Vira stood in wonderment, Hana's ability to employ the techniques after a glance or even a few weeks study had left the Demon Queen in awe. "Impressive" Vira spoke directly to Hana.
"I suppose but if I had enough power, I'd be impressed. But I'm not." Hana tossed her hands down. "Phera would be better at this if she had my resources." Hana was still grieving over Phera, Jeannie had become a distant memory but Phera was her classmate and had shown her some of the elements that were in use within the array additions.
Translucent waves, barely visible with the naked eye began to radiate from the tub of elemental essence. Kuzunoha pulled her hand away and then pulled out a chair. "Okay, All done. Lets see what you've come up with."
Hana nodded and thanked her mother, then she pointed at the pool and began directing the light essence onto the surface of the twenty sided core device. "It should only take a moment to activate once it begins to spin, everyone should move back, it will be bright and considerably hot."
Wu Hai shook his head and waved his hand, a barrier shrouded the group.
"Okay then," Hana turned her attention back to the array.
White fluid snaked toward the core and wormed around it then slowly flattened itself. Hana chanted softly and it began to spin.
Thirty seconds went by and she wasn't finished. She cast the centrifuge spell on the new core and lightly pushed it into the air, retreating behind the shield her father had made and watched.
The Milky White Essence didn't entirely coat the outside of the core at first, instead it took a moment for the swirl to spread it along its exterior. White light, much brighter than the indigo and red fire pillars exploded out. A wave of sound rang everyone's ears and crackles of white fire, a property of her mother's bloodline, showed dominance among the light, bringing with it even sharper light. Light that was so bright, Vira felt like it would devour her and Wu Hai was forced into shielding his eyes.
The brightness didn't dim, instead it grew in intensity and Hana walked back out and underneath the Core. A spell circle appeared above her in the air, a manifestation with blood as its catalyst, a Push spell of her greatest intensity.. It was different than than the ones her Father or even Vira had used in front of her. 'This better work!' Hana knelt down and kicked off the floor, slamming full force into the formation projection.
A bright red spell sailed into the rotating core in a gentle spiral. As it struck, the speed of the rotation increased and the Core rose into the air, joining the stars above them.
"So you made another star?" Wu Hai nodded in approval but wondered if it was just for the exercise or had an intended purpose.
"No, not a star. Light." Hana threw out another formation plate and kicked it, sending it toward the bright white core, crashing into it and activating. A dark black isolation shield stopped the light from passing but didn't contain its energy. "That formation plate has a timer on it, it hides the light for eight hours a day but I can tell it to open longer if I want."
"Wow. That's..." Kuzunoha actually didn't know what to say after that and her words hung like a cliffhanger. Everyone waited for her to speak further but she was saved by Hana.
"This will let me grow other plants in this dimension. Most of the plants outside need sunlight. Bloodgrass will still live in sunlight.. The soil might be purified over time but these grasses have all gone through changes, I wouldn't even call them Bloodgrass anymore. Maybe something closer to Elemental Heart Grass." Hana flipped her hands around a few times while she spoke, confident in her formation.
Everyone saw the usefulness of a light source, a pocket dimension that someone could farm in, would be a boon to any society.
"Its too bad I can't figure out how to make these spaces themselves, then we could just solve most of our problems by putting them elsewhere!" Hana joked but she was serious too.
"Putting problems elsewhere isn't a bad idea, but it normally leads to more complications that you no longer have control of." Kuzunoha played the mother and cheered her daughter with caution.
Wu Hai's experiments had taken him from his family for a time, none of them wanted to risk such a grand happening, right then.
"I understand." Hana had gotten a view of the real world, people she knew had died and her awareness left her feeling humbled. For a girl who had been so obedient before school, then wild and unrestrained, she was now showing great patience and willing to listen to what her parents were saying.
"You don't have to be sad." Vira walked up and placed her hand on Hana's shoulder. "I know you don't like me too much, given the past.. but, this formation is indeed something to be proud of. You used a lot of different sources, I don't think that I could repeat this without at least a few months of study." Vira's words weren't perfect but she did her best to say everything in Common.
Hana looked up at the dark sphere above her, "You think so? I hope Phera is proud."
"I'm sure that she is. Okay. Lets have a bite to eat then go to Tower City.
Three Hours later they all arrived in Hell, at the ridge where the swarm had been. Wu Hai brought Hana to the corpse of the Giant, only bits of bone remained, tiny fragments that contained no real value.
"This is.." Hana saw the knaw marks. "Its definitely Mollen teeth."
"These things aren't moles anymore, they need a better name. They're very invasive and acting like Piranha, I was thinking of calling them Reapers but I don't know if those exist too."
"They Chit.. Just call them Chitters." Hana joked again but Wu Hai shook his head.
"Sounds too close to Critters and I fully expect to find a furry, intelligent, evil ball of death at some point." He had to remain objective about naming things, his inner sixth grader was screaming to name everything just like Hana had been trying. "I have been kicking around the name 'Death River Swarm' but if they are intelligent, they might be offended at the name. Not that they could tell us at this time... I think." Wu Hai rubbed his head.
Kuzunoha pointed toward the mountain of burnt wood distance. "Look at the pile of driftwood and wreckage."
"I'll see if I can locate one that's isolated and get its attention but I can only restrain them for a while, once more of them show up, we'll just teleport away so be prepared." Wu Hai cut his finger and drew in the air. Several runes appeared and he walked through them, a small glimmer covered his body and he grew difficult to see.
Once he became nearly transparent, the Emperor snuck up behind the pile of wood and waited for one of the Swarm to be isolated near his position. It was a few minutes before there were no others in the area. Wu Hai took out a bag and spread some powder out, the creature took a deep smell of it to determine what it was, passing out in the process and crashing against a stump.
Wu Hai had kept channeling the entire time, he put one hand on the creature and teleported back to the girls. "It worked out easier than I thought. Lets get back to Tower City." He Channeled once more and very quickly, they arrived in the Courtyard of Tower City.
The creature was chained down and surrounded by the few Espers that were present in the City, most of them were Qu's attendants.
Qu came out of the Pagoda and stood in the Courtyard, it was always strange to him to be able to see the Tower's original exterior in the distance. "All preparations have been made beforehand, this formation should keep him restrained while Hana tries to communicate with it."
"Good. I wasn't sure if we would have enough time but it seems they were unprepared to be seen as prey. Capturing this one was rather simple, a team of our Stealth Corp could handle capturing one or two, but since they travel in swarms its very difficult, if they ever discover themselves to be hunted.."
"Understood. If things to not go well, this one will not escape." Qu nodded in understanding and a few large cannons came out, modified with crystal and upgraded, the repurposed battleship cannons took aim under Qu's magical control.
"Geez. You really have been reading like crazy.." Wu Hai shook his head and wondered if the Science Fiction section was next.
"Lets wake it up." He turned to Hana.
Hana closed her eyes, concentrating on her circulation. She did exactly as Master Lu Sha had told her, circulating it one hundred times very quickly. A modified version of Wild Red Heart, a fusion of Heart of Darkness started to take shape, it worried the Emperor a little but he knew that Hana had been working hard on her training.
'I've been waiting to see her power, I just hope this isn't too much to ask of her.' Wu Hai was worried about Hana's safety but there was little he could do, the process had begun, the damage, if it was going to happen, had already started.
A figure began to take shape behind her, a hand, a giant red hand spread out of a hole behind her. It gripped the courtyard floor and dragged the rest of its body out of the portal. It glimmered in red and then gray armor began to shroud its body, changes gained from the Ultinian remains she had absorbed. It held two swords and a large tower shield. A huge mask covered its face and the black spot began to wrap itself around Hana like a second skin. Hana's blue wings burst into black flames and her eyes turned a deep bronze.
She looked like a Demon but walked slowly through the formation.
The creature was still unconscious and bound. Hana let her aura soar and the large three armed guardian behind her followed her movements. She stepped closer and it took a step, it spanned several meters.
'PHIII-E-E!' Hana whistled directly in front of the creature's face.
It was startled awake and, once it noticed Hana, began to mindless chomp at her face. She backed up far enough to evade its lashing teeth and bite. "What should I say?" She was confused about what direction to take.
The creature was constantly opening its mouth and attacking as fast as it could take aim at his target.
"My name is Hana. Do you remember me?" It was silly to think that they would all remember her or even hold reverence but she had to try.
It continued to snap its many teeth from its vertical mouth, it kept clamping at the air just inches from Hana's face, blowing her hair around on occasion and spraying spittle everywhere each time as it salivated.
Hana slapped it. Hard.
The creature fell down and stood right back up, it broke a single chain and came closer to Hana's face, she instinctively swung out and the Guardian behind her pound its shield atop the creature, crushing it into a fine paste.
"Shit." Wu Hai exclaimed, it might have been his words but they left everyone's mouth. When the shield came down, all of them pulled their heads back in sucking motions.
The formation was terminated and Hana looked up from her arm, noticing the dead creature. "But...I was so sure that I had gotten its attention. I didn't mean to. Father, Let me try again!" Hana stood there and a stream of strange black energy flowed into her.
She shook and staggered, the spot demon that covered her body retreated, focusing on her body's interior.
Wu Hai noticed the change in her state and caught her shoulder to help stabilize her. Then, he saw the guardian begin to change shape. Its mask, a terrible golden bronze and stone colored mask, disintegrated into nothing and its face split vertically, rows of teeth soon showed themselves and it roared into the air while its neck began to remodel, extending its head by small margins.
"{Whoa.}" Vira sucked in a deep breath. 'Deadly.'
Hana's manifestation had evolved, absorbing the mutation from the Deaths River Reaper. Its new strength caught them all by surprise and Vira was genuinely impressed with Hana's progress.
Vira winced gently, there was some pain in her abdomen, no doubt a symptom of her pregnancy.
Wu Hai saw everyone's gazes turning to him for the next course of action.
"Fine. We can try again, but wait here. I'll just go get another one, we probably only have a few more chances before they notice, unless I'm caught in the act." Wu Hai looked to Kuzunoha who kept shaking her head.
He disappeared and came back many minutes later.
Everyone was drinking Tea while they were forced to wait, Wu Hai's arrival was welcome.
He was breathing heavily like it had been a bit more trouble than he wanted. "I'm fine." Like he could understand the looks he was getting, he plopped the creature down on the ground in the center of the courtyard formation.
"Just talk to it and try to see if it calms down." Kuzunoha didn't want to see her daughter pulverizing wild beasts, still, she did her best to support her daughter.
Vira had some ideas about taming beasts, she have her advice and stood by the side. "Its just a beast, why not tame it."
"Tame it?" Hana's eyes lit up, she felt like Dash Grabsum, A monster collector from a cheap story she had read in the library. Hana's fingertips sank into her mouth and she bit down, forcing a drop of her fresh blood out.
Hana tried to flick the drop of blood onto its forehead. Nothing happened. "Duh.. It has to be awake."
Hana had the guardian roar at the same time as she did, it was a comical impression of the Mollen's ability to terrorize its prey but when used against the creature that was bound within the formation, it made it cower. 'Talk to it, then tame it.. This, I can do..' Hana took a deep breath and just started talking. She started by introducing herself and then began to ramble for a bit.
The creature didn't understand her words but her tone seemed less aggressive and somewhat authoritative like she was in charge of the situation, this made the creature grasp the predicament it was in. It gave off an ear piercing cry, a cry to the others.
"Don't worry, the city formation isolates the sounds inside." Wu Hai waved his hand to show that it was nothing to worry about.
Hana drew blood from her finger again and walked up to the Mollen, she got very calm and it started to fling its face and teeth toward her. She didn't hesitate, she slapped it to the ground, knocking several teeth out in the process.
The guardian stopped its movements under her command and stood up ready to swing when told. The Mollen saw the giant with its mouth wide open ready to consume it. Hana was its owner, controlling it and holding the creature's life in her hands. It lowered its head, somewhat defeated. Light chittering could be heard, Hana felt a little sorry for the creature but it had to be done. She flicked her fingertip and created the seal.
She waited for the creature to accept the bond, and, only after it finished chittering to itself did it accept the contract. Hana saw the red light, the creature fell limp in the chains, unable to do anything but submit.