"Alright, who wants to go first?"
Looking at the three humans that stood in front of him, Ran asked for someone to test their soul avatar first. He was about as excited as they were, but Fluffy was less enthused.
Except, they couldn't figure out who to go first until one of them suggested good 'ol rock paper scissors.
Though it was a three-way battle, they were able to quickly decide the placements.
Bob, who had picked paper, immediately lost to Queenie's and Ann's scissors. Since the two girls tied, they went again and this time, Queenie lost since she chose scissors again and Ann switched to rock. Luckily, none of them used gun, it would have been an unfair fight otherwise.
However, since Ann won first, she confidently stroad forward. Though, in the end, she just looked a bit considering it was merely a small little game.
"Woah, wait a minute! Get back; did I tell you to move forward!?"
Frightened by her movement forward, he stepped back quite a bit. Who knew what would happen, right? Considering her temper, if her soul avatar had the ability to explode, it would make perfect sense.
Ann snickered, seeing his movement, but didn't bother with him anymore. Simply, she activated the skill.
Momentarily, nothing seemingly happened. It even got to the point that there was an awkward silence; everyone felt an itch in their throat, as if coughing would break the silence.
But then, after a moment, Ann felt something bubbling up within her. And just like that, it burst out from inside her.
Beams after beams after beams of light spewed from her body in all directions, but they immediately stretched in other seemingly random directions. That was, at least, until they knitted into themselves.
Now, from within the fog-like steam that arose from the quickly melting snow, emerged a gigantic figure.
Standing at over thirty feet (about ten meters) tall, a being made of light towered over everyone, making them feel as tiny as an ant. They even had to back up further because of the heat it radiated.
It's appearance was, as expected, pretty much identical to it's caster, Ann. Ann herself could feel the power coming off her phantom. She moved her body, and the phantom that consumed her followed suit.
At first, she wanted to throw out a punch to test out its power, but she withheld it considering they were in the middle of the wilderness with no barrier to muffle and hide their presence. So, she could only deactivate the skill, but after which, she immediately felt a bit fatigued.
To her, it felt like she would be able to last about a minute in this state before consuming all of her power. Clearly, like how Ran had previously mentioned, this skill could be vital in surviving or beating an enemy, but it came at a seemingly arbitrary cost.
…
"Are you sure you don't have to move? It might get very hot."
"Why would I have to move," Ran questioned. He didn't think that Queenie's soul avatar would be able to hurt him, so he felt fine where he was. After all, he was an entire rank ahead of her now.
"Oh, okay," Queenie said coldly. She couldn't tell if this was to make fun of her strength, but she would show him a thing or two.
So, just like the rest, she filled herself according to the skill, and then activated it.
Then, as if someone had poured accelerant on her, Queenie combusted on the spot. Her red flame raged and it's heat began spreading out purposefully, enveloping everyone in a dome of thermal radiation.
Worse yet, when they naturally inhaled, not only did they feel their nose hair singe a bit, they also felt their lungs almost get heavier. Although, it wasn't just a feeling. By the third time they breathed, pretty much everyone except Ann was beginning to have slight difficulties breathing.
However, it still didn't finish there. Those who were closer to Queenie were beginning to feel something stick to their skin and even enter their pores. They could sense that their body's weight was starting to rise. To combat this, they stopped breathing through their nose and introduced a layer of soul juice to cover their bodies.
But that didn't stop the increase in weight, if anything, it was worse. They could begin to see an almost yellowish-silver sheen cover their own layer of soul juice. And when that silvery sheen went against their cover, the will contained in that layer was slowed, albeit slightly.
Seeing everyone trying to deal with her ability, Queenie helped but felt a little proud, though she didn't show it. Of course, considering everyone was over-ranking her, only Bob had to truly deal with any significant amount of effort.
Queenie enjoyed this scene for about ten seconds before realizing that it had consumed a third of reserves. She hurriedly turned it off and only then did she sigh in relief. It takes hours to recover that much soul juice, and who knows when she'll need it.
…
"Phew… well that was something new to experience."
Ran, finally expelling all the weird stuff from his lungs, could breathe normally again.
"But, it was… so cool! Say, how does your fire do that," Ran asked enthusiastically. In response, she spewed a small flame from her mouth onto her hand and then showed it to him.
"Oh yeah, my flame has a whole bunch of weird stuff in it. I think it was metal?"
"Really?" Ran was surprised. Metal? Whatever could that be doing in there?
"Wow! Then your sigil must be something special! Hey, what's it called?"
Queenie was a bit skeptical of his overly passionate question and even sparkling eyes, but she didn't mind too much. By now, she knew him well enough to know that he was just more curious than anything.
"Ahem; it's called, Lord Strontium's Ambassador."