{Edited} A Merchant's Odyssey - Chapter 24 (Patreon)

AN: Edited chapters do not count toward monthly quota's.

Chapter 24: Kintsugi

“Have you ever heard the term, Kintsugi?” Sebastian stood once more at the entrance to Demora Falls.

Neo yawned and stepped out of the gate, nuzzling into his side with a curious hum.

"It's something I read about from Japan, a country back in my world." Sebastian wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kept his eyes on the horizon. "They have an entire branch of art where they would repair broken pottery, filling in the cracks with gold to emphasize the cracks, rather than to return it to normal."

Neo looked up at him with mirthful eyes, resting her chin against his shoulder.

“Summon your Martial Soul.” He told her.

Neo raised a brow, but did so; her mask appeared over her face as usual, yet it had changed.

Where the cracked mask had been blank before, lines of gold now ran through it.

"My point is," Sebastian carefully took the mask off her face to show her. "That I believe the greatest beauty in life comes from imperfection. When something broken fills in its cracks with the beauty of its own existence."

He smiled at the focused look on her face as she studied the mask. "When it shows the world that it was better off broken, rather than remaining a perfect little white lie."

Neo gently took the mask back, running her fingers over the lines.

“Martial Souls grow with each Spirit Ring added.” Sebastian explained. “I had a feeling of what would happen.”

Neo tilted her head as she channeled her Soul Power, her new voice coming out of a mouth that wasn’t moving. "I can't tell if you're complimenting or insulting me."

“You’re welcome.” He smiled smugly.

Neo rolled her eyes with a smile and pushed off him, waving him on to get moving.

Just because she could speak now didn't mean she would break a lifetime of habits anytime soon.

Sebastian chuckled and pulled out his flying carpet. “Not excited to jump back into hell with me?”

A shiver crossed her skin.

“Ah, the spider?” He nodded in sympathy.

Neo made an illusion of a spider web around them.

Sebastian grimaced at the memory. “The school I went to has an infestation of spiders that big in the forest nearby.”

Neo nearly missed a step as she went to sit down, shooting him a disgusted look.

“Well, it did have wards.” Sebastian defended. “They never actually come onto campus, although there was that one time where-.”

“Shut up, Sebastian.” Neo shook her head and sat down on the carpet with a sudden smile. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

"If last night was any indication, there were many things you've wanted to say." Sebastian dropped next to her with an infuriating smirk.

But instead of getting annoyed, Neo only licked her lips and bumped him with her shoulder.

“You’re still not bloody satisfied?” Sebastian leaned back incredulously. “We were at it for the entire night! I still haven’t slept.”

Neo’s eyes were alight with sinful mischief.

“Remind me to look into Sex Spells later.” Sebastian shook his head and had the carpet rise into the air.

“Sex spells?” Neo's face lit up with a hint of excited mania.

"Down, you damn Succubus." Sebastian flicked a mini-Banishing Charm at her forehead. "And here I was, proud of my stamina."

Neo’s head snapped back with a giggle. “I’ll be looking forward to the spells.”

Sebastian chuckled and brought them to a stop at the entrance. “You ready?”

Neo stretched out and gripped her umbrella, the air around her blurring like static, the promise of revenge in her eyes.

"By all means." Sebastian snorted and activated the portkey, launching them through space back to the spot in the Shifting Maze they had left the day before.

He groaned lightly at the transportation before waving ahead. “Have at them.”

Neo's grin spread wide and unhinged as her laughter distorted.

The dark and foggy world around them warped as her illusions superimposed reality.

Illusory flames clung to the trees and sent over a dozen creatures screeching in a panic.

The earth rumbled as a dozen stone giants emerged from the ground, shaped as ice cream scoops, and wielding lances of waffle cones.

The illusion's presence radiated Soul Power and attracted the attention of every mentally impairing predator around.

“Really?” Sebastian raised a brow at the giggling woman clapping her hands. “Ice cream?”

Neo applauded a tree being physically assaulted by a knight of cold justice.

Sebastian could only laugh as he pulled out something he had put together that morning.

A simple compass that didn't point north, but toward his nearest portkey markers.

'Oh, right.' He blinked.

A Severing Charm slashed through the marker by their feet, and the compass was oriented to the last one he had left before entering the maze. 'There we go, now I just go in the opposite direction.'

The carpet was shifted to the left, and Sebastian nodded as they set off. "You know the drill."

Neo laughed in response as her toy ice cream soldiers stomped through the forest beside them to attract attention.

“I didn’t realize they had that much of a physical presence?” Sebastian asked curiously as they left solid footprints.

“Aura.” Neo said simply, flicking the switch on her umbrella as the tip shifted to a gun barrel.

She gleefully shot at anything that popped up around her soldiers with Dust rounds.

‘She’s funneling her creations with Soul Power to strengthen their physical presence. Wasting Soul Power out of pettiness.’ Sebastian deadpanned at the realization as he sped up the carpet. ‘And she forgot how speed affects her illusions.’

Neo realized the issue a few seconds later as her soldiers faded in and out. The pout she sent Sebastian almost a physical force, but he hardened his heart and handed her a grenade belt.

“Just be content with burning stuff.” He pointed at the red pins. “All of these have fire Dust.”

Neo sullenly took the grenades, looked at them, then at the foggy woods full of creepy crawlers, and proceeded to pull all the pins at once and casually toss them.

“What the bloody hell are you doing?!” Sebastian’s voice cracked as he rapidly sped up, throwing a Banishing Charm behind them for good measure to get more space. “Are you trying to kill us?!”

Neo watched the flames explode, a depressed rain cloud hanging over her head as she rubbed her poor, clean, unused sword.

"Just focus on the illusions for now, please." Sebastian rubbed his brow and idly sent out his spheres to fly ahead, smash through tree branches, and make a path. "The fact that you can make twelve figures now is helping contain these little shits."

With only six illusions, Neo and Sebastian were being hit with a seventh of all the mental ensnarements, but with twelve, they only had to deal with a thirteenth.

Neo hummed in reply, rocking back and forth on her butt as her ice cream soldiers lost their physical form and remained illusory, flying by their side.

She amused herself by adding designs to them, with only half the mental strain she'd had the day before. "I think I like this level stuff."

“I think you’re terrifying when you’re bored.” Sebastian shot her an amused look.

Neo smiled brightly at the compliment and lined up her umbrella with a passing deformed humanoid monster, the splattering of its innards only brightening her mood.

Sebastian grunted as his alarms wiped away the feeling of thorns stabbing into his skin. 'I can't wait till I'm done with this mental attack shit.'

The next twenty minutes passed with only moderate resistance as he was no longer being lured off course.

Yet when they finally broke through the maze and the corrosive mist that hounded them, the world didn't brighten but darkened instead.

“Where-.” Neo was cut off as Sebastian covered her mouth.

A wave of Mana washed over the carpet in a bubble before he sighed in relief.

"I almost forgot about this zone." Sebastian's mind took in the scene before them. "Whatever you do, don't make a sound or touch anything."

Neo smirked with the urge to touch stuff and leaned against him for the explanation.

"The Silent Woods." Sebastian pointed toward the almost pitch-black world before them, if not for the faint neon glowing lights.

Towering violet trees grew at odd angles with faces of all manner of creatures carved into their bark.

Dense foliage spread from branches far above, blocking any light from reaching the bleached white earth below.

An eerie shiver crawled up Sebastian’s spine as he kept his senses peeled. “This place is almost entirely the territory of two species of Spirit Beasts.”

Neo frowned, sensing she wouldn't like the answer to what they were.

“Trees and Mushrooms.” Sebastian understood her silent question.

Neo blinked at him.

“Yeup.” Sebastian felt her dry stare and elaborated. “Choking Oak and Zombie Shrooms. The first is blind to even Soul Power and is apparently always in a state of sleep, but they will bind anything that touches their branches with crushing force.”

Neo tilted her head as if to ask how that was different from before.

Sebastian grimaced. "Zombie Shrooms invade the nervous system of anything they take root in.” He glanced at a distant light source. “They glow in the dark and start swinging tree branches and roots if they sense prey nearby. The Oaks do the rest, and the mushrooms feed on the caught prey."

Neo’s face fell.

“According to what was written, the mushrooms mainly sense prey through sound and vibrations.” Sebastian explained. “As long as we restrain ourselves and fly through silently, it should be smooth sailing.”

“Should?” Neo narrowed her eyes at him.

“Accidents happen.” Sebastian shrugged and started moving them forward. “But it’s not like past groups could fly as easily as us, so just keep your eyes peeled and don’t stab anything.”

Neo looked up at the sky like she was enduring great suffering, gripping her weapon tightly as the two entered the world of darkness.

“My silencing ward is fine. Relax.” Sebastian waved her concerns away. “I’d be more concerned for the poison thorns.”

Neo grabbed Sebastian’s collar and turned him to her unamused face.

“I was getting to it.” Sebastian pushed her face away. “Choking Oak branches are occasionally home to a type of rose vine covered in paralyzing poison. If it senses anything getting too close, it violently ejects the thorns to defend itself.”

He seemed to recall something. “Oh, and it’s apparently incredibly painful. Try not to get pricked.”

Neo’s gaze wasn’t friendly.

“My Martial Soul can see Spirit Beasts.” Sebastian shifted forms and pointed at his eyes. “So, relax, we’ll be just-.”

He abruptly stopped the carpet a mere foot before a bright red rose.

The two blinked at the gleaming thorns.

“Fine.” Sebastian finished lamely.

Neo’s hands itched to stab something.

With meticulous movements, Sebastian lowered the carpet and went around the hanging roses. "See?"

“You’re too relaxed.” Neo admonished.

“In my defense, I got laid last night.” Sebastian raised a finger.

Neo's sword rang as it was pulled from its sheath.

"I'm joking." Sebastian slowly pushed her sword back in with the same care as watching the claws on a moody cat.

Neo hmphed and fought to hide the smile on her face.

The two rode on in the dark, their way briefly illuminated by distant neon blue lights.

Still, if not for Sebastian’s eyes outlining the Soul Power flowing through the tree branches, they might have had more issues.

“They're connected.” Sebastian’s voice took on a trace of intellectual curiosity.

Neo looked over in confusion.

“The trees.” Sebastian elaborated, following their glowing branches to the trunks that lit up the night like stars to his eyes.

He looked further and saw them connecting to roots.

Roots spreading like an entire network of veins through the earth. “Each tree is connected. Are they all really separate Spirit Beasts?”

Neo narrowed her eyes as they drifted too close to a glowing mushroom and jabbed him in the ribs with her umbrella.

“Right, sorry.” Sebastian shook off the distraction and kept them on course.

For nearly half an hour, nothing popped out.

But as the duo reached the end of the zone, Sebastian noticed the ground breaking up as rushing streams of black water flowed in from the way they came. 'More of this corrosive water shit?’

He considered changing direction to avoid risking anything new coming from the water, but just as he was about to turn away, something familiar flashed across his gaze.

‘Hm?’ Sebastian focused.

He tilted his head in confusion as he found a familiar Soul trace, and his eyes followed it to its source.

‘Who could it…’ His panda eyes narrowed into angry slits. “You.”

Neo jumped up at his sudden growl and looked around, her blade out, wondering what to stab.

“The only one doing the stabbing is going to be me.” Sebastian gritted his teeth in cold wrath. “This is personal.”

Neo flicked her gaze to him in concern and hefted her umbrella sheath.

“Ow! What the fuck, Neo?!” Sebastian rubbed the lump on the back of his head.

Neo nodded, satisfied to see he wasn't under an illusion. "What were you muttering about?"

"You could have just asked." Sebastian grumbled and pointed to the river. "Something I need to kill is down there."

“The flower?” She asked.

“No.” Sebastian growled. “But this is just as important.”

“Why?” Neo stared.

Sebastian met her gaze. “Petty revenge.”

Neo waved him on and sheathed her blade.

Sebastian perked up at Neo’s easy acceptance and surprised her with a kiss. “Have I mentioned how amazing you are today?” 

Neo flushed happily and pushed him away, telling him to hurry up.

“With pleasure.” Sebastian grinned viciously and missed Neo’s blush, taken with this side of him, as he directed the carpet over the river while muttering. “You think you can traumatize me, fish? Fuck you.”

Neo heard him and raised a brow in amusement.

“Yes, it’s that fish.” Sebastian hissed and released his needles, each flashing with a silencing Charm. “And with this, we don’t have to worry about making noise.”

The Charm would slow them down, but it was more than enough for this task.

Sebastian tracked the fish with his second Spirit Ring and gently launched his poison elemental needle at its location.

The needle didn’t make a sound as it entered the water, homing in on its target and piercing its scales to deliver the lethal poison to its innards.

“Got it!” Sebastian cheered.

Neo clapped excitedly for him.

“Yeah, just let me collect the needle and…” He trailed off as he looked below.

Neo noticed his pause.

“The fish is thrashing.” Sebastian frowned. “It should have died in seconds.”

“From poison?” Neo asked with an odd inflection.

Sebastian nodded, not seeing her point.

Neo rolled her eyes and poked his cheek. “Does it not live in poison water?”

“…” Sebastian raised a finger, paused, considered it, and slowly lowered the digit. “I’ll paralyze it and then smash it.”

Neo restrained a laugh as Sebastian growled and sent his electric needle to paralyze it.

Only this time, the fish thrashed and turned at the last second, causing the needle to clip it and slide off.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes and had his spheres follow the creature, moving slowly so as not to make a sound, but still retaining enough power to crunch into its side and pulp its insides.

‘Yes!’ Sebastian started to cheer, only to stop and stare in shock as the Spirit Beast did something illogical. “What the fuck?”

“What?” Neo looked over the side but saw nothing in the darkness.

Sebastian opened and closed his mouth in confusion. “Did a giant fish just bloody jump out of the water toward a spot of land?”

“What?” Neo snapped to him, remembering his warning.

The fish, for some reason, used the last of its strength to toss itself out of the water.

“No you don’t.” Sebastian’s hand lashed out in a Summoning Charm and grabbed the fish before it could plop on the earth and make noise. “Phew, safe-.”

The fish threw up crushed innards to splat on the ground, the sound loud enough in the Silent Woods to reach Sebastian and Neo, who floated two dozen feet in the air.

Neo slowly deadpanned at Sebastian with judgmental eyes.

“I…” Sebastian was flabbergasted at the illogical fish, but whatever he was going to say next was cut off as the forest around them vibrated. “Shit! They woke up!”

Neo stretched her illusion behind them as far as she could and threw her voice. “OVER HERE!”

Dirt and stone exploded as tree roots shot up in the hundreds where the sound originated, but they didn't stop there; more branches began swinging wildly in the surrounding area.

Sebastian cursed the dumb fish in his mind as he unleashed the carpet's full speed, tearing ahead and banishing any branch in their way.

Neo kept throwing her voice to keep the trees distracted, but more roots lit up as more trees woke up.

“When we get out of this, I’m stabbing you.” Neo sweated from using her new Spirit Ring so much. “You suck at petty vengeance.”

“Noted.” Sebastian curved the carpet around an exploding rose vine, his shield blocking a wall of poisoned thorns. “Let’s focus on getting out of this first.”

Neo grunted and kept using her voice as Sebastian piloted them through.

The chase lasted tense minutes until Sebastian spotted light in the distance. "I can see the end!"

Neo grew more tired with each passing moment, unused to the strain of her new ability and the sheer speed at which her creations were destroyed.

By now, the entire forest was awake, and Sebastian's shields were being pressed by swinging branches and exploring roots from almost every direction.

He blasted a path through them, only to see a final obstacle. “There’s a big bloody tree in the way.”

“Does it bleed?” Neo suddenly asked.

Sebastian blinked in confusion and turned back. “What?”

“Do the trees bleed?” Neo turned her masked face toward him and asked calmly.

Sebastian frowned and thought over the tree’s description. “Technically, they are more plant than beast, but they do have a fleshy core instead of a wo-."

Neo's hand clamped around his jaw as she turned an irate eye on him. “Do. They. Bleed?”

Sebastian’s fish face nodded. “Yeah, they bleed.”

“Good.” Neo let go and faced forward without a word, unsheathing her blade and silently leaving their back to him. “My turn.”

Sebastian focused his Banishing Charms behind them as he asked. “But how are you going to-.”

He stopped as Aura reinforcement exploded forth from Neo’s sword.

“Ah.” He fully turned around and focused behind them. “All yours.”

Neo grunted and crouched as they closed in on the tree trunk in their way.

Once they entered its range, branches swung forth with punishing force, but Neo ignored them, confident Sebastian would protect her as she launched straight ahead like an arrow off the carpet.

The ring of a singing blade rang out before it was sheathed once more with a resounding click.

One moment, they were being attacked on all sides, and the next, they passed through inert branches as the final giant tree toppled with its trunk cut.

Light flared from the unblocked passage, letting the carpet out and making the grasping branches retreat as if burnt.

Neo landed back on the carpet as it passed and shook off her umbrella with a euphoric smile at the shower of blood exploding out of the cut tree trunk behind them.

“Good job, Love.” Sebastian chuckled in admiration, his arms still spread to fuel a large shield around the carpet. “Feel better?”

Neo giggled and leaned back against his chest with a nod.

“That’s good.” Sebastian lowered the carpet to hover above the ground in a clearing without foliage. “Why don’t you go absorb that Spirit Ring while we take a breather?”

Neo looked over his shoulder and found a dark yellow Spirit Ring floating above the fallen tree.

“Is it compatible with me?” She asked curiously.

“It should be.” Sebastian recalled the Spirit Beasts entry. “I believe it has a restraining ability.”

Neo thought about it and nodded.

She sat at the edge of the carpet and called over the ring.

Her head tilted back as she looked over her shoulder. “Watch over me?”

"Always." Sebastian winked back and got a phantom kiss on his cheek in return.

He sat there and waited until he saw the Spirit Ring enter her chest, her eyes closing as she lost track of her surroundings.

Only then did Sebastian collapse forward, his panda form receding to reveal how heavily he was sweating and the spreading veins nearly trying to escape his skin.

‘This paralyzing agent burns like a bitch.' He clenched his teeth.

On his back, where his fur had previously hidden it, a row of rose thorns stuck through his flesh.

When Neo leaped off the carpet, his shields couldn't stretch far enough to cover both of them, so he prioritized her.

The thorns that launched at their backs pierced right through his Aura defense.

‘As if I would fear poison at this level.’ He thrashed on the carpet with a defiant expression. ‘I mix worse than this with my morning coffee.’

Sebastian's hand wasn't responding, so he Summoned an Elixir capsule from his belt into his mouth.

Within moments, he grunted as its revitalizing energy flowed through him, immediately countering the poison; the two fought back and forth in waves through his veins as his cells were forced to adapt rapidly.

‘Bloody hell, it’s like that stupid Hot&Cold cream.’ He pushed himself up on trembling limbs that slowly regained feeling. ‘Only in my veins.’

The pain was excruciating, but nothing close to what he experienced every time he tore his Mana Channels using the stone to grow his Mana Pool.

He sat down properly and emptied his mind, letting the process work.

‘Killer way to build antibodies.’ Sebastian’s eyes landed on Neo's glowing form, and a soft smile grew on his lips. ‘And I’d do it again.’

0000

“How’s the new ring?” Sebastian asked as the two flew over an empty zone filled with bones.

Neo silently grinned and looked at him.

One moment he was sitting comfortably, and the next he was wrapped in chains, unable to move a muscle.

Sebastian fought against it and could only move his head. “Is this an illusion?”

Neo waved a hand back and forth.

"Yes and no?" Sebastian pieced it together as he felt out the chains with his energy. “These aren’t real. Your illusion is the medium, but you’re making me believe I’m restrained.”

Neo grinned and waved for him to continue.

“I can’t break these physically.” Sebastian’s muscles bulged as he tried to force it without flaring Aura. “Your Soul Power is enforcing the restraint, but your illusions are giving it an image and convincing my brain it's real. A mental layer?”

Neo clapped and pointed at him.

“Interesting.” Sebastian gave the restraint another look. “Does it have to be chains?”

Neo considered it, and in mere moments, his restraints shifted to tree branches, vines, ropes, and then back to chains.

She shook her head at the other options and pointed at the chains.

“These feel most comfortable?” Sebastian asked.

She nodded with a smile.

Sebastian hummed. “Anything else you can do with them?”

Neo put a finger to her chin in thought and suddenly smirked as the chains shifted into a far more… kinky application.

“Ha-Ha.” Sebastian dryly laughed. “It’s not real, but I can still feel it, and I have a chain where a chain shouldn’t be.”

Neo licked her lips hungrily.

“Neo.” Sebastian shot her a look.

She pouted and removed the chains.

“Thank you.” He flicked his finger and summoned the beautiful woman into his lap. “We can play later.”

Neo kissed him happily, wrapping his larger arms around her with a contented sigh. She pointed ahead with a silent question.

“The Boneyard is empty outside of a specific season of the year, so we're fine.” Sebastian was thankful for the break. “I hear it's swarming with ten-thousand-year-old undead Spirit Beasts during the season for it, though. Those are black rings.”

Neo shivered at the idea of the dead.

How was she supposed to satisfyingly stab a moving corpse?

"I can see our target zone in the distance. Look." Sebastian pulled a pair of Omnioculars from his bag and handed them to Neo, pointing ahead to their left.

"That's where all the rivers flow into.” He shifted her gaze to show her. “It has a distinct green color to it. Something about the pools in the area changes the black water."

Neo took it in, and her eyes lit up.

“Yup.” Sebastian sighed in relief.

Months of searching and agonizing over finding a solution, and it was right in front of him.

“Jade Serenity Lily.” He spoke with a trace of excitement. “Nothing swims in those waters beside it and the vine it grows on.”

Neo looked up from under his chin with a raised brow of disbelief.

“Just…” Sebastian recalled the incident in the Silent Woods. “Don’t touch the vine, and we’ll be fine. It’s peaceful unless provoked.”

Neo just stared at him harder.

“I’ll take every precaution.” He reassured.

She scoffed and shook her head as if preparing for the inevitable.

“You could try to believe in me, you know?” Sebastian didn’t pout.

Men didn’t pout.

Neo silently summoned illusory hands to pat his head.

“Mean.” He dropped his chin on her head.

She blew him a kiss and giggled as they arrived on the shores of the large blackish-green lake.

Without even doing anything, the two immediately felt their minds relax.

The carpet dropped to the earth for the first time, and Neo began to get up, interested in swimming, only for Sebastian’s arms to tighten around her as he frowned.

‘Something isn’t right.’ He shook his head.

Neo pulled on him to let her go, not harshly, but with a gentle question.

His Mana buzzed inside his channels, speeding up and intermixing with Soul Power as it flowed furiously into his brain until his fog cleared just slightly enough to think. ‘The ring!’

Sebastian immediately twisted the ring on his finger and felt the Alarm Charm flash through him, snapping him out of his blissful daze.

He held onto Neo tightly. "Neo, twist your ring!"

Neo frowned at his harsh tone but still listened and activated her ring.

A moment later, her eyes cleared as she paled and clung to his hold.

“We’re moving back.” Sebastian had the carpet retreat a few hundred feet from the odd SEP field. “That was insidious.”

“Freaky.” Neo shook her head with a shiver. 

“We should have turned the rings back on after the Silent Woods; this is my fault." Sebastian was rattled by the odd mental intrusion. “I didn’t realize the flower could do that. There was nothing in the notes about it.”

Elder Lu wouldn't have left something like that out, knowing Sebastian's target, and he found it off that Bibi would want to kill him; yet without all his advantages, that situation could have taken a turn for the worse.

“Relax.” Neo’s voice echoed in his ears as she gently grabbed his cheeks and made him look at her, stopping his rampaging thoughts.

She smiled. “We’re fine.”

Sebastian’s annoyance melted under her calm gaze. “Right.” He took a deep breath. “Thanks.”

She kissed his chin and stepped back. “Plan?”

“Well, for starters.” Sebastian reached into his pouch and pulled out an engraved metal plate. “I’m making a permanent Portkey point here.”

He floated it down to the ground and transfigured a perfect stone square into the earth before covering it to make sure it was secure.

“Just in case I need to come back and don’t want to waste energy with my gate.” He stated.

Neo grimaced at the idea of using another long-distance Portkey.

“This one is just for me." Sebastian reassured at her sickly expression. “We’ll be leaving by gate, don’t worry.”

Neo sighed in relief and waved him to go on.

"The next issue is the SEP field around the lake." Sebastian frowned as he thought about what they felt. "It was far too subtle. I didn't see or hear anything new; I just felt happy and wanted to go for a swim."

Neo nodded in uncomfortable agreement and made a grasping motion.

“Summon it? I can try, but I need to get closer.” Sebastian pulled out a long rope and tied one end to his waist. “You stay here and pull me out if it looks like I’m about to enter the water.”

Neo didn’t like the idea of him going alone, but she understood the logic and didn't argue.

Sebastian shifted to his panda form before his beady eyes opened wide.

A wave of Soul Power shimmered in the air around the lake like particles, pulsing like a living thing and ending in a circular line a dozen feet away.

‘Is it really an environmental effect?’ Sebastian wondered.

An idea came to him as he tapped his head and formed a bubble helmet.

“I’ll be back.” He called back.

Neo shot him an encouraging thumbs-up as he jumped off the carpet.

He slowed his fall into a glide toward the lake's edge and touched down a dozen feet before the water, his shoes sinking into white sand.

With his vision allowing him to see the energy particles, Sebastian stood still.

He let one of the particles impact his bubble charm, the Mana in it acting like a wall the particle reflected off.

‘It’s not a mental wave. It’s a spore.’ Sebastian frowned as he pulled out the scroll Elder Lu had written for him.

{Species: Impurity Vines

Spirit Beast type: Plant

Description: A passive plant-type Spirit Beast that thrives in waters filled with Yin elements. Its roots grow deep and don't allow anything but itself to survive in its waters. Despite its harmonious relationship with Jade Serenity Lily flowers that grow on the water's surface, where the Impurity Vine thrives, it is strongly advised not to grow them in your own garden. They are very difficult to get rid of, and quite rude at that.

Average Ring Age: 5000-9999 years.

Spirit Ring Ability: Impurity Absorption (White), Impurity Refinement (Yellow), Impurity Distillation (Purple).

Location(s): Demora Falls. Approximately 870 Li from the southern edge.}

'Your shitty hobbies are showing, old man.' Sebastian rolled his eyes at the end of the description and focused specifically on its age. 'Elder Lu said they stopped using this place as a training environment nearly seventy years ago.'

The hard, cold reality slapped him in the face and made him groan out loud with a suffering sigh. 'Why is my life like this?'

The rope tugged, and Sebastian looked back to see Neo shoot him a worried look.

Sebastian waved back, saying he was fine, and lowered the carpet so he could hop on.

Once he got closer, he asked in a depressed tone. “Do you think I offended god?”

Neo looked at him oddly and slowly raised her umbrella.

“I’m not under an illusion.” He glared. “Put it down.”

Neo pouted and lowered it.

Sebastian hopped down. “I realized what the issue is.”

Neo gave him a curious look.

“You know how I said the Lily grows on a vine Spirit Beast that reacts badly to being disturbed?” He asked.

Neo nodded.

“Well, it evolved.” He pointed over his shoulder at the lake. “It’s a 10,000-year Spirit Beast now.”

Neo slowly lifted a hand.

An illusion of the transfigured doll Sebastian used to teach her about Spirit Beasts appeared and got speared by an animated spider.

“Yeah, we’re not fighting it.” Sebastian nodded with a straight face. “Stop looking at me like that. I’m serious. We are not fighting it!”

He tried to convince her, but Neo only deadpanned in complete belief, making no move to leave her current spot.

“Oh, for the love of…" Sebastian sighed and tapped her head to form a bubble. “This will protect you from the spores.”

Neo playfully poked at the bubble on her face, forcing Sebastian to slap her hand away.

“Stop that.” He fixed it for her. “I’ll make you one later to play with.”

A smile lit up her face as they returned to the lake's edge.

“Alright, I thought it over, and I have a foolproof plan.” Sebastian stood tall and faced the lake, the wind sweeping his coat back heroically.

Neo stood by his side and added a spray of pink sparkles before snapping a picture with her Scroll.

He ignored her and explained. “We are going to get a bit closer to the flowers, but not too close, as that will agitate the vines.”

Neo nodded.

He went on. “Then I’m going to summon a Lily from a 10,000-year Spirit Beast’s body.”

Neo nodded harder.

“Who is apparently insulted if even air touches its skin.” Sebastian added.

Neo nodded even harder.

“At the same time.” He lifted a grenade belt. “I’ll hit it with an explosion, and you distract it with Illusions.”

Neo nodded harder still.

Sebastian pointed away from the lake with a dramatic flourish. “And then we are going to strategically retreat.”

Neo nodded at maximum hardness.

“Strategically retreat at maximum speed.” Sebastian finished.

Neo’s body exploded in a shower of confetti.

Sebastian's expression cracked as he laughed with her.  

“Just to be sure.” He focused on his necklace and tried to open a gate, but frowned when he felt a wave of interference.

He tried again with stronger focus and saw the pollen in the air pushing away the forming gate. 'Am I too weak to intrude on a 10,000-year beast's Soul Power?’

Sebastian had never tried to open a gate in the territory of something with more raw power than him. ‘I’ll have to study this later.’

Keeping his heroic pose in mind, he clapped a hand on Neo's shoulder when she appeared by his side. “Change of plans.”

Neo froze in unease and tilted her head at him.

"The gate is going to be over there." He pointed back the way they came, where a gate opened just outside the spore-covered SEP field, revealing his workshop on the other side. "We just need to move quickly."

A rain cloud appeared above Neo’s head as her eyes watered.

“Don’t worry." Sebastian patted her drooping head with a bright, shiny grin and gave her a thumbs-up. "We have the power of friendship."

Neo’s watery eyes locked onto his thumb in front of her face, and she followed her instincts.

“Ow!” Sebastian jumped. “Why did you bite me?!”

She licked the blood from her teeth in response.

00

“You could always stay back, you know?” Sebastian suggested as they hovered at the farthest distance his Summoning Charm could reach, about halfway between the first flower and the shoreline.

The umbrella that threateningly poked him in the cheek was all the answer he got.

“Right, stupid question.” Sebastian chuckled and sent the curvy woman a genuine smile. “It’s pretty hot how ride or die you are about all this, love.”

Neo winked and blew him a kiss, her voice tickling his ears as she responded. “Always, Love.”

Sebastian felt an honest flush rise on the back of his neck at the picture-perfect copy of his British accent, only in her voice. “Damn, that’s sexy.”

Neo silently giggled and waved for him to get started.

"Alright." He shook his head and smirked, his heart rate rising as he lifted his hand above his head and began pouring Soul Power into his first Spirit Ring.

A Spirit Grenade began to form above his head, growing to the size of a large dog and still pushing on.

The water beneath them rippled as vines poked through in response to the Soul Power, more curious and confused than anything.

“Neo.” Sebastian spoke softly as he concentrated. “Do your thing.”

A grin split her face as Neo wasted no time in twisting reality around them.

Without needing to keep them maintained while they moved, and with the addition of a second Spirit Ring, Neo’s freedom to create increased tremendously.

Still, even with all that, a frown crossed her face as the world she envisioned cracked and broke apart, leaving only copies of flying carpets behind at a lower altitude than their actual bodies.

“We’re in its territory.” Sebastian explained. “Even if you went straight to level 28 with your new Spirit Ring, we’re still too far behind a Spirit Beast of its level.”

Neo frowned harder and pushed her Martial Soul, forcing a dozen copies of themselves into reality.

However, the strain was immediately noticeable.

The vines moved sluggishly, curious about the bundles of Soul Power that suddenly appeared.

Meanwhile, the Spirit Grenade above Sebastian's head kept growing, draining almost his entire Aura pool until it reached the size of a minivan.

“On my mark.” Sweat built on Sebastian’s brow as his Mana Channels burned under the strain of the Mana he funneled into the Spirit Grenade, condensing a single charm dozens of times over.

“3.”

The vines started rising toward the copies.

“2.”

Neo started panting from the effort.

“1.”

Sebastian raised his offhand toward the nearest flower, exactly one kilometer away.

"I saw this in a comic my dad bought me once." A grin crossed Sebastian’s lips as he summoned the Lily, ripping it off the vines and pulling it toward him while swinging the grenade forward. "SPIRIT BOMB!"

Four things happened at once.

The Lily landed in his palm.

The lake exploded with thousands of angry vines.

Neo scattered her illusions, sending them running in different directions.

And Sebastian jerked the carpet to maximum speed from a standing position and made the two vomit from the force as they shot like a bullet toward the distant gate.

The sheer acceleration jolted them badly, but their Aura protected them from the organ damage, and the Sticking Charms kept them attached.

But nothing could keep the duo down as the adrenaline pounded in their ears.

“Woo!” Sebastian cheered along with Neo, the flying carpet literally spinning in loops from how hard it accelerated, as they threw their arms up against the backdrop of vines piercing through all twelve illusions and the Spirit Bomb at the same time.

A storm of vines moved toward the fleeing duo, only for an explosive red light to release from the Spirit Bomb and wash over the lake without actually harming anything.

An eldritch screech pierced the air as the vines sagged, buying the duo precious seconds to escape the Beast's territory and shoot right into the waiting gate.

Sebastian’s eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.

All he could do was throw Cushioning Charms ahead, wrap Neo in his arms, and turn around just before they crashed through a row of tables and sent things flying.

Yet that didn't stop the enraged Spirit Beast, as thousands of vines shot at them like speeding javelins.

“CLOSE IT!”

Sebastian reacted to the shout and willed the gate shut just in time to cut off five feet of a vine that dropped to the ground, where it was promptly stunned and burned with extreme applications of fire.

“We’re alive.” Sebastian laughed even as he groaned from the impact and looked down at Neo in his arms with a grin. “We did it.”

Neo grinned up at him and pressed her lips to his own.

The duo celebrated their success amidst the crushed pile of furniture until Sebastian blinked in confusion. ‘Wait.’

He pulled back, much to Neo’s confusion, and looked down at her. “Did you tell me to close the gate?”

Neo blinked and slowly shook her head.

“That was me." A third voice spoke up, and two heads shot up to lock onto an unamused middle-aged woman with a heart-shaped face tapping her foot. “You’re late, Sebastian.”

“Auntie Andy?”

Chapter End.

AN: Hope you enjoyed! Editing this chapter was a goddamn battleground... charlie was everywhere. They were in the trees!

Anyway, fun stuff going on here.

Never hand a pouting-bored Neo some Dust grenades.

Sebastian is petty. Very petty.

Sebastian is also very protective.

Neo caught up to her souls strength, and her illusions are all the more terrifying for it.

Sebastian's luck acts up once more with a freshly evolved 10K+ plant.

And the dynamic duo make a daring heist, escaping into the waiting arms of a ticked off mother with a wand and a slipper. Sebastian might have preferred the 10K+ plant.

Next up, Neo meets her Mother-in-Law!