October 31st, 3125.
Aaron Grimstall had successfully completed his second mission for the Hunters' Guild Exam and was progressing smoothly towards his singular goal.
Revive Eleanor Lynn.
She, however, far beneath the World Tree in the Great Beyond, had spent one month in near-total isolation, her neighbors reporting about her progress to the visiting Angels in her stead.
Madame Jermaine, the landlord of the apartment residence, noted the smell of melted stone, while another resident, Madame Hick, claimed that she had been absent from the book clubs with the excuse of work keeping her occupied.
Directly detected by multiple false Angels sent to her doorstep was the intense mana-rich air that circled her door as if there had been an overwhelming disaster within.
After multiple weeks of little to no contact, a letter arrived in the hands of Lady Ariel, claiming that the young priestess had discovered something fantastic and that her mission was going well.
The Angel of Justice, Lady Prudentia, received a similar letter, but its contents confused her greatly.
What does she mean by mission?
The blonde-haired woman stormed through the busy streets wearing a cloak over her body while her hands still gripped the paper she had received.
Leaving her apprentice alone had been a risky move; however, it was a common practice in the cases of Angels who were preparing to return to their homes.
With the request for a meeting being sent out by her student, she couldn't quite refuse.
As she hurried forth, her destination, the apartment building, appeared close ahead.
What discovery could she be referring to? The Obsidian Styx were another red herring to drive her to develop her mana even further, but could she have actually tried to fill six of them up at once?
Rushing across the pavement, she arrived at the door, greeting Madame Jermaine and pushing upward towards the stairs.
Even I would struggle to fill up five of those sticks with my mana perfectly stabilized. There is no possible way she could fill up more than two with her current mana capacity and skill level.
Gritting her teeth, she made her way to the floor that Eleanor resided on, marching her way down the hallway.
She kept her eyes on the floor as she walked within the building buzzing with the sounds of day-to-day life from its many residents.
Thud!
The Angel collided with a person, her own body staying standing while the other fell to the ground with a heavy sound.
"Oh, dear!"
Immediately reaching down, she attempted to assist the person; however, her hand was whacked away.
"Watch where you're going!"
Hearing the individual—whom she assumed to be male despite the dark cloak that covered his face—shouting out at her with obvious malice in his voice, she retracted her hand quickly.
"E-excuse me?"
Surprise forced a stutter from her lips, yet before she could do anything, the man she had run into bolted away, vanishing down the corridor.
Nobody has ever spoken to me like that…
Sighing, she rubbed her forehead.
Could someone be that mad from getting accidentally knocked over in the halls? Perhaps I need to pay more attention to where I'm going.
Deciding to do just that, she kept her head straight as she continued down the long hallway towards the room of her student.
Each step brought back the tension that had been interrupted by the earlier encounter, the only thought on her mind being whatever discovery the girl could've made.
Turning the corner, she saw the end of the corridor was wrapped in a thick plume of translucent mana, its gaseous appearance covering everything in sight.
It resembles…
Her heart froze, a horrific memory coming back from the depths of the Angel's mind.
Mana overload.
She rushed forward, realizing what must have happened, and fearing the worst, she slammed her fist into the door, dislocating the handle and breaking the lock.
The thin door crashed inward, wood dust flying everywhere, and a small scratch appeared on her flawless skin, dripping a murky white fluid that flowed through the bodies of True Angels.
Watching as the smog she had created began to settle, she searched frantically for the disaster she was awaiting; however, much to her surprise, what stood before her shocked her far more than any overload could.
Sitting atop the mass-produced desk that nearly every residence in the Great Beyond owned, not simply six Obsidian Styx sat glowing with an ethereal glow, but rather, seven.
T-they're full? And how is there a seventh stick?
She took a step closer, her brow furrowed as she reached her hand out to touch the objects, yet as her finger approached, a buzz shot into her form.
Pain stimulation? Is there spellcraft imbued into this, not simply raw mana?
Behind her, she heard the crack of the bathroom door, the sound of frantic footsteps rushing through.
"My lady…?"
Prudentia's head whipped around, the toweled form of her apprentice now appearing before her, a large white wrap around her hair.
"E-Eleanor?"
The two stared at each other in complete surprise for a moment before the blonde-haired child looked down at her freshly cleaned appearance, deciding that it was rather rude not to dress for guests.
"I-I'll only be a moment."
And, true to her words, a minute later, she sat at her desk with the seven black sticks floating in front of her.
The Angel of Justice couldn't quite believe what she was witnessing, the sight too fantastical to be true.
Filling two sticks was to be expected, as a human could bear two of them in their two hands and imbue them at the same time.
For an Angel, one could assume four to be a reasonable estimate, the amount deduced from their two hands and two legs.
Some who exceeded a certain threshold of mana sensitivity could possibly attain an illusory 'third arm' made purely of mana alone, allowing a fifth to be filled.
Over her eons of practice, she had only ever once manifested such a thing, and it had lasted no longer than a minute, the task so physically straining that even Ariel couldn't do it for a longer period, granted, far more frequently.
"H-how did you do it? The task was meant to be impossible and yet…"
She trailed off, completely stumped on what the young girl who bore a destroyed mana core and only four limbs could've done to unlock all six sticks and then somehow manifest a seventh.
Eleanor simply stared at her as if it was the easiest thing in the world, shaking her head slowly.
"It was meant to be impossible? Perhaps you need to reevaluate your standards if so. I had already filled two by the end of the first week, and then by the third, I had finished the task."
Prudentia took a heavy breath, somehow able to contain her sheer awe behind her measured demeanor.
"And how did you do such a thing? You lack a third arm, do you not?"
There was a pause from the blonde girl as she straightened her posture, not understanding the strange question but realizing the intent.
"It's honestly far simpler than I would've expected. The first two, of course, are easy; it was just a matter of maximizing total mana efficiency and forging a barrier around them when they had been filled to prevent them from draining."
The Angel frowned.
"A barrier? These things aren't possible to seal. To seal mana itself, you would need a power akin to Lady Ariel—"
A chill ran down her spine as she realized the crux of the entire simulation that she had tried to run with the girl.
At once, the solution dawned on her, and her confusion crumbled away like a rock battered by waves finally eroding into grains of sand.
"The Emblem… The one granted by her…"
It was such an obvious tool that had even been considered in the creation of the test; however, not even Death himself could have expected what the priestess had done.
"You're correct. The Emblem of Circe allowed me to purify and expand my mana core far beyond what I could have once managed. Furthermore, the corrupted essence within the sticks was instantly erased when I activated it, and therefore, I was able to siphon that remaining darkness into something… Well… Something extra."
She gestured towards the seventh stick that floated separately from the original six sticks, its surface gleaming a different shade of black compared to the others.
Eleanor's mentor stared at her with curiosity that quickly turned to worry as she considered the drawbacks of such application of the Emblem.
"And the side-effects? To fill seven at once must've required Holy Magic so extreme that your body pushed itself to the breaking point with the emotional turmoil. Even now, it should be impossible for you to have paid the mana deficit. So how… How is it that you stand here now without a single wave in your emotions?"
Her tone of voice was wary, grave, almost as if she was expecting the girl to burst out and become a monster at any moment.
The gray-eyed child, on the other hand, simply shrugged.
"I channeled those emotions… Elsewhere…"
There was a flicker of something deeper beneath her words, something that even struck a fragment of fear into the older woman's heart, but in the end, she said nothing.
Such an achievement had never been accomplished in the history of the Angelic Order, and likely, it would never occur again.
Lady Elaris… What were you thinking, giving this child such a powerful Emblem and not your own daughter…?
Every time she mentioned Eleanor Lynn to her superior, she felt a pang of sadness buried beneath Ariel's soul.
That girl was chosen by her mother, and she was not.
That girl was given power far exceeding anything that her mother had ever given her.
That girl had something to live for, something to wake up every day and fight for.
But what did she have anymore?
It was a question that Prudentia could tell her friend faced every time she looked in a mirror, seeing the weak reflection of her own heritage, while this child could resemble her mother without even a blood connection.
Nevertheless, she treated Eleanor with proper manners and sincere kindness—her professionalism and grace were the qualities that even the Lord respected.
"Well?"
The Angel's mind snapped out of its trance, her eyes darting around until they refocused on her student, who had asked her a question that she had missed.
"Am I ready to return… Return to my home?"
Behind her eyes, there was a determination unblemished by the weeks of torturous emotional exhaustion that she must've been subjected to.
Never before had Lady Miriam Prudentia ever felt more certain in her life about the next words that came from her mouth.
"Yes. I believe you are."