The mirror seemed to react after having absorbed the corpse of the copy's body, and its surface repaired itself. The broken pieces flew back towards the mirror and it was as if nothing ever happened. Aside from the damage done to the hall, which seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.
"Master, maybe it would be best if we left the mirror behind?"
"I agree… Interacting with it might create another hostile entity, so we have no safe way to transport it anyway. Let's just get out of here."
"Right behind you!"
At the end of the hall seemed to be a large gate, which they tried to get to, but were cut off by the ceiling collapsing.
"Great…"
"Let's just go back the way we came!"
"But that's where the salamander creature is…"
"I'll kill it this time, pinky promise, now let's hurry!"
She grabbed his hand and they hurried back the spiral stairs, Yamato took one last look over his shoulder at the mirror, slightly disappointed at having to leave it behind. Yuki flew him up as fast as she could, the whole cave collapsing behind them and burying everything inside under endless piles of rocks. Barely managing to escape the narrow staircase, they were back at the square hallway, which remained surprisingly unaffected by the rest of the cave collapsing. Still holding hands, they walked towards the exit through which they entered, where the salamander was most likely still waiting for them.
"I wonder… Is the salamander some kind of a guardian? Because of the mirror? Or it just chose this mountain as its home because it is isolated… I'd imagine it usually hides, considering it's camouflage abilities. It did sneak up on us without even Yuki noticing it at first. Could be that meeting someone as strong as Yuki in its territory made it nervous?That seems the most plausible to me. Besides that… I was really interested in that mirror… It's a shame I won't be able to study it further. The ability to create copies of a person that seem at least somewhat equal to the original in strength seems really useful to me… But then again, she was a danger to both myself and Yuki, and thus the usefulness of the whole concept is in question. Back to the creature. It seemed unphazed by magical attacks, as well as physical ones. The only thing that it reacted to without hostility were Yuki's flames for some reason… But that roar might make it difficult to capitalize on that, seeing as it seems to block all magic for those that hear it, or at least are close enough to it. If it's the sound, Yuki would be able to neutralize its affects through her barrier. If not, well… So I will have to create a fire beforehand just in case…"
"Watcha thinking about, Master?"
"Nothing, just… How much mana do you have left?"
"I'm not sure if I have enough to brute force my way through that thing, if that's what you're asking. Probably not though."
"I figured as much…"
They reached the end of the hallway, and with it the exit. However, it seemed as though there were trees covering the exit now, which Yuki thought were not there when they entered. But maybe she just did not notice them since they flew in quickly while trying to evade the salamander. As Yuki was about to take a look outside, she hit her head against something she could not see. Upon closer inspection, she realized what it was just in time to jump back and get in front of Yamato. Even though it had appeared fully passable, it was actually the salamander that had turned its body invisible. It threw the trees off its body which it seemed to have placed on itself to camouflage the entrance and itself even further, and let out another agonizing roar, though Yuki was prepared this time and used her barrier before it could affect them. She then charged outside and flipping it on its back as she rammed into its stomach from below, though it quickly turned on all fours again, brushing the attack of as if nothing happened. It stared at Yuki in the air, seemingly holding eye contact as it placed itself above the entrance again, with Yamato still inside the cave. Yuki was running out of patience with this creature and was on the verge of firing everything she had at it. But then she realized what it was doing. It used Yamato as human shield, by positioning itself between Yuki and him. Meaning it remembered that they were two, and understood the fact that only one left the cave. Furthermore, it meant the creature understood the social behavior of humans, which Yamato figured out too, and found fascinating. It became even more interesting when it shot out massive waves of fire into the air toward Yuki, which was covering everything in its path up to a kilometer in red-orange flames that spread across the sky. Though Yuki blocked it, there was a surprising amount of force behind the attack, which she was not sure if she could continuously block. It then hit with its tail on the ground, and with each strike lightning would strike from the ground. Yuki had trouble dodging the nearly instantaneous attacks and could not get closer either. Luckily Yamato's mana was slowly returning, which he used to fly out of the cave and land behind it.
"Yuki, your sword, now!"
Though slightly taken aback, she threw her sword to him with little hesitation and he catched it out of the air. However him yelling turned attention to him, and the salamander was now right infront of him, and his mana was still heavily limited. He would probably not be able to fly fast enough, but he had enough for one thing. He lit the tip of the sword on fire with a deep purple flame.
"Watch out, Yamato!"
She was about to rush towards him, but his hand signaled her to stop, which the creature seemed to notice. She reluctantly stopped but was ready to grab him and ditch if necessary.
Yamato swung the sword slowly around, at which the salamander just tilted its head, which Yamato copied by tilting the blade. Even more confused, the salamander was about to roar at him but Yamato took out the small shard of the mirror, which he had kept a firm hold on when the mirror reassembled to prevent it from returning. It actually cut into his hand a bit earlier but eventually gave up as the mirror was buried. He threw it into the air and hit it as hard as he could with the sword, which created a loud, piercing sound, as both the sword and the shard were indestructible, which sounded somewhat similar to the salamanders roar. Yamato then moved the sword in a circle in the air, while watching the salamander's eyes follow the burning tip of the sword as its pupils began to dilate. Its eyes reflected the purple flame's color almost perfectly, making it hard to tell what its actual eye color was. He moved the sword slower and slower, gently guiding its head towards the ground right in front of him. Then by rotating the sword so the tip would point downwards, the salamander rolled over on its back, still completely focused on the mesmerizing flame. Yamato extinguished the flame and threw the sword aside, though it flew straight back to Yuki instead of landing on the ground. Now that the flame was no longer in its eyes, Yamato got a first clear look at the creature's eyes which met his like it was conscious. A lighter purple than before, eyes like the stars. Probably the most beautiful ones he had ever seen, after Yuki's, of course. Guiding it into such a submissive position, the salamander was now completely still. Staring back into Yamato's black eyes. He slowly extended his hand to the salamander's chin, to which it would not resist. To his surprise, it shrinked down to the size of a regular salamander and climbed up his fingers and sat atop the back of his extended hand. Looking at him intensely. Yamato was quite experienced with pets by now, thanks to a certain someone occasionally being as demanding as one, so he guessed it wanted attention or food, but since it ate a couple of people earlier it was probably the first option. Yamato extended his finger to it, which it immediately climbed on. After crawling a few times around his arm, it got on his head and nestled in his hair where it turned invisible. He found it odd that at no point today he felt threatened or afraid, despite still being in danger by just being near this deadly creature. But then again, he was around Yuki all the time. And as dangerous as she was, she also made him feel as though he could pull stunts like this without being in serious danger. He liked to think of that as something comparable to love.
"Now, kill it, Master, before it lays eggs!"
"No way, I want to keep it."
"Wha— Why!? Didn't you see what it can do?!"
"I saw what you can do."
"That's… Fair enough. But you already have me! I can do anything that slimy amphibian can!"
"It's actually not slimy at all. It's skin is soft and dry. Since I found it on our date, I'm gonna call it Iky.
"At least name it after me!"
"Iky is just your name backwards without the u…"
"I guess… Fine! I will tolerate its surprisingly tame presence for now!"
"We can go back now, I got more than enough out of this trip."
"I got way too little out of this date… But as long as you are happy…"
And so they went back to the city Lunis. It was already getting dark when they were back at their dorms and Yuki insisted on getting a containment for Iky as soon as possible, as she promised to kill it if it climbed on top of her while she was sleeping. She would also kill it if it prevented her from cuddling or advancing otherwise, which Yamato told her was not gonna happen but she just stared at Iky with the look she gave people before she killed them, which Yamato was surprisingly good at identifying by now. He wondered if it was jealousy or just hatred for the creature, though it was probably a mixture of both. So, they bought a glass cage which seemed big enough for its smaller size. Though Yuki's mood improved drastically at their night activities, she would still try to convince him to get rid of it every chance she got before eventually giving up. Ending the day in her cuddling him up close to her while keeping an eye on Iky in his new home.