196 Growth

Detra woke up the next day with her face red like a tomato and wanting to bury herself under the soil.

Just thinking about how she cried like a baby last night was making the woman want to kill herself from pure embarrassment.

She honestly had no idea what happened. For some reason, her emotions just began to overflow one after another and the next thing she knew, she was sobbing all over her clothes while holding Marcus in her arms.

"What the hell happened to me yesterday..." she mumbled feeling like she could barely recognize herself.

She stood up and noticed that the rest of the group was already awake and preparing breakfast, or at least, a poor excuse for a breakfast considering their limited options. Detra approached them and was greeted with a happy smile from Ellie.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!"

"Good morning, young miss..."

Detra assumed that Ellie was so cheerful probably because of her little attempt to bring the team closer. Marcus and Lilith also decided to give her a small greeting.

"Good morning, mother..."

"Good morning, East..."

Their greeting was a little colder than Ellie's but still felt more welcoming than the usual way they would talk to her. Detra herself just wanted to pretend her breakdown never happened and just get back to business.

"Yes, yes... Good morning to all... Now that we are done with our little... Moment..." Detra commented while blushing as she kept remembering about last night, "let's try to focus on our mission."

The three of them changed their relaxed expression to that of seriousness at Detra's words.

"We have three days left starting from now... so we need to make each second count..." Detra explained, "so this is how we shall proceed... Today, we will finally enter the ring of time and focus solely on iron out our combat ability while we make use of the place's time-stopping magic..."

Ellie felt a small shiver crawling through her body. She almost couldn't believe that they were three days away from her fated battle.

"Tomorrow..." Detra continued, "We go for the forest's core and have our final stand against her actual self... Where the young miss will finally touch her real body and try to mirror one of her cursed energy abilities so we can have the final ingredient to get her access to terminal energy... Also if you could kill her in the process, that would be great..."

Detra tried to pretend that killing the forest was just a bonus but they all knew she couldn't wait to see the entire garden be destroyed. This woman really hated anything demon-related.

Marcus also began to tremble. He was reminded of his time fighting alongside Evlin when she used terminal energy herself. So much power in her hands. He was worried about Ellie and if she would be able to handle it.

Lilith, unlike the rest of the team, was rather calm but also excited to join with Leona and her group again.

Detra gazed at Ellie's state, "are you ready to do this, young miss?"

Ellie wasn't really sure. The fight with Mia was the only thing in her mind for a long time, but now that she finally realized what it meant to have actual lives on the line, her feeling began to change. She assumed she would just enter Hana's garden and come out as a super kid or something, but there were so many close calls, so many mistakes, so many times where she could have died or gotten someone killed.

She never took the time to think that fighting was actually much harder than she imagined, and winning the fight was even harder, especially winning without many major losses.

The back of her mind kept telling her that she could just trust in the adults and that they would guide her through it all, but she was wrong. This was all about working together. Everyone needed to do their part.

It wasn't just about following others' commands, it was about knowing which commands to follow and which ones to ignore, as well as try to think for herself what the best option was.

"Will you guys be with me...?" Ellie asked with a weak tone.

"Of course!" Lilith guaranteed while holding her hand.

"Always!" Marcus declared while grabbing her shoulder.

"As long as you need!" Detra affirmed while making a soft smile. Ellie couldn't remember the last time she ever saw Detra smiling like that, or at all. It was honestly kind weird but at the same time, comforting.

"Then yes!! I'm ready!!" Ellie shouted while raising her fist to the air.

Part 2

The group strolled through the ring of time and thanks to the light of the day, finally managed to get a good look at the place.

Compared to the bizarre collection of plans from the summoning ring, the weird blue-leafed trees from the memory rin, and the red fog from the fear ring, the time ring was rather normal, almost disappointedly normal to be honest.

It felt just like a regular forest with nothing major about it sticking out. The trees looked like regular trees, the ground looked like regular ground, there were no weird monsters or beasts insight.

Honestly, Ellie felt like the zoo she used to visit with her parents back at home was more exciting.

"This place feels... Kinda boring..." Ellie commented.

"The ring of time is the last line of defense to stop intruders from getting to the core of the forest... If the invaders couldn't be stoped physically by the monsters or the memory warriors, or mentally by the ring of fear, making you get lost in the ring where time doesn't move is the only way left to keep them away... But yes... aside from that, it's just like any regular forest" Detra commented.

"Is this really the last ring to the core...? I thought there would be more kinds of magic that the forest would use to stop us..." Marcus admitted.

"Oh, there are many more kinds of magic in this forest, make no mistake..." Detra explained, "we just avoided most of them by taking the shortest and... ahem... hardest path to the center...

"I see..." Marcus felt like complaining about it for a second, but by this point, he was used to his mother putting them in dangerous situations without telling them, that's just who she was.

"Be careful where you step into..." Detra warned, "there are a couple of teleportation spells on the ground that could send you back to the start of the circle without you even noticing... It's really easy to get lost in here..."

Ellie gazed around trying to spot any spells and noticed a couple of bones from a skeleton lying against a tree, probably one of the victims who couldn't find the way out. She almost threw up her entire breakfast but managed to hold it in.

"So when do we start our training...?" the girl asked, trying to keep her mind away from what she just saw.

"As soon as we find a good spot..." Detra answered, "like this one!"

Detra pointed at a wide-open field surrounded by trees and not too far from where they were, a huge mountain in the center, so tall that it could reach the clouds.

"That's where the core is located...?" Marcus asked while trying to spot the top of the mountain.

"Yes..." Detra whispered while also being impressed herself, "but this is a problem for tomorrow... let's focus on today!"

The group dropped their bags and reunited in a circle where Detra began to give them instructions. The place they were located wasn't too far from the trees so Detra could simply grab some fruits if they ever ran out of food.

"You two... Assume battle position!" she ordered while looking at Marcus and Lilith.

The duo joined hands and just like before, began to glow with a strong light and fused themselves into one being. Lilith now had silver hair and was finally able to open her eyes again thanks to Marcus sharing his vision with her.

Right after that, she formed a pair of silver swords and took her usual samurai stance.

Detra gazed at Ellie, "young miss... this is the moment of truth... Show us how much you've grown in these last couple of days... show us that you really are the niece of the crossbow mage... Show us that you are not afraid of Mia or of fighting to save your family!"

Ellie absorbed Detra's words of motivation and began to take a deep breath while closing her eyes.

She focused on all the spells that have been guiding her so far.

The beastly cry from Sphinx that managed to stun her aunt's projection and allowed her to defeat one of the memory warriors.

Her future sight copied from Lilith that always warns her of incoming danger and gives her the right answer on how to win.

The holy metal from Marcus that gives her an unbreakable body and the ability to cut anything, as well as the power to turn into a weapon to fight alongside any of her allies.

Mia's spell breaker that allows her to swallow energy and convert it into magic power.

And finally, her aunt's magic diamonds, her favorite spell, and the one she is the proudest of being able to mirror. The eternal symbol of her connection with her beloved hero.

This was her current arsenal. This is what she was going to rely on to face her greatest challenge. Not only that, but she would also have her friends by her side to fight with. Not just Lilith and Marcus but also Claire, Joseph, Leona, and even Detra to guide her.

"I can do this... I can do this..." she began to whisper to herself.

She opened her eyes to activate her future sight, covered her arms with a pair of diamond gauntlets, created small pieces of metallic armor to protect her weak spots, and assumed her own battle stance with both fists raised while locking target on Lilith.

"I'm ready!" Ellie declared.

Lilith accepted Ellie's resolve and vanished into thin air with her absurd speed in the blink of an eye.

Ellie looked into the future and simply raised her elbow to block a powerful slash from Lilith's blades. Lilith began to put more force into her attack, but the young girl just created diamond boots to stabilize her weight and stop herself from being pushed back.

Ellie then used the power of her blessed metal to increase her speed and delivered a fast and powerful punch to Lilith who ended up getting pushed back herself as she created a metal shield to block Ellie's attack.

"Not bad..." Lilith commented while changing her weapon into a pair of daggers.

Ellie just smiled in return and kept herself focused, and right after that, the two started to engage in a long fight that lasted for the entirety of the day.

There were three days left until the fight with Mia.