemed to be a balcony about halfway up the structure, and the very top of the tower gently grazed the clouds that rested above it.
However, the second thing you noticed was the field of flowers that you were in. The field spanned as far as you could see, but what horrified you was the fact that these weren't flowers at all - the massive field of flowers was actually a sea of bears, the courtesan bears that even Meili was afraid of.
The 'flowers' were all in mounds that seemed to shift on their own, and you froze as you started to sweat profusely. At the same time, your mouth became uncomfortable dry, and you began wondering just how many bears there were.
'There are approximately two-thousand individual bears, with each one being slightly larger than a brown bear from your home world,' Echidna answered. 'Even with all of the fighting prowess this group possesses, I believe that a tactical approach to reaching the tower is necessary rather than a primarily offensive one.'
As Echidna said this telepathically, you could hear a 'shhhh' from inside the carriage. Immediately after this, the window was carefully opened so as to not make a sound.
Meili slowly poked her head outside the window, and she motioned for both you and Omega lo lean in so she could whisper. As quietly as she could, the Mabeast User explained, "The bear-kuns are sleeping right now, so we need to be super quiet. If they wake up, I think I can keep a few away, but I'm not really compatible with them, so we'll be in a bunch of trouble."
You shook your head to signal that you understood, but as you turned around, you looked to Patrache with a sliver of doubt.
Of course, the earth dragon ignoring you is the entire reason why you were able to break through Sand Time, but if she didn't listen now, there would be a huge battle that you didn't want to fight.
Thankfully, Patrasche's instincts were shooting warning signals everywhere, so she knew that she needed to be cautious. As a result, when you gently tugged on her reins, she started to pull the carriage as slowly as she could.
Unfortunately, a problem arose very quickly: there were so many courtesan bears huddled together here that Patrasche could not find a path through them to get to the tower.
From behind you, there was a tap on your shoulder.
This was Meili again, so you leaned back to hear what she had to say next. Even softer than before, she said, "We can take out the minimum here and make a path, as long as we are really quiet. If we don't make a big scene, I can force the ones around us to go back to sleep."
Cupping her hands around her mouth, Omega moved toward Meili, and the child leaned even farther out the window to hear what the mage had to say.
"I can cast Murak to levitate our carriage above these mabeasts. Would you consider them a threat once we are in the sky?"
Meili hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. Before she could promptly slide back inside the carriage, Omega put her hand up as a sign to stop. "Actually," she added, "could you inform the margrave that I have elected him to complete this task? I would prefer not to diminish my mana supply while he has not engaged his yet."
The Mabeast User nodded and soundlessly pulled herself back inside and toward Roswaal.
You heard faint whispering, and moments later, the clown's makeup was within slapping distance.
"Hmm, I see~" he said to himself.
Roswaal was perhaps the only other mage in the world other than Omega capable of casting incantationless spells, so without a word, Patrasche and the carriage began to float.
Granted, it wasn't nearly a smooth ascent, but it was pretty steady compared to the rocking during Sand Time.
Once the carriage was a safe distance above the sleeping bears, Roswaal began moving the carriage forward.
As you got closer and closer to the Pleiades Watchtower, you couldn't help but wonder what kind of person Shaula was. To be the Sage's apprentice and to still be alive after over 400 years, she must be an impressive person, no matter what Echidna might have said about her before.
Normally, you probably would have felt nervous to meet somebody so important and legendary in this world, but at this point, you had gone through so much that this seemed like just another outing - albeit a dangerous one - to meet with an ally.
As you sorted through your thoughts and admired the huge tower, a sudden thought popped into your head: what if Shaula didn't want to leave the tower? What if-
*BOOM!*
Before you knew what was going on, the carriage exploded, and although your ears rang from the explosion and your eyes were stunned by a sudden flash of light, you could tell that you were now hovering a good distance above the desert since you felt air swishing past your body as you fell a little before being stopped mid-air.
"Rem!!" Ram shouted desperately.
Roswaal grimaced as he cast Murak to save both Rem and Meili, who were both falling at an alarming rate. Blood dripped from his right thigh, where a piece of shrapnel that resembled a wooden stake had been propelled into him by the explosion.
Right now, Roswaal was flying using combined techniques of the other magics, and he was using Murak to keep the oni sisters and Meili away from the shifting mass of bears below that seemed to be waking up because of the explosion.
Omega was holding you up with Murak, and since your ears were still ringing, she telepathically shouted, 'This is the work of Shaula! We must-'
This time, you caught a flash of light coming from the balcony you noticed earlier, and because Echidna could experience your senses, she was able to throw both of you out of the way of the next projectile.
However, there wasn't enough time in between seeing the flash and the actual attack so that either of you could warn the others.
Roswaal was distracted because of having to save the girls and Patrasche, and Ram had her full attention on Rem, so they had no idea that they were about to be in a direct hit.
Omega's body could not react quickly enough to save them, but since you still had Akra activated, you were able to muster up a powerful spell in a split second.
You didn't have enough time to chant it before casting it, and you were still yet to successfully cast a spell without an incantation, so you settled on chanting it while you casted it, which theoretically worked.
Yang magic quickly gathered in your arms before being shot at nearly the speed of light.
Just as the malicious attack approached you to the side, your spell collided with it, which caused another explosion.
However, the other spell was so powerful that a shockwave hit your entire group, and Omega, who was just as close as you were to the source of impact, was hit hard enough by it that she momentarily broke Murak, which caused the two of you to fall as your spell's name finally left your mouth.
"Quick draw!"
This spell was meant to be used with a sword to create the effect of you unsheathing it and sheathing it back quickly while landing a devastating attack because of its speed, but since you lost all of your swords to the desert when the carriage exploded, you just had to cast it without them.
You heard the others scream, but since you couldn't cast Yin magic to keep anybody up, you forced your body to turn mid-air so you could use Crescent Moon to soften the impact if Omega wasn't able to get to you in time.
Thankfully, Omega was able to swiftly reorient herself, so she was able to cast Murak once more before either of you were low enough to be in reach of the bears.
Glancing to the side using your peripherals, you assessed the situation with the rest of the group.
Roswaal was making sure to spread Rem, Ram, Meili, and Patrache apart from each other so that they couldn't be targeted by the same attack, but that didn't seem to do much since this time, two flashes came in quick succession.
This time, Omega was able to react, and as she left one arm back to motion for you to hold back on casting spells, she chanted, "Al Jiwald!"
Al Jiwald was the most powerful spell of the Jiwald series, and it was one of the stronger Yang spells in general. A destructive ray of heat fired from Omega's open palm, and it annihilated both of the bright flashes that were coming toward you.
During this action, Echidna talked as fast as she could and explained, 'This is Shaula's ability, Hell's Snipe! I did not imagine she would target us, but her offensive capabilities are astounding! We will die if we do not find a solution in the next ten seconds!'
Ten seconds?!
Obviously, you couldn't go down and try to evade Hell's Snipe from the ground since you'd also have to worry about the eleven-thousand bears that were down there, waiting to maul anybody who came near them.
Staying on the defensive seemed like a losing game, especially if Echidna said that a solution needed to be found in ten seconds, so to you, it seemed like the group needed to find a way to get on the offensive and stop Shaula from attacking for whatever reason she had.
Echidna read your thoughts to find your solution, and she had no better ideas at the moment, which stressed how dire the situation was.
Out loud, she yelled to Roswaal's side, "We must charge at the tower while evading the attacks!"
As she said this, she sent another Al Jiwald to block another Hell's Snipe, although you could tell that she was starting to get near the shallow end of her mana reserve.
Roswaal gritted his teeth, and since his ultimate goal was at the top of the Pleiades Watchtower, he had no choice but to do as Omega said.
Omega and Roswaal took everybody with them as they flew at the tower with enough speed to match a car on a highway, but Omega suddenly stopped when she saw Shaula's response.
This time, nearly a hundred lights appeared by the balcony, which was still quite a distance away, and everybody knew that there was no deflecting or evading all of them.
'Curse you, Shaula,' Echidna mumbled, 'I suppose I have been left with no choice but to do this...'
Before an overwhelming number of Hell's Snipes were sent to kill you, Omega closed her eyes and did something that she hoped she would not have to do.
Echidna's true form suddenly appeared from within Omega like a ghostly apparition, just like she had done when she killed the thieves in the snow-covered forest in her first day being revived and when she revealed her identity to Garfiel, Elsa, and Meili.
'What are you doing?!' you asked with alarm, because everybody besides you was becoming nauseous because of the miasma Echidna's revealed form was emitting.
'Shaula has quite an impressive sense of smell, so she will undoubtedly smell my miasma, and I trust that she will recognize me and relent her attacks.'
This was Echidna's last resort, and it seemed like a solid plan until all of the Hell's Snipes were released anyway, creating a blinding trail of death coming straight toward you.
In fact, as they approached you, you had to close your eyes to protect them from the pain, and as you could see the light getting brighter through your eyelids, you tried to think of a way to survive this.
'Echidna, I-'
The very instant the Hell's Snipes hit their targets, you couldn't hear anything but the high-pitch tone that resounded in your ears.
This time, the shockwave was so large that sand sprayed up to a height above you, and you could once again feel the air rush against your body as you were pushed upward, and then once again as you fell down, toward the ground.
As you fell, you could feel your consciousness slipping away, and Akra was deactivated.
You couldn't tell if somebody stopped you from falling or if you hit the ground, but there was one thing you knew for certain: you were alive.
And after this conclusion, through your clouded hearing, you heard a female voice shouting. "Jeeeez! My nose was right! What are you doing here, Echidna?! I thought you died a long time ago!"
Ah, so that must be Shaula.
This means that you finally made it, and with that, you were finally met with darkness that concluded the end of the easiest part of the mission.
Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I've been really looking forward to finishing this chapter, because I can't wait to finally start writing all the chaos of the Pleiades Watchtower! But to keep this more about this chapter, we finally got to see a glimpse of Shaula! Even though I read the LN and did research on her, I was still surprised to see how strong she was compared to Omega and Roswaal when I was writing this out. Granted, both of them had handicaps here, but I think this chapter proves why we need her to help fight Pandora and the rest of the Witch Cult.
I have the rest of the arc planned out, so as soon as I can get my schedule figured out between all of my classes that just started and whatnot, I'll be trying to get the next chapter out before Halloween. No promises though, since I've admittedly been a bit inconsistent this past year or so.
With that said, I'll see ya next time!