PREVIOUSLY
LEAVE!
Then, it was like a giant had punched us straight in the guts, breaking our harmonic connection and forcing each of us to open our eyes.
"GASP!"
My hands clutched my heart, and I couldn't believe the amount of sweat that was dripping down my back. I fell backwards onto the grass, disbelieving of how powerful that pressure was to the point that even the combined power of Raegis and I couldn't withstand a single second of it.
And, I was pretty strong right now, along with Raegis. The First [Gate Of Steel] must have detected us, or more specifically, the soul inside the [Gate of Steel] must have detected us with it's super-senses and kicked us out because of my presence. Last time I checked in the game, anyone who attempted to enter what was basically a god's domain didn't really return well, especially that poor little kid who happened to accidentally touch a [Gate Of Steel].
Spoiler alert, he poofed out of existence.
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After taking a couple of deep breaths, I tried to sit back up, and looked over at Raegis who was still scrunching her eyebrows due to the pain. It's no wonder, after all, Raegis must suffered the brunt of that attack for allowing another outsider to basically invade her soul, and therefore, her domain.
"Are. . .you. . .okay?" I barely managed to wheeze it out.
When Raegis didn't respond, I tried to ease the pain blossoming deep inside my head by trying to think of healing thoughts, before I realized that I was in possession of the greatest healer of the world. Mentally, I slapped myself for realizing so late.
Crawling over to Raegis, I got both of her hands connected before I focused the Maiden's energy inside me to come out.
"[Purify]"
Chanting a simple emblem skill, I felt a warm blanket of energy fall upon us, as the pain in my head was grealty relieved. Looking at Raegis, I saw that she was no longer cluthcing her head, and was just silently moaning in pain.
Of course, the pain wouldn't just disappear with just a simple [Purify]. After all, it wasn't a curse and I only applied that skill so that the next skill could finish the job.
One more time, I squeezed through the exhaustion and intoned, "[Heal]".
This time, instead of a warm blanket, it felt more like someone had dropped a bucket of cold water onto my head, freezing it before the pain had been completely erased. Yeah, I was never going to understand why on earth anyone would design [Heal] to feel like that. Once I get out of here, I was definitely going to give the producers a taste of my mind. Hehe, get it?
"M. . Mm," Raegis grumbled, gradually opening her silvery eyes. "Wil. .low?" Then, she blinked around to realize that our connection had been broken, and she didn't feel the pounding in her head anymore. "It doesn't feel. . .hurt anymore?"
I nodded. "I gave you a little healing spell. There should be no pain left, but if you do feel anything, don't hesitate to tell me."
"Imm," Raegis said. Then, she looked around again. "What. . .happened?"
I bit my lips. I didn't know whether to tell her the truth, since I had already spilled too much of my secrets or shown Raegis too much, changing the world too much already. I didn't want to leave anymore of my magical footprints onto this world since I really didn't want a red target to be placed on my transmigrated ass.
"I'll tell you later. But enough about that," I changed the subject. "Did you remember how you felt when we came onto that. . .tree?"
Raegis nodded. "It felt. . .dreamy, but not a good dream. It felt hot, hotter than I've ever felt before." Then, she looked at me with upturned eyes, full of curiosity. "Is that where Raegis and Willow are going next?"
I smiled. "Yeah, that's basically the plan but it's going to be pretty hard getting there. You remember all of the monsters that stood against us along the way there, right?"
Now, her silvery eyes burned from bloodlust. "I'll kill all of them!"
That made me giggle. Just a couple weeks together, and it appeared that I had already trained my little attack dog well.
"That won't do, Raegis." I poked her in the forehead. "Unfortunately, this time, you're not going to be able to go on a rampage. You know why?"
Regis pouted, but still asked, "Why?"
"Because there are big, strong monsters who will try to eat us if we suddenly took away all of their food," I said. "The theme this time is speed, and stealth."
"What's that?"
Oh, how I forgot she was still just a little kid. "Basically, we're going to stay very light on our feet, and kill only when we absolutely need to. But, first and foremost, we go fast."
"Fast?" Then, Raegis smiled, showing her canines. "Raegis can go really fast!"
"Oh really? Then, wanna race?" I challenged her with a smirk. "I may be a little behind in the other stats but in terms of speed, I am pretty confident."
I wasn't lying when I said that. After all, for some reason, Willow's body made for a very good sprinter since it was so, so light due to the blessings by the myriad realms. It was so light to the point that even Ivanka was surprised by his initial speed even before training. After however, along with the assistance of chi, I was confident I could at least outrun this little attack puppy.
Raegis's grin grew even wider, almost predatory. "Okay! Raegis is going to win!" She adopted her running stance, on all fours. Why was I not surprised? Then she stopped suddenly, and turned to look at me.
I also broke my stance, and asked her, "What?"
Raegis's body started shifting nervously which was a sight to behold since I had only really seen the normally expressionless child do this once. And, that was when she had done a bad thing and she didn't know I would react.
"Actually, um. . .Willow, Raegis wants to. . .actually, . . . nevermind!"
"Raegis, I've told you once already, haven't I?" I told her. "If there's anything you want to say, you can just tell me. It's not like I have a gun to your head, am I?"
"What's a gun?"
Ah shit. There I go again with my bad habit of using analogies from my previous world.
"Nothing!" I smiled. "All I'm saying is that, tell me what you want to say. I promise I won't laugh or anything, unless it's funny."
Raegis's shifts grew less, as she took a deep breath. "Raegis wants to get a prize if she wins!" Then, her face turned beet red as she realized what she had just said.
My mouth hung open. And, here I thought she was going to say something like she didn't want to go to the Gate anymore or something like that.
All I could do was laugh, which only made her face turn an even darker shade of red.
I waved my hand to quell her worries. "No,no. It's not like I'm laughing at you. I'm just relieved that you didn't say what I thought you were going to say."
Raegis only tilted her head. "Hm?"
"Nevermind, but, hm, a reward huh?"