“Oh, that is simple. I spent some time in an elven sect and had someone teach me to cultivate. Though, the only reason I can do so is because my soul seems to have the space for it perfectly made. I am assuming that the god who brought me back had something to do with that.” Shrugging my shoulders I do my best to gloss over the subject and move on. Thankfully, Sera seems content with my vague answer.

  “Anyways, you should get to ascending.” Clapping my hands I point towards the shower. Asking Sera to pull out her catalyst, I give her the instructions on how to ascend before starting to leave. Stopping just at the door I lean back and give her one final piece of advice. “We will wait outside, I suggest you remove your clothes to be safe, most ascensions end up rather messy.” Sera grimaces at that but does not say anything, just nodding as we close the door behind us.

  Once we are outside the room, Alice and I spend the time chatting with an ear on the sounds coming from the bathroom just in case something goes wrong. She is probably the first person to ascend while not relying on The System aside from Alice and myself, so We need to keep an eye on things. Mainly, all we hear are a few whimpers making their way outside as Sera does her best to fight against the pain.

  I would love to help her more, but there is really nothing I can do to make the pain of ascending one’s soul any less. When it is all said and done, Sera quickly showers up and exits the door with her new look fully overpowering her old one. Her eyes are glowing white with a soft wisping of purple energy rising and then dissipating quickly from inside. What was once long brown hair now seems to have become something more ethereal than physical as it sways semi-transparently in the air not caring for the lack of wind. Finally, two purple triangles seem to be tattooed below her eyes, both facing downwards coming to stop just above the cheekbones.

  “Well, you certainly look fancy.” I am fascinated by the possible changes someone can go through for their magic, no two people seem to be the same. While I analyze the changes and start to ask to do another scan of her body and core. Alice, who is not happy with my lazy comment and overly scrutinizing gaze, elbows me in the side and starts gathering data. I mean, asking reasonable questions. “How do you feel?”

  “I feel good. It hurt, but it was not as bad as I was expecting, and I feel strong.” Opening and closing her hand over and over, Sera seems to be a little excited at the prospect of her new strength. The look in her eyes is one I know well.

  “Don’t let the new power get to your head… No pun intended.” I quickly caution her as I recall the same feeling of invincibility that comes with ascension. If I didn’t have people around to keep me grounded then I probably would have done something reckless.

  Looking to my side I see Alice glaring at me, not bothering to hide the fact that she can instantly tell what I am thinking from a single look. Ok, something even more reckless than the crap I already pulled. And with that new thought, Alice’s glare fades. I let out an internal sigh of relief that my girlfriend is so understanding.

  Smiling wryly at my joke, Sera breathes out a sigh of relief at the process being over and everything working out okay. “I won’t.”

  After Lua left with the other girls to have Sera ascend, Agera was stuck thinking over all the revelations he had experienced in the last month. The System was an enemy, one that was mind controlling every connected being in the world. Magic is possible outside of The System, and that if the people of the world can’t learn to use it then the Demon Lord will exploit it to attack humanity.

  So many conflicting powers, and Agera just feels like he is being swept along while Lua pushes ahead to make a difference. Lua really is incredible, her ability to fight back against something as overwhelming as The System without fear… He can’t imagine the willpower it takes to do something like that. Feeling like nothing more than an ant standing in front of a dragon, Agera does his best to act like nothing bothers him. But he can only maintain that attitude for so long.

  “Hey Randall, I know this is a strange question to ask at this point, but why do you think the Demon Lord has not pressed the attack after such a successful rout of humanity?” It has been bothering him for a while. The Demon Lord caused so much damage and by all reports only lost a couple demons at best. So why not keep things going?

  “Hmm, I really don’t know. But, I do recall the demon we faced back at the port city claiming that we did not and could not understand their reasons…” Randall scratches at the back of his stony hair as he leans into one of the walls in the Cube Hall as they have been calling it. He had also been confused as to the demon’s motives, but nothing had come to mind thus far.

  “So, there has to be a greater plan, but what exactly?” Agera could not let it go, something was really bothering him about the whole situation.

  “Well, we just learned that the first leader of the rebellion against The System was a Demon Lord, maybe this latest one has the same goal?”

  “But then… ugh, hold on.” Tapping his foot, Agera buries his face in his hands in an attempt to block out everything other than his thoughts. The words are on the tip of his tongue but nothing seems right. “Is that why the Demon Lord let us live? Because our push to get people to leave The System is also part of this grand plan?” The dots seem to connect, that can really be the only reason they were allowed to live and act as they have been. After all, that demon could have killed them all in moments.

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  Randall seems taken back by this suggestion, but after a few moments of contemplation his stony eyes close as he starts running with this theory. “That demon we met yesterday did seem to know how to push Lua’s buttons quite well, I wouldn’t put it past the thing to be able to manipulate her into doing whatever it wants.” It was sad to think about, but with all of Lua’s genius, she was not immune to being pushed around by someone far smarter.

  “But if we are doing what it wants then… wait, no, we can’t just stop now. The System is evil. We have to stop it.” It occurred to Agera that even if they wanted to, they could not stop fighting against The System. A pained groan escapes his lips as he rubs his head rather harshly.

  “It is quite ingenious, we are completely painted into a corner with only one path to follow. The System is a problem we have to fight against, and letting it fester just to spite the Demon Lord would only result in needless deaths.” Randall’s shoulders sagged with resignation, doing his best not to think about the Demon Lord’s clever manipulation and what that means for him.

  Agera however could not let the thoughts slide off so easily. “I hate this! It feels like I am a puppet dancing on a string.”

  “I feel the same.” Randall readily admits to the feeling boiling inside him as the back of his head hits the cold black walls of the hall.

  Lulling into a depressed silence, Agera suddenly got a small thought stuck in the back of his mind. With no rhyme or reason, the idea worms its way inside and does not let go. Is Lua aware of the manipulation, or is she a willing participant? It was a ridiculous thought, but not an impossible one. He had thought she may be interested in working with the Demon Lord back when he first heard of her being stuck in the forest with the monster. She clearly knows the Demon Lord from before either got their titles, and I can’t be certain… but she seemed more annoyed at the thing’s antics than afraid.

  It truly was a pointless thought, one which Agera decided is best to keep to himself.

  Just as Agera decided to leave well enough alone, Lua and the others made their way back with Sera displaying a whole new and exciting look. Walking in from the nearest hallway Sera’s flowing hair and ethereal eyes cause Agera’s breath to catch in his throat. Woah, she is really pretty. Staring like a buffoon, Agera's brain comes to a halt as the rest of the group starts chatting about Sera’s ascension.

  “Well, you certainly look wonderful. I have not seen any mind mages with such a number of external changes I must say.” Randall is surprised to see Sera, after her ascension she was displaying several major traits of her magic which is quite rare for other mind mages. Normally a mind mage has very few expressions of their magic, or at least the majority are internal.

  “T-Thanks, I was not expecting this either. My father looks quite normal aside from his eyes which are like mine so this was a surprise.” Sera bashfully smiles at Randall’s compliment as she starts talking about how it felt to ascend without The System as well as the experiment Lua conducted.

  While this is all going on, Lua saddles up right next to Agera who is still staring with his mouth partially open and jabs him in the side with her elbow. “You are gonna catch a wyvern in your mouth with it hanging open like that. Compliment the girl!” Lua’s jab and teasing whispers bring Agera back around just in time to find a break in the conversation.

  “Sera, you look uh… really pretty like that. Congratulations.” Awkwardly fumbling his words, Agera lets his feelings slip a bit too much into his statement as his eyes never leave the young mind mage.

  This awkwardness does not seem to register much with the girl though, as her face quickly turns rather red and her hair tints pink. Looking down at the ground, Sera starts nodding but is ultimately unable to properly respond to Agera’s compliment.

  A wicked grin rapidly forms on the entire rest of the group as they watch over, happy they have a new thing to tease the two about. “Hehehe, this is wonderful.” Lua’s voice suddenly sounds far more demonic than anyone had ever heard before.

  As the only one of the two blushing love birds to have his head up, Agera quickly notices this and fights to change the topic as quickly as possible. “H-Hey, now that I think about it, why do you look so normal Lua? You look like an Unascended. Is there a reason for that?” Her hair was just a normal blue and her eyes displayed no hints of her magic aside from a slight glittering deep within. It was strange to see someone look completely normal after ascending, even for mind mages.

  Lua is rather taken aback when asked about her appearance. In truth, since she has memories from earth, looking unascended was not strange to her at all. She mulls this question for a moment only to let out a “huh.” as she looks over herself with her magic. “I kind of forgot about that.” Surprisingly even Alice looks like she is curious about the answer as all eyes quickly focus on the blue haired girl.

  Squirming under the gazes of the others, Lua rapidly answers with a faint blush on her cheeks. “I guess I was keeping myself normal looking for the sake of keeping my light magic secret but now I really don’t have to do that anymore, do I?” And just as Lua finishes speaking her body shimmers for a moment, making it impossible to see her figure properly. As the light fades, her appearance has quickly and dramatically changed for everyone to see. Eyes made of a soft sapphire crystal that house countless constellations, White cracks bleeding out from around the crystal on to her skin, and finally a starry sky forming faintly under her skin. It is a truly one of a kind transformation. None of the others have ever seen someone look even remotely like this before even with all the Ascended they have met.

  Just as they are all admiring Lua’s new look, the girl in question suddenly goes stiff. The atmosphere around everyone changes in a moment.

  “What is wrong?” Agera just barely notices the change, but Lua seems extremely worried before she locks her features in place.

  “I just got word from my maid, Prim. The human nations have started building an army to send into the forest.”

  Note: Chapter 24 will be released later in the day than usual.