The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 260: Spirit Of The Lake

Chapter 260: Spirit Of The Lake

They found the island by its glow, well before the mana detector pointed the way.

It was well past midnight when they made landfall, leaving Terry at the boat.

"She has to be here," Kordia declared.

"How can you tell?" Kir asked. It wasn’t the first island they’d searched with a mysterious glow, though to be fair the last island only glowed because of its lighthouse, which Kir didn’t recognize as such due to the fact it sent a pillar of light straight up instead of horizontally. But there was no such structure here.

"I can feel it," she said. "Can’t you?"

"I can see more mana in the air here... But aside from that... No wait... It almost feels like a dungeon," Kir said. Was his ability to interpret ambient mana warped by his time in a dungeon?

"This is nothing like a dungeon. We entered its domain a few measures back... How can you not feel it?"

"I don’t know," Kir admitted. "I’ve never really had a reason to study spirits before."

"Your moms surely told you something about them..."

"Yeah, they told me not to mess with them. And I never heard anything about them coming near my village."

"They don’t typically approach places with large groups of people. If a spirit wandered anywhere near a settlement, it would have to be because angry or forced out by something else... When that happens, people typically try to trap or hunt them."

"What about greater spirits?"

Kordia tensed. "Greater spirits are the most hunted of all. When they arise, they tend to claim vast territories. When people start to settle into an area claimed by a great spirit, they inevitably come into conflict. The bigger nations simply exterminate them, heedless of the fact great spirits are far better for the land than we are."

"Why would a great spirit seek out Keiya then?"

"I don’t know... but that wasn’t a great spirit. If it was, the whole school would have felt something... But maybe the one here will know how to find them."

As they worked their way through the dense forest, eventually Kir began to pick up on a strange sensation he hadn’t noticed before.

It was like being watched and touched at the same time, a different sort of pressure than the oppression of a dungeon. The ambient mana, instead of being readily absorbed by his body to the point of strain, seemed... claimed. In fact, there was no mana for him to draw on at all, except for what his body could produce.

Looking around, Kir noticed that despite the relative dearth of moonlight, the forest seemed to glow with lush, vibrant life. In the quiet of night, it almost felt like a dream world from a movie.

Suddenly Kordia grabbed Kir’s arm. "Look!" she pointed at a creature, a blue crane with a ruby red crystal set at the forward nape of its neck where it met the body. "It’s another undine..."

The crane stared across the distance, before taking off deeper into the island.

"I need to follow it!" Kordia took off running after it.

"Hey wait!" Kir started to follow, only to trip over a root.

Pushing himself to stand, he noticed then that he hadn’t simply tripped from a root in front of him... he’d fallen because tree roots had wrapped around his ankles.

With a firm tug, he was able to free one foot, but had to resort to drawing Kangetsu in order to cut his other foot free.

He spared a moment to look for Kordia, but she’d already left him behind.

What the heck is going on?

"Beats me. I’d say splitting up is basic horror-movie shit but they don’t have movies on Ayther." Kiryu snarked as Kir tried to follow after his girlfriend.

"Be serious or stay the fuck out of it," Kir growled out loud.

He could feel the source controlling the mana around him, but as he tried to move toward the center, he found his way constantly blocked by overgrown roots and trees that seemed entirely shifted out of position. And when he stopped, the roots of the trees tried to wrap around him.

After about five minutes of frustration, he finally had enough.

As soon as he found a clear patch, he put mana into his legs and leapt, spreading his wings as soon as he crested the canopy. The constant diversions had put him far off course, but from the air he was able to swiftly redirect himself towards the center of the island’s glow.

It was a shallow lake, one whose shores glowed with green-blue light from mana-rich mosses. At the very center, he thought he saw Kordia kneeling just before a small island, but as soon as he landed he saw that it was not an island...

It was a spirit.

Laying on its side, a massive mink, its fur the same blue as Nimfi’s had been, panted shallowly as Kordia held her hands before it. Three orbs of silvery light glowed above her, her fox fire, which granted her an enormous supply of mana with which to use her magic.

Kordia was a healer, and that’s exactly what she was doing.

A monstrous set of wounds bled glowing, blue-white blood.

As soon as Kir landed, stowing his wings, the spirit-crane landed between him and Kordia, squawking and flaring its wings threateningly.

"I’m beginning to think spirits don’t like you," Kiryu said.

Almost as if it heard, the greater spirit’s eye suddenly locked onto Kir.

"Soul eater... begone from here..."

Koria turned her head briefly. "Kir?"

"You... know this thing?" The spirit asked.

"He’s my lover... my mate," Kordia replied.

"Keep it away... one being should not... a divided soul..." the spirit paused to cough up a massive surge of blood. "Not enough... it is not enough... cub of the Silver One... Do not... let it consume me..."

"I don’t understand," Kordia said. Tears streamed from her eyes, but she kept up her healing. "Kir would never do that!"

There was a rustling from behind...

"Professor? Kordia?"

Kir turned. Keiya stood there, Nimfi on her shoulder. She was soaking wet, almost as if she’d just swum here...

"Keiya? What are you doing here?" Kir asked.

"Nimfi brought me... Sh-she said her mother was in danger. I-I thought I could help." She pulled a potion out of a leather bag on her hip.

Kir was out of his element. "Kordia? Keiya’s here. She has a potion for the spirit."

"I heard, I’m concentrating." Kordia blinked rapidly and hard, trying to dispel her tears. "Try the potion."

Keiya had been walking closer, and as she passed, Kir tried to follow, only to be threatened once more by the crane.

Almost gently, the mink looked at Keiya and Nimfi.

"My child... you return... to watch me die."

Nimfi began to squeak up to its mother. After a few moments, the mink leaned its head forward, opening its mouth slightly as it allowed Keiya to pour her potion onto its tongue.

"Thank you... elf of the land. But as I feared, your magic is not of me... nor of my kind... It will not work..."

"B-but, that was an ankhestis... I-I stole an angel feather for it. It has to work!"

"It is not of me... only what was taken will restore me..."

""What was taken?"" Kordia and Keiya asked at the same time.

"It ate of my flesh... corrupted my waters... I could not fight it... Nor can you..."

"What did? What are you talking about?" Keiya asked.

"White death..."

White death? Wait...

Kir reached into his storage, pulling out the mana-corrupted heart of the aboleth.

As soon as he did, the great spirit began to lift its head, its eyes locking onto the heart in Kir’s hands.

"Soul Eater... Begotten of two moons... How?"

"We met it on the way. I isolated and crushed it and Kordia burned away its body," Kir said.

The spirit mink tried to force itself to stand, but it was too weak, and the act sent waves of water and blood pulsing out.

Surging as fast as she could wade, Keiya made her way to Kir. "Please, Professor, I know it’s valuable, but please... she’s dying..."

"I have no intent to keep it from her, now that I know." Kir handed her the heart, and she turned and surged her way back, offering it to the mink, who ate it, chewing weakly for a few moments before swallowing.

The change was almost immediate. Where Kordia’s healing had served mostly to staunch its open wounds, suddenly it seemed to take. For a few moments, the mink shifted in discomfort, before finally stilling as its wounds finished healing, leaving only rapidly fading scars.

"I am... almost whole... Thank you, Child of Silver... Elf of the land. And though I never thought to see your kind... thank you, Soul Eater."

Kir let out a small grunt of acceptance, still a bit annoyed to be referred to as a Soul Eater.

Nimfi started to squeak up to her mother, a rapid conversation that Kir was not privy to.

"You wish to share your existence with this mortal? So be it... Go with my blessing... and be wary, until you find your waters..."

The great spirit raised its paw, and for a long moment, Keiya just stared at it. Until Nimfi started pushing on her head.

"You want me to touch it?"

Nimfi started to bat her paws on Keiya’s forehead.

"Oh-okay..." Keiya approached the massive paw, and took it in her hands. She touched it to her forehead, and suddenly there was as surge of light.

A tiny amount of mana slid into her, leaving behind a small, golden mark that quickly faded away.

"Go now... I must rest. Child of Silver, I will call for you soon..."

The crane stepped aside as Kordia and Keiya began to wade their way back towards Kir and the shore. In Keiya’s eyes, Kir could see golden flecks that matched the gem atop Nimfi’s head. Before leaving the waters, Keiya bent and filled her empty bottle with the blood-filled water, before corking it and storing it in her bag.

There were no obstacles to their exit. The trees seemed to arrange themselves to allow their smooth passage.

They were halfway back to the boat when Keiya suddenly hugged Kir and Kordia.

"Thank you..." she said.

Conscious of his glamour, Kir tried to push her away gently as he replied, but the damage was done.

"Professor Nasumi... Why are you wearing an illusion?"