“Darling...?” Dyphon looked at me and my clones in confusion for a second, before her eyebrows shot up with a gasp.
I gave her a quick smile, then spun on my heel and began taking some distance, just as my three clones did. We stood in four different directions with the pile of particles in the center.
We all nodded at once and chanted, “Amelia Emilia Claudia...”
And then—
“Huh...?”
“Darling?! Oh, thank goodness you’re okay!”
What... What happened?
My head swirled in confusion as I heard Dyphon’s voice shift from concern to relief. She threw herself onto me—and only then did I notice that I was lying on the ground. I pushed myself up, Dyphon’s arms still wrapped around me, and took a look around.
The scenery was devastated, littered with scars from Lardon and Dyphon’s battle. It was no different from how I remembered it, meaning I was still in the same place. Looking at the sky, it seemed not much time had passed either.
“You passed out for a minute or so,” Lardon supplied.
I recalled what I was trying to do before passing out—and suddenly, it made sense. “Oh...”
“What’s the matter, darling? Why did you suddenly pass out? I was so worried!”
“Sorry about that. I used too much mana.”
“Huh? After that measly spell?!”
I nodded. “Yep.”
“That can’t be! I know you unleashed your full strength—and you looked really cool, by the way—but how was that any different from your usual? Why would you pass out from that?”
“It was...a careless mistake,” I admitted sheepishly. “I was thinking of simultaneously replenishing my mana with Another Dimension, but using four times my full strength was a bit much... Before I knew it, I completely ran out. I should’ve known...”
Wielding my full strength already placed a huge burden on me, but doing that with four of me? Why didn’t I realize sooner that it’d be a problem? It was like knowing that I could just barely jump from the second floor unscathed, yet choosing to jump from the fourth floor anyway.
I have to keep in mind that with Covenant Summoning, my clones and I all draw from the same mana pool...
I gasped. “Oh, right! What happened to it?!” In the first place, I was doing all this so I could meld all those particles together.
Dyphon drew back from me with a bright smile. “It went exactly as you planned, darling. Take a look!”
She moved aside so I could see the lump of metal behind her. This was the result of that pile of particles being pressed with immense power from four sides. Though a bit warped, it had properly formed into one cluster.
“So it worked...”
“Mm-hmm! That’s my darling!”
“Great. Now, I just need to work on this thing. Fix its shape, then apply magic to—”
“Take a rest for today.”
“You should just rest today!”
Somehow, Lardon and Dyphon spoke up at exactly the same time. Dyphon had no clue since she couldn’t hear Lardon, but Lardon knew—and I could feel that she wasn’t very happy about it.
“I mean, you collapsed. You can’t just brush that off,” Dyphon continued. “You even used four times your full strength! That’s like...over-over-over-overdoing it! That can’t be good for you.”
“Well... I guess you’re right.”
I nearly laughed when she started stringing “over” together so many times, but I got her point loud and clear. Dyphon—and Lardon, who likely wanted to say the same—wasn’t wrong at all. Besides, I also wanted to observe how this burden affected my body.
“All right. I’ll end here for today.”
“Good!”
“Let me just put this away...”
“You can do that tomorrow! It’s not like it’s gonna break.”
“Ah, I guess that’s true.” After everything we just did, I knew this wasn’t the sort of thing I had to worry about leaving out for a single night.
“Let’s head back, then. Hang on to me,” Dyphon said, but took the initiative to cling onto me instead.
“Huh? Oh—”
Suddenly, we were flying upward. She must have been doing this to make sure I didn’t use any more magic today. We soared through the sky as we headed straight back to the city.
“Anyway...” Dyphon muttered.
“Hmm?” I turned to her, but our difference in size and our current position hid her face from my view. Still, I could tell that her voice was much smaller than usual. She almost sounded a little meek, even.
“You were...really amazing back there, darling. For just a brief moment, you were stronger than us all.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to her praise. Now, I didn’t think she was exaggerating—I’d actually felt that strong for that split second. But I hardly remembered it. That split second was like a dazzling moment that fizzled out right away. How could I accept her praise for an achievement that served no actual purpose?
Is there some way to fix this...?
I pondered on it more as we made our way back to the city.
Eventually, Dyphon gently set me down on the palace’s front yard, then took one step back from me. “Guess I’ll leave you here, then. Have a good rest, darling!” With that, she ran off into the distance.
Once her back disappeared from view, I turned around and returned to the palace. I’d only made it one step in when an elven maid approached me with hurried steps.
“Master!” she called. “Ms. Scarlet was looking for you.”
“Really? What happened?”
My mind failed to process what she said next.
“Apparently, the Duchy of Parta is on the verge of collapse.”