"Carry the three.." Lina pursed her lips and pressed the feather pen to them. "That can't be right, the typical mana requirements for the summoning were a tenth of that at best."
"Lady Lina?" Seras blinked from her side of the room.
It had been a long week of research and development for both the girls, and Lina was getting rather irritated. Deciphering the spell that had brought her here had been child's play once she had gotten down to it, but that had only been the first part of her work. There was specifics of the summoning, how the people were targeted, how they were brought there, and how that spell interacted with the dungeon heart's natural aura.
All in all, it was only now Lina had the bear bones of a spell to send something from this dimension to another one. The only problem was every calculation she did stated that the mana required was something on the order of ten to one, and that was not including the cost of specifically targeting an area!
"BAH!" Lina threw down the feather. "Come on, lets go see what my estimable 'husband' is doing."
Smiling at Lina tentatively the vampire felt herself shift as the sorceress pulled them from one part of the dungeon to the other. It was a disorientating experience, but it was fast. What would have been a few hours of walking turned into mere seconds.
Both girls appeared right inside a large very active training room. In front of them was Ranma, shouting insults at several small green creatures, Goblins, and two women in black and tight leather, Mistresses. Off to the side a Warlock muttered to himself and glared at Ranma. The entire room was filled with various training aids, from wooden dummies that twirled with an impact, to targets on the far walls.
Lina surveyed the activity with a small smirk. Thanks to the extensive research she had done, she could identify the monsters, and could even feel out where the other minions that had appeared were. In fact, she could shift them all like so...
Ranma blinked as the goblins dissipated into thin air, reappearing at the side of the room. The rest of the creatures followed suit. Tilting his head Ranma felt out the Dungeon heart's mana followed the second source, right behind him.
"Yo Lina, Seras. Nice of you to join us." Ranma smirked slightly. "The library is almost done, so you get ta move here soon."
"Wait by the wall." The sorceress muttered to the vampire before stalking towards Ranma with a dangerous smirk. "I am glad, but we still have issues to deal with 'husband.'"
That particular issue was actually rather big. Dungeon hearts were extensions of a person's soul. The physical body was irrelevant. Every source that Lina had managed to dig up was very explicit that becoming a keeper was permanent, and even worse, the binding that Ranma had actually done was just as permanent. Actually it was more so, even if the heart was destroyed the spirits would still be associated with each other. There were legends of keeper couples killing each other over and over again.
"Umm, would it help that I am sorry?" Ranma chuckled slightly as he moved back. The large blast of fire made him jump to the side.
"I get to put up with you for the next eternity." Lina growled out and held out hand. A fireball twirled into reality. "So now seems as good a chance as any to see how the dungeon heart reincarnates a keeper."
"Let's not!" Ranma dodged to the side again, and behind a training dummy, which was quickly incinerated. "Watch it you crazy flat chested tomboy!"
"Flare arrow!" Lina called out. Forming a bow of fire she began to shoot arrows at Ranma, each one of them impacting the ground nearby him in a gout of flame. Her eyebrow twitched as every attack was dodged.
"Fine then! No holding back!" Ranma blurred forward as he attempted to close the distance.
"Ice!" Lina called out a minor invocation in front of her, slicking down the floor and causing Ranma to slid out of control.
The pig-tailed martial artist tumbled across the ground, but recovered himself easily, pushing off the floor to dash to the side. A quick survey found Lina in front of him grinning with a fireball in her hand. The next spell blew up near half the room and it rapidly became uncomfortably hot.
"Lord Ranma!" Seras dashed from her side of the wall and into the smoke.
As she got closer she spotted the two combatants. Ranma was frowning from his place behind Lina, smoking slightly. He had one arm grasping the girl's neck, and the other arm was restraining her main hand. Curiously the girl looked utterly unconcerned.
"Are you done?" Ranma coughed out a small cloud of smoke.
"Yep!" Lina giggled slightly and gave Ranma a small kiss on the cheek. "Don't ask for any marital duties and we are all going to be fine! I'll get the library setup now."
Ranma blinked in shear confusion as the sorceress walked away. The minions that had recently been recruited muttered slightly among themselves. The Mistresses in particular looked very amused. Finally Ranma placed his hands on his waist and frowned at them all.
They all found better places to be very quickly.
"Hey Seras!" Ranma finally greeted the vampire after all the minions had cleared. "Sorry for asking you ta deal with the tomboy, but there really wasn't anyone there ta keep her safe."
"It was fine Master." Seras gave Ranma a small nod. "Lina wasn't that unpleasant to be around. The Mentor stopped by and spoke with her quite frequently as well."
"Eh." Ranma shrugged. "He was being a bit of a pain sometimes, but he's really usefull too. Skuld's been interesting as well."
Seras smiled brightly. "Where is she?"
Ranma blinked a few times as he checked his dungeon. "Eh... Damn she did it again."
"My lord?" Seras blinked at Ranma as the keeper chuckled.
"Dunno how she does it, but she sorta slips into the woodwork. I know she is there, but I don't know where." Ranma shrugged. "Ah well. Eh, when you find her grab Lina too. I need ta get you all better clothing." The boy made a small face. "Or just send you all to get it."
"I can conjure my clothing just fine." Seras shrugged slightly. "I didn't know how to do it before, but I will be glad to get Skuld something. You don't want to come?"
"You want me to join three girls on a shopping trip?" Ranma deadpanned in reply.
Seras blinked at Ranma.
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(Posted Sat, 20 Dec 2008 04:20)
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