Act 4: Rematch

Act 4:
Rematch

 

“GOOD MORNING, Sei!” Aira called out as she jogged over to me.

“Oh, Aira! Good morning.”

Today was the day we would head for the slime wood. I was on my way to the rendezvous point as usual when I ran into Aira. I stopped and waited for her to catch up before we continued.

Aira smiled happily. “We’ll be in the same squad today.”

I smiled back. “Yup.”

We’d both gone on tons of expeditions, but this was the first time we’d be going together, which made me happy for some reason.

Aira qualified for the slime wood expedition because of her skill in offensive magic. Specifically, in addition to Holy Magic, Aira could use Water and Wind Magic.

“You’re going to be part of our offense today?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’m planning to keep an eye out and jump in when I can.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You and I are the only ones who can use Holy Magic, so I’m mainly on healing duty.”

“Huh? But I thought Lord Drewes could use Holy Magic, too.”

“The other mages told me he probably can’t be counted on in that department.” Aira smiled awkwardly.

“Ah.” I totally understood. In Ghoshe Forest, Yuri had been pretty exclusively on the offensive.

If I use area-of-effect spells, I can probably handle all the healing on my own, but I’ll run out of MP faster that way. It probably is best if Aira and I handle the healing together, I thought as we finally arrived at the square.

The other expedition squads were there, too, so the square was pretty busy despite it being so early in the morning. Everyone was grouped by destination, so Aira and I looked for people in our squad. We spotted a bunch wearing robes—the mages. That had to be Team Slime Wood.

“Aira, think that’s us?”

“Mm-hmm.”

We started over when I spotted Leo among the knights. Upon closer inspection, several mercenaries were with him, too.

Huh? What are they doing here? I tilted my head inquisitively as I got sidetracked.

Leo noticed me as well and raised a hand. A few other folks noticed his movement and looked toward me.

“Good morning, Lady Sei!” several of them called in unison.

Whoa. That, coupled with their volume, left me a bit surprised. “Uh, good morning.”

I wasn’t the only one shocked either. Leo, his mercenaries, and Aira all wore astonished looks.

These men who greeted me in a boisterous chorus, wearing such radiant smiles, were the guys from the Second Order. Most of them looked somewhat familiar.

However, I was more concerned about Leo at the moment. I’d thought the mercenaries and the knights were back to acting separately.

“Good morning, Leo,” I said.

“Hey—I mean, good morning, Lady Saint.” Leo got all stiff under the sharp gaze of the knights of the Second Order.

“I told you, there’s no need to be so formal with me. I’d prefer you talk with me as a friend.” When I said that, the Second Order guys relaxed. Thank goodness.

“By the way, what are you doing here, Leo?” I asked.

“We’re with you guys today.”

“You are?”

It turned out that at Lord Klausner’s request, Leo and his men would be escorting us, too.

The slime wood had once been an area where dozens of valuable herbs grew, and it was the richest natural harvesting resource in Klausner’s Domain. Upon hearing this section of the forest had been devastated by slimes, Lord Klausner had understandably wanted to dispatch Leo and his men as well. I suspected he wanted his mercenaries to be his eyes so they could see for themselves the state of the forest, especially since they would know what it had once looked like.

I also learned there had been some hiccups coordinating things between the knights and the mercenaries, so the company’s participation had only been finalized the night prior. At first, Leo had been the only one assigned, but he had requested permission for some of his men to come, too. That had led to a bit of a dispute, which was why it had taken a while to come to a decision.

There had also been tiffs among the knights about who would be going to the slime wood even before the Second Order arrived—I could only imagine the assignments had grown more complex after.

Thank you for your hard work in organizing everything, Albert, I thought.

“Morning, Sei.”

“Good morning, Lady Sei.”

Albert and Yuri joined us as I was talking with Leo. Seeing the two of them together was like staring into twin suns. I had to squint a little.

Aira and I said our good mornings as well. Yuri then glanced at Leo and tilted his head. “Who’s this?”

“This is Leonhardt, the leader of the mercenary company in Klausner’s Domain,” I said.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” said Leo.

“He and some other mercenaries will be joining us today,” Albert explained.

Yuri put on a friendly smile and nodded gracefully. “And I am Yuri Drewes, the grand magus of the Royal Magi Assembly. It’s nice to meet you as well.”

Leo’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh! Well, I look forward to working with you today.”

“As do I with you.”

The other mercenaries seemed somewhat flustered as well. They all straightened their posture, looking like they were standing at attention.

I guess Yuri has a pretty high position. But wait, doesn’t Albert, too? Were they like this the first time they met him? I wondered.

But the truth came out relatively quickly. As Albert and Yuri walked away, I heard the mercenaries whisper among themselves.

“That’s the Fiend of Embers!”

“Hey—keep it down.”

“Fiend?” I asked, startled. That was a pretty alarming name to call someone!

“Oh, don’t tell anyone about this, okay?” Leo whispered.

“But why would you call him that?”

Leo kept his voice lowered to explain. This fearsome “Fiend of Embers” was none other than Yuri himself. He had earned the epithet when he completely incinerated everything around him during a large-scale monster-slaying expedition some time ago. Several mercenaries had participated in that expedition, and Yuri had become something of a legend to everyone in the profession. They now watched him leave with equal amounts of fear and awe.

I heard them murmuring about how Yuri had unleashed a massive Fire Magic spell right before their eyes, all the while wearing that beautiful smile, illuminated by the flames in the midst of searing heat. When all was said and done, he had reduced everything before him to ash.

“What a perfect nickname,” I muttered.

“Right?”

It made me want to call Yuri a fiend, too. Back in Ghoshe Forest, he’d gotten pretty hotheaded—but he’d limited himself to saying things, not acting on them. He really must have been holding himself back. Case in point: the western forest was still standing.

“What’s that look for?” Leo asked.

“Oh, I was just thinking that I hope he uses some discretion this time, too,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“I hope the forest will be okay.”

Leo grimaced. “You mean a repeat of that nightmare? You gotta stop him for me.”

I couldn’t help but be a little worried. Although we’d found a black swamp in Ghoshe, it had only produced a lot of monsters—it hadn’t harmed the forest itself. Thus, Yuri had been motivated to leave the forest alone in order to preserve it.

Meanwhile, here in Klausner’s Domain, the slimes had already withered a number of trees in the forest depths. The forest was injured, and parts of it were dying. I feared that upon seeing that the forest was in danger of no longer being a forest at all, Yuri would decide he could just let loose.

I agreed with Leo that this was the nightmare scenario and that it should be circumvented at all costs. In fact, the destruction the slimes had wrought was even more reason to avoid harming the forest any further—especially as there might still be some herbs growing in nooks and crannies, just barely hanging in there.

Yuri and I will be sharing a carriage, so I’ll be sure to beg him to please, please, please restrain himself during the expedition. Yes, that’s what I’ll do.

With renewed determination, I made my way to the carriage.

 

***

 

“What do you think?”

“Uh, I think you have a good physique.”

“Thank you!” The knight, who was so tall I had to strain my neck to see his face, beamed.

I didn’t think my honest opinion necessitated thanks, but now some other knights looked at him enviously. Oh, come on, they all had nice physiques, too!

The first time I’d met Leo, I had been struck by his largeness, but the Second Order knights were his rivals in both height and…thickness. And by thickness, I meant pure muscle. While not thin by any means, compared to them, Albert looked slender, to say nothing of Yuri the reed. Perhaps by people who had a reputation for their defensive skills, Albert had actually meant those who were absolutely ripped?

“So, that’s your type, huh?”

“Huh?” I asked without thinking.

The question had come from Leo, who now stood between me and the knight.

“Where’d that come from?” I asked him.

“You seem quite taken with Sir Knight here.”

“I-I am not. I was just amazed by how tall he is.”

“That so? There’s plenty of knights in good shape around here.”

“Yeah, but, tall’s different.”

“Oh, yeah?”

I was by no means drooling over their muscles. I was just thinking about how my friend back in Japan would be crying with joy if she were here right now.

“What’s that? Boss, you wonderin’ what kind of guys the Saint’s into?” one of the mercenaries joked.

“Oh, has spring finally come for our boss?” another laughed.

“Huh? Get real,” Leo snorted.

“You’ve been awfully interested in the Saint for a while now, if you ask me.”

“Why you—stop your yammerin’ and get vigilant! Keep an eye out already!”

The mercenaries crowed, entirely amused.

“Oh no, the boss is mad!”

“How scary!”

I think his men were just trying to pick on him. They all seemed to be on really good terms. Even though a vein throbbed in Leo’s temple, he laughed them off. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

We were only able to joke around like this while we walked because everyone was so good at their job. We went at a faster pace than we had the last time we’d moved through the forest—very expedient all around. One reason for that was that we had more people to take care of monsters, but the main reason was Yuri.

“There’s one!” a mercenary at the vanguard shouted.

“At last. Ice Spear.” Yuri, also at the front, calmly dealt with the monster. A thick wedge of ice pierced through one of the creatures that looked like giant tropical pitcher plants. Dead in one hit.

Yup. We went so fast because every monster who dared to cross our path was dead in the blink of an eye thanks to Yuri. Even monsters that would have taken other mages multiple spells to defeat were felled by a single one of his. No surprise.

At present, despite my concerns, no harm had really come to the forest either. The extent of the damage was limited to that caused by any Wind Magic spells monsters managed to dodge—a few cut branches here and there. Yuri seemed to be taking care to choose spells with limited collateral damage. Maybe he’d actually been listening when I asked him to be thoughtful about it.

“Whoa. That was incredible!” one mercenary exclaimed.

“He killed it in one hit?” another replied, equally astonished.

The confrontations kept finishing before anyone even needed to ready themselves for combat. It was especially impressive to those who weren’t used to seeing magic at work. Even I clapped the first time I saw Yuri take a monster out in one hit.

Meanwhile, the mages wore troubled looks.

“Um, is it really okay that we’re not doing any fighting?” Aira asked a nearby mage.

The other mage was also frowning. “Not really, but…”

Despite that, the mages made no move to stop Yuri. Aira wore an increasingly familiar half-smile, half-frown. Honestly, the mages probably couldn’t stop their grand magus even if they tried. They seemed pretty resigned as they talked amongst themselves.

“If this were a normal expedition, we wouldn’t be nearly as relaxed.”

“Yeah. But it’s always like this when you go with him.”

“True. The one in Ghoshe got pretty intense, though.”

“Even the grand magus seemed to be having trouble.”

“There are only so many foes you can take on by yourself. You can’t just mow down everything that comes at you if you’re surrounded.”

“I still feel like he might be able to.”

“If he did, there wouldn’t be any forest left.”

The others groaned in agreement.

What a disquieting exchange. Were they referring to the same legendary expedition the mercenaries still talked about? In any case, I sincerely hoped we wouldn’t see Klausner’s forests burnt to the ground.

We continued at the same pace for a bit before we decided to take a rest. We would start running into the slimes soon, so the knights wanted to give us mages a break before we did.

We gathered in a glade and broke into teams so some people could rest while others kept a lookout before switching off. I thought I’d join in with my usual camp jobs, but the knights near me put down a folding stool and encouraged me to sit.

Everyone’s still getting everything ready. Why am I sitting now? As I hesitated, one held out a hand to help me down, and that was that. I wouldn’t get anywhere refusing him, so I gave up and took my seat.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it!”

“Um, but shouldn’t I help out?”

“Don’t worry about that! You should rest here! You can count on us to do everything for you!” the knight responded, his eyes sparkling.

There’s no way this guy isn’t from the Second Order, I thought. Maybe I should talk to someone about this? It feels kinda weird to just lounge about, twiddling my thumbs. Hmm, let’s see…

On one side of the encampment, I saw Albert talking to Yuri and some knights, looking preoccupied. Just then, Aira happened to pass by, so I called to her. She hesitated at first, but the mages nearby encouraged her, so she timidly came over.

The knights also put out a folding chair for Aira, so I gestured her down next to me.

“Good job so far today,” I said.

“You, too. Though it’s not like I’ve done anything,” Aira replied.

“Me neither. I haven’t even had any chances to heal.”

“And I haven’t had any chances to attack.”

“It’s amazing how quickly Lord Drewes dispatches the monsters we run into. He really is remarkable.”

“Right?”

At least being with Aira made things less excruciating. Sitting around taking it easy by myself while everyone else did the heavy lifting made me feel guilty, but having an accomplice diminished the feeling. I did regret forcing Aira to be that accomplice, though.

As we chatted and giggled, we heard footsteps approach. I looked up to find Yuri walking toward us. Speak of the devil and all that.

“Good job out there.”

“You, too.”

It seemed Yuri had decided to take a break with us once he finished with Albert. I thought he’d sit, too, but he told me to hand over my traveling cup instead. I thought this odd but handed it over anyway. He filled it with water using magic.

“Here you are,” he said, handing it back.

“Thank you.” I looked at the contents and found ice floating in it. Had he used some kind of spell that mixed both Water and Ice Magic? I was grateful for it whatever the case, being all sweaty from the walking.

Yuri did the same for Aira as well. Aira took the cup graciously and was surprised to find ice in hers, too. It was just ice, but even so, it was ice. Ice was valuable in Salutania, so anyone would have been surprised to so casually receive it.

After a moment, Aira looked up at him with curiosity. “Was that Ice Magic?”

I thought that rather mage-like of her, but then again, she was one of the Assembly now. Either way, Yuri’s answer surprised her.

“Huh? You only used Water Magic?” she said.

“That’s right. If you imagine the water in a frozen state while you cast, you can conjure it as such. At least, that’s the gist.”

“Water can become ice just by force of will?”

“Indeed. I found out while experimenting with the temperature of conjured water.”

Aira asked one question after another, wearing an intently interested look. Yuri answered them all with a smile. Suddenly, he looked at me. “I came up with the notion after seeing your power at work.”

“Wait, really?”

“Quite. You use the same magic to produce different effects, don’t you?”

True enough, even before Yuri had seen me “practicing” with the Saint’s magic in the fields a few days ago, he’d known that I had used the same power to alter the research institute’s gardens to increase the effectiveness of our herbs. Both of those feats differed quite a bit from using the same power to purge the swamp in Ghoshe Forest.

I agreed that he had a point, which made his smile deepen. “I found Water Magic more malleable than, say, Fire Magic, and I did manage this much—though it requires a degree of channeling.”

There it was again: channeling. The almighty channeling.

I wonder if Jude and Aira could both learn to make ice with their Water Magic? However, who knew how much control Yuri expended in order to pull that off?

He confessed that he still hadn’t conducted any experiments to see whether people whose only elemental affinity was with Water Magic could also conjure ice. He knew that the extent to which fire, water, or ice could be conjured with simple spells increased with focus and will, but doing the same with more complicated magic was still a matter of hypothesis.

As we chatted, Albert came over to join us, several small pouches in his arms.

“Good work so far today,” Aira and I said at the same time and chuckled at ourselves.

Albert sat next to me and handed me a pouch.

“Are these the cookies?” I asked him.

“That’s right. I doubt we’ll have a chance to rest again later, so we should probably eat these now while we have the chance.”

“That’s true. Thank you.”

I thought I had recognized the pouch—it was full of the rosemary and walnut cookies I had made to be portable rations.

Albert also handed pouches to Aira, Yuri, and a nearby knight. We waited until Yuri was seated across from me before we opened our pouches and started eating. As I opened mine, I inhaled the hint of rosemary wafting up from it.

“Did you make these?” Aira asked.

“Mm-hmm. They’re not very sweet, but I hope you like them.”

“Wow! Thanks!” Aira picked a cookie and popped it into her mouth. Since it was so small, she got it in one. Aira smiled at the taste, which left me relieved.

“It’s been a while since I last enjoyed something made by Lady Sei,” Yuri said.

“I haven’t been able to partake in her cooking nearly as often either,” Albert said.

“Really? But you’ve been out here together for well over a month now.”

“She’s only been able to cook two or three times since we arrived. She can’t always borrow the kitchens, after all.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

Satisfied, Albert and Yuri tried their cookies, too. Albert had been my taste tester, and he clearly enjoyed them as much as usual. He didn’t really care for overly sugary foods, though. But what about Yuri? He had a sweet tooth, so I feared he wouldn’t find them palatable. As the creator of the cookies, I watched for his reaction on tenterhooks.

“How are they?” I asked after he swallowed.

“They’re mild, as far as sweetness goes, but not bad if I think of them as a proper meal. The aroma of rosemary and walnuts accents them well. All in all, quite delicious.”

Better than I thought! Thank goodness. Maybe it was Yuri’s nature as an academic, but he didn’t mince words when it came to giving his opinion.

Later, I learned the cookies were well received by others as well. A ton of knights and mages wanted to bring them along on future expeditions, too. That was that. I’d be making further adjustments to the recipe when I got back to the capital!

Although, while potions were one thing, I couldn’t really justify making portable rations for everyone while I was on the job at the institute. I would probably have to entrust the task to someone else. Either way, Albert told me we could discuss it more with Johan when we got back to the capital.

With that, everyone was refreshed, and we started back into the forest.

 

***

 

As we continued, we arrived at the slime wood. Once we started running into the slimes, the other mages finally got their chance to join the fray.

“Water Wall!” A wall of water sprang up to block a slime’s venomous spray. The wall did its job, and just as it disappeared, a mercenary swung his sword, forcing the slime to retreat. Another mage flung an offensive spell to finish it off, and the battle was over.

“Good job, Miss!” The knight thanked Aira for her initial cast, which had blocked the slime’s surprise attack.

Aira smiled back. “Thanks!”

Although it had been sudden, they had worked in perfect synchrony.

Now it was my turn. “Area Protection.”

“Oh! Support magic.”

“Thank you, Lady Saint!”

“Don’t mention it!”

I had to recast the spell now and again since its effects wore off over time. In a game, I would have been able to see how much time remained on each cast, so it would have been far easier to time the next spell. I didn’t have such convenient markers in this world, and I had no choice but to include myself under the auspice of its protection so I would feel when it started to weaken. Also, because there were so many of us, I needed to push the spell’s area of effect to its limits in order to catch everyone.

Unlike the knights and mages, many of the mercenaries had never benefited from support spells before, so they got excited whenever I did it. Some of them thanked me every time. At first, it was a bit disconcerting to hear them keep calling me “Lady Saint,” but I was starting to get used to it.

“We’re running into more and more of them,” Albert said.

“Yeah. It won’t be much longer until we make it to the point where we had to turn back.”

“From here on out, it’ll be do or die.”

I nodded and glanced over at Yuri, who stood a bit farther away. He gave me an inquisitive look, so I shook my head to let him know it was nothing urgent.

It was just that I kept thinking of our earlier retreat. Was another horde of slimes waiting for us? Most likely. I trembled a bit just thinking of how many there had been. Although we had more mages now, it was still possible we wouldn’t be able to take them on with regular offensive magic alone. It would be more effective to use area-of-effect spells. In short, it was increasingly less likely that I could feasibly ask Yuri to heed my earlier request to hold back.

The landscape had already turned grayer, more desolate. I saw no hint of herbs, no matter where I looked. But when all was said and done, human lives were more important than rare plants. And when push came to shove, Yuri could cast his spells much faster than I could use the Saint’s magic. We would be fortunate if the forest fringe remained—we had to allow that we might lose its heart. I inwardly sighed as we got going again.

“Dammit! There’s too many of them!”

“Don’t break formation! That goes for you mercs, too!”

“You can count on us!”

Just as we predicted, when we arrived at the point where we had retreated before, we faced a great swarm of slimes all at once. The knights and mercenaries lined up in a semicircle around the mages and me. The mages flung offensive spells from behind as I stood ready to support.

Physical attacks didn’t do much to the slimes, but the knights and mercenaries did enough with their blades to keep the slimes in check. They also literally used their bodies to shield us from venomous spray. While Healing Magic could cure wounds and status effects, we couldn’t preemptively stop the pain they endured for our sake. Every fighter was injured while they protected us. My heart ached for them, and I devoted myself to healing their wounds.

“Sei!”

“Lord Hawke!”

As I cast a healing spell on a knight who had succumbed to a harmful status effect, a slime dropped from above. I had only just finished casting my spell, and in the midst of recovering my focus, I was slow to react. Albert shoved me aside, and while I was saved, he took the hit in my stead.

The slime coiled around Albert’s right hand, and before my eyes, his skin started to melt away.

My magical power surged up within my chest—but someone put a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

“Not yet.”

I turned to see Yuri. “Lord Drewes!”

“Fire Arrow!” Yuri’s flaming strike landed a direct hit on the slime. The monster released Albert’s hand and flopped to the ground. Without pause, Yuri cast another spell, killing it instantly.

“Thank you,” I gasped.

“Don’t mention it. Now quickly, heal him.”

“R-right. Heal!” I cast as swiftly as I could.

“Thanks,” said Albert.

I had held my breath, but I let it out as his reddened skin recovered its normal color. Not a scratch remained.

“Lady Sei,” Yuri said.

“Yes?” I looked his way to find he wore an expression I didn’t normally see on him—a smile, yes, but a bit strained.

“It seems there are a few too many slimes for us to handle. Do you remember what you asked of me?”

“You mean to avoid harming the forest?”

“Yes.”

“All right… I understand.”

Before we departed, we had decided I would do my utmost to reserve the Saint’s magic until we reached the black swamp. Any use of it required a tremendous amount of MP. On top of that, the greater its reach, the higher the cost. We didn’t know how large the black swamp would be, and with our limited resources (i.e., me and only me), it would be best if I didn’t expend unnecessary power on wiping out monsters only to reach the swamp and have nothing left.

Yuri had stopped me to ensure I didn’t waste powerful magic on a single slime—it would have been inefficient. But if I was limited in my use of the Saint’s magic to fend off monsters, we could only rely on Yuri to deal with them because of his ability to use area-of-effect spells.

However, casting one of those inevitably meant harming the forest. I was painfully reluctant to allow this, but in these dire circumstances, it would be selfish to ask him to keep avoiding actions that could save other people from harm. Therefore, I gave my consent. No need to hold back. Not anymore.

Once Yuri had my consent, it was all over in a whirlwind of magic. He mowed down swarms of slimes in a single blast—and those that still lived after his first salvo were picked off by the other mages.

Thanks to this, the knights and mercenaries were no longer forced to serve as shields, and I no longer had to use my MP healing their wounds and relieving them of harmful status effects. It hurt a bit, to think that I’d let them put up with so much pain. I should have let Yuri off the leash the second we reached the slime wood.

The farther we went, the more slimes we encountered. Soon there were so many it seemed like we faced an undulating sea of ooze. That was when we found the black swamp.

It began in a location where only a few dead trees remained, and it stretched out even farther than the one we had seen in Ghoshe Forest. I was speechless. This isn’t a swamp—it’s a lake.

We only had a few moments to waste gawping. Just like in Ghoshe, slimes started sliding out of the lake by the dozens—hundreds. We had to hurry.

“Keep them back!”

“Use barrier magic!”

“Ice Wall!”

“Earth Wall!”

Starting with Albert, the other mages cast their spells, and walls of ice and earth sprang out of the ground. The slimes that came at us from around the walls were cut down and forced back by the knights and mercenaries. We slowly made our way toward the swamp, but before we could get too close, the monsters came at us so fiercely that we couldn’t make any more progress at all.

I wanted to use the Saint’s magic and purge everything, but if we didn’t get closer, the range I would need to cast would seriously drain my MP.

“Lady Sei, do you think you can purge the swamp from this position?” asked Yuri.

“If I have to—but we should get closer.”

“Then allow me to pave the way.”

It appeared Yuri had still been holding back. At least, that was what I thought upon seeing the next spell he cast.

“Inferno.” A wave of flames roared forth all at once, enveloping a vast stretch of land before us. At the same time, the other mages cast a series of ice and water barriers in front of our group.

Good thinking! That’ll mitigate the scorching wind coming back our way.

“Wow, that’s amazing!”

“So this is the true power of the Fiend of Embers.”

“It’s been a while since we last got to see the grand magus’s most powerful fire spell.”

“Stop wasting time being impressed. We gotta keep pushing forward while we can.”

“All right. Come on, people—let’s cool the earth with water and ice.”

The mages followed up with water and ice spells as they delivered the finishing blows to any surviving slimes. Steam billowed up everywhere, clouding our vision, so another mage used Wind Magic to blow it away and let us see.

We rushed ahead as soon as we knew the way was clear, and I concentrated on summoning up the Saint’s magic. In moments, I felt the magical power flow forth from my chest. The power turned into a golden torrent, pouring from under my feet toward the swamp. There, it spread, filling the distance between the dead trees.

The slimes were purged the instant the magic touched them, fading into a black mist. However, this mist slowed the speed of my spell’s expansion wherever they met, almost as if it was fighting my power.

Wider, farther—so that it’ll cover the whole swamp. I folded my hands before my chest as if in prayer, extending my magical power as I envisioned the black mist washing away. Please purge the monsters and the miasma.

With that, the golden mist swallowed the entire swamp, and my spell set in. Every surface that had been blanketed by my magic sparkled, overtaking the black mist with purifying light until it faded away. Then the light burst, and after the last of the black mist vanished, golden sparkles fluttered down from the sky.

Everyone stared at the spectacle, awestruck and silent. All that remained were dead trees and naked earth.