“Anyway, I want light to dry up the plants. Got it?!”
“Roger.”
“A hundred days of unending sun cracked the earth, and ended all life. Luxsaria Sein!”
O Spirits of Light, light up the pansy magibeast like the desert sun and dry it out...!
There was a flash of radiant light. The spirits were gathering above the magibeast and shining. Within moments, the pansy began flopping about, then collapsed.
Feena crawled out from among the vines and ran our way.
“Are you okay, Feena?! You’re not hurt?!”
“Sorry for taking so long to help—”
“I am fine. However...” Feena, fidgeting, looked up at Stella...then showed the empty palms of her hands. “Um... It stole my share of the cursed food...”
With an earsplitting explosion, the earth erupted. Earth and plants rained down around us while Stella and Feena used their arms to protect their eyes.
“Wh-What...?”
A bizarre creature now stood where the pansy magibeast had been. Its head was a pansy while its torso was a giant snake. Sharp teeth lined the center of the flower’s mouth.
The pansy had not, in fact, died to the might of a few seconds of sunlight. And now it reared its head back before lunging toward Stella.
“Ngh!” In an instant, Stella tossed aside the cursed food in her hand. The magibeast turned its head to follow, and Stella took that opportunity to chant.
“O Spirits of Fire, grant me blazes to burn mine enemies away. Ignaria Sein!”
All right, now we’re talking. Spirits of Fire, make a fireball!
As per my mental image, a fireball began to form at the tip of Stella’s staff. Seeing that, Stella balked.
“Why only one?! Is this the limit of my Fire miracles...?!”
“I mean, I only imagined one fireball. Did you want more?”
“You again?! Lots, I want lots! This is based on when a rain of meteors crashed into a city worshipping the witches. It’s obviously not a single fireball!”
“Stella, the magibeast...!”
The magibeast finished eating the cursed goods and turned back this way.
Stella swung her staff with a battle cry and launched the fireball. The pansy chomped on it, then swallowed.
“Um,” Stella said. “The miracle didn’t work...?”
“Wow, magibeasts can eat fire. Neat,” Feena said in a daze.
The magibeast gnashed its sharp teeth and rushed at them.
“RUN! Winaria Sein!”
Feena nodded and began chanting too.
O Spirits of Wind, take Stella high in the sky where the magibeast can’t reach!
With a woosh, Stella’s robe fluttered with the wind. She sat on me with her legs hanging on one side as she was launched high into the air.
“Heh?”
We were in the sky far above the forest; so far above that there wasn’t even a bird in sight. Stella let out a gargled yelp.
“’Sup?” I asked.
“Don’t ‘sup’ me! Why are we this high?!”
“The magibeast can hardly reach you up here, can it?”
Stella face-palmed. “ARE YOU STUPID?! That magibeast is way above a grade one. It’s beyond us to take down. If we don’t tell the professor fast, the other students are in danger!”
“Oh, I see. You wanted me to fly in the direction of the professor,” I mused, then had the spirits lower us down. “Which way was she again, anyway?”
“That way, come on! Jeeeez, why do I have to specify every little thing for my miracles to work right?!”
That would be because the miracles had absolutely no connection to her mental image whatsoever. The spirits utterly ignored Stella’s prayers and listened exclusively to me, meaning that whenever we had different ideas, it would never go the way she wanted.
We began flying about in search of Professor Elyena. Before long, Stella shouted, “Wait! Feena is over there...!”
I looked where she was pointing and saw Feena flying with the pansy magibeast chasing after her. It was about to catch up to her. I shifted the direction of our flying so we could line up to her.
“Stella! I’m so glad to see you. I thought something had happened when you suddenly disappeared...”
“Forget about that, are you okay?! It seems like you’re flying kind of weird...”
Feena was flying in kind of a massive zigzag. Her height was going up and down with no stability, making us feel uneasy just watching her.
“It’s not weird... This is just what always happens when I fly.”
“Whaaat...” Stella said, disturbed. “Speed up a bit! The magibeast is gonna catch up!”
“Ngh, I’m going as fast as I can...! I’m at my limit. I just can’t use Wind...”
“Feena!”
She began to plummet to the ground, as if her engine had run dry. She fell to the ground, grasping at her chest and gasping for air.
“What are you doing?! The magibeast is coming!”
“Stella, please summon the professor. I will be a decoy until then.”
“A decoy?!”
“I’ll be fine,” she said.
Stella almost said, “You obviously won’t be,” but stopped.
Feena lifted her staff and chanted. “Iron wall! Terararia Sein.”
The earth responded to her call, morphing into iron and engulfing her from all sides. “Go forth, Stella!” she called from within her fortress. “It shouldn’t be able to tear through metal quickly.”
“Ngh, fine! I’ll be right back with the professor...! We’re going full speed, Otaku. Winaria Sein!”
I called to the spirits at once.
Stella was visibly anxious. We had just learned our miracles wouldn’t work on a grade two or above magibeast. There was no proof that Feena’s walls would actually last.
Please. Make it in time...!
We blasted over the forest at speeds never before seen. A roar resounded from behind us, prompting Stella to glance behind her.
“No way. It’s chasing after us?!”
The magibeast slithered this way, its snake torso twisting. Behind it was Feena.
“APOLOGIES, STELLAAAA!” she called, cupping her mouth. “I WASN’T EVEN A GOOD DECOY! IT IGNORED MEEE!”
For a moment, Stella was taken aback by this development...and then, she laughed. She whispered with relief one wouldn’t expect from someone being chased by a giant monster. “As long as you’re okay.”