Riveria saw the ground coming closer but it was already too late for her to react and for some reason, she couldn't muster her Demonic Power nor the Magic Power in the surroundings to even slow down her descent through Magic.
Riveria closed her eyes to protect it but instead of the feeling of smacking herself hard, an arm caught her waist and stopped her from falling, "Got you!" Aika followed her with Flash Step and caught her.
"T-thank you." Aika assisted Riveria to get up, "I failed to take into account a few things when I tried it."
"Are you also practicing this Flash Step? Is that why you ask me to show it to you?"
However, Riveria's answer would shock her, "No. That's the first time I did it."
"...Uhmmm... Did you mean that no one had taught you how to do it and you just imitated how I did it?" Aika asked while Riveria was dusting herself off.
But instead of giving a straight answer, Riveria's eyes lit up in excitement, "I just need to watch it a few more times and I think I should be able to learn it! I just need to figure out how you meld two different energies together and substitute it with Demonic Power!"
"I'm sorry, but I won't be able to help you with that. I knew I learned this at some point in the past, but I can only honestly do it instinctively and won't be able to describe how I'm doing it. I don't even know what these two energies you're talking about are."
The Magic Circles and halo returned to Riveria as she turned towards Aika before saying, "That's fine. That's where this ability shines."
Aika could only follow Riveria's instructions not knowing how ridiculous this situation really is, especially with how Riveria was trying to substitute Ki and Reiryoku with Demonic Power that had completely different properties. Not that the latter was aware of it either.
If Kisuke knew this was happening, he might've just dropped what he was doing and joined the two of them.
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"Finally back!" Irina shouted as she stretched her arms after coming out of the teleporter that brought them back to their original world.
"This is his new hideout? He really went ahead with a sci-fi theme." Sona commented after looking around the Teleportation room.
Aside from Yoruichi and Serafall who chose to stay behind for a number of reasons, everyone else made it back for the first time in a few months.
As per their instructions, the group stayed inside the room for a few minutes to get a few passes of the decontamination procedure that was set in place so that they wouldn't have to go through what Riveria had experienced.
A few minutes later, the lock on the doors were undone and Cleria, Sarah and Lilith came in to welcome everyone, "Welcome back, everyone."
Seeing them, the first one to run and jump on them was Claire, "Mama!"
"Claire!", Cleria also stepped forward before crouching down to catch her daughter and giving her a tight hug, "Did you miss mama?"
"Un!" Claire nodded vigorously while returning her mother's hug and burying her head in her chest. Although they had been talking regularly, this was the first time in a while for her to feel her mother's warmth and she couldn't help but tear up a little in delight.
Seeing that Claire didn't want to separate from her, Cleria picked her up with one arm. She then set her sights on Tanis, who had been staring at them quietly, "Come here, Tanis-chan."
Tanis stood there for a few seconds before meekly approaching Cleria. As to not startle her, Cleria slowly took her other hand from Claire's back and patted Tanis' head, "Welcome home." She knew that it'd be hard for her to accept any other place as her home, but Cleria wanted to pass a message to her that this was her home too.
Tanis looked at her with shining eyes and spread her arms to hug her waist.
Sarah, on the other hand, looked for Ophis, but she and the others noticed that she'd already come face to face with Lilith and they were staring quietly while holding each other's hand, 'Is that their way of communicating?'
"Do you want to look around before going back?"
Sona tilted her head at Sarah's question, "Is there something special in this hideout?"
Sarah smiled happily and answered, "Yes. We're currently on Mars, actually."
"...Huh...?" Sona, including Koneko, Kuroka, Irina, and Akeno had dumbfounded expressions while Medusa just nodded to herself with 'As expected of Master' clearly written on her face.
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After being given a tour of the first manmade structure on Mars because its owner was too insecure to build it on Earth, only Claire, Tanis, Ophis, and Medusa returned to the Belial Manor as the rest went to visit their respective families and friends. They'd intended to stay there for a while until Kisuke turned up again or something big happened.
Although they were aware that Riveria had also come to this side, Sarah refused to say where she was and reminded them not to approach Aika for the time being.
"Now then..." Sarah turned to Medusa after sending off the girls, "I'm sorry to impose this on you since you have only just returned, but I can only trust you to watch Riveria and Aika-chan."
Medusa was a bit surprised and asked, "They're together?"
Sarah chuckled, "A happy coincidence. However, their identities are complicated enough that I can't entrust this to the others, and aside from Kuroka, Yoruichi, Serafall-sama and you, no one can actually approach them without being detected."
Medusa thought about it for a moment, 'Kuroka wanted to see her friends and Yoruichi and Serafall are not here, so it's only me who won't be detected. But me being undetected? If Aika has truly reawakened, then it'll be extremely hard to hide from her. Looks like no one on this side actually knows how much she can do.'
"How are you keeping track of their position?"
"We've set up a large perimeter throughout the entire forest and included Aika-chan's place in it. As long as those two leave that place, we'll be able to tell. However, the manpower needed for this is stretching our capacity, so I'd like you to replace them soon."
Medusa nodded, "Of course. I'll gladly do it. Please leave this to me."
Sarah sighed in relief, "Thank you. I don't think they'll stay there for long, so you should be able to take it easy soon."
"But what if they are able to spot me? Especially Aika. Her instincts are frighteningly good that I'm not confident in hiding from her."
Sarah became silent for a few seconds before answering, "I'll leave the decision to you since it's not really my place to say anything."
"Understood."