An Unborn Hero

"There, there and there," said Hayedalf, pointing at specific points on Kellela's collar that, to Mystery, looked no different from any others. "You need to hit them all at exactly the same time."

A somewhat embarrassed Mystery concentrated, using the mana she'd gathered ready for [Magical Girl Transformation]. Thankfully, she already had [Multishot] experience from [Fireball], so replicating the trick with [Lightning Bolt] proved simple.

ding
You have launched multiple bolts of lightning at once, upgrading [Lightning Bolt] with [Multishot]. Level cap of [Lightning Bolt] increases by 10.
For discovering a new aspect of the spell, [Lightning Bolt] advances to level 7.

"I still can't believe you tried to blow it up," muttered Kellela, who had been looking rather pale since discovering her near-miss. "When this is over, you are definitely going to the academy, and you are staying there until you learn some common sense."

Mystery gave a metaphorical wince. Having to fight to hang on to her mana hadn't left her with the leeway to hold lengthy conversations with [Telepathy], and she'd assumed that leaving Kellela's body would cause her the same issues as the previous time she'd had her mana sealed. As such, blowing it up was the only idea she'd come up with. But she'd neglected to account for her significantly increased level of [Astral Projection], along with her other skills, as well as the advantage of being able to draw mana from the Vale's Finger. As long as she kept her distance from the collar, flying around outside of Kellela wasn't too bad.

Alas, she hadn't kept her distance from the collar. Hayedalf had needed to pluck her off from where she'd got stuck, guided by Kellela's [Sense Soul] after Mystery made a telepathic cry for help. Kellela hadn't been able to do it herself, on account of her soul being permeable to Mystery's, but thankfully, Hayedalf had managed it. And, of course, with his experience, he'd also been able to swiftly discover how the collars worked. He just hadn't been able to do anything about them on his own.

"I'm fairly sure 'why blowing up metal collars while they are around someone's neck is a bad idea' is not a topic the royal academy teaches," pointed out Hayedalf. "Now a sustained shock here," he added, pointing to another specific spot on the featureless metal.

"Preschool then," said Kellela. "We are sending Mystery to preschool. And we are banning her from all magic until... until... why aren't there exams for this sort of thing?"

ding
You have sustained a weaker bolt of lightning, upgrading [Lightning Bolt] with [Continuous Discharge]. Level cap of [Lightning Bolt] increased by 10.
For discovering a new aspect of the spell, [Lightning Bolt] advances to level 8.

Kellela's collar clicked and split apart, falling from her neck. Hayedalf reacted, reaching out and grabbing it before it could clang against the floor, then quickly hid it under the mat.

ding
For successfully clinging to your mana in the face of attempts to steal it, [Robust] advances to level 30 and [Mana Absorption] to level 12.
For a successful trip through hostile territory, [Astral Projection] advances to level 26.

"Okay, Mystery, the moment you have enough mana for it, use [Cosplay] to hide the fact her collar is gone."

She did so. Between the Vale's Finger and the lack of the collar now depleting her mana, she barely had to wait at all.

"... Sorry..." she whispered, no longer needing to concentrate to hold her mana, and able to spare the time to speak.

"It's okay. I understand you were desperate," said Kellela. "Just... promise to spend a few minutes thinking things through, please? Or even a few seconds?"

"... Promise..."

"My turn," said Hayedalf, pointing at three spots on his own collar.

After another minute to recharge mana, Hayedalf joined Kellela in semi-freedom.

ding
For disguising your escape attempt, [Cosplay] advances to level 12. It's a pity [Lightning Bolt] was so loud, not to mention the open conversations about escape. Let's hope no-one was listening.

"Okay, that's the first step. Now we need to find and free the others, then escape."

"First we need to open that door," pointed out Kellela.

"That was kinda implicit," acknowledged Hayedalf. "I have a plan, but even before that, we need to recover our mana."

"That'll take hours," sighed Kellela. "But you're right. We won't get very far if we're empty. Let's hope the illusion holds."

Hayedalf sat on the mat, taking one of the removed collars and fiddling with it. Kellela sat in front of him, trying to shield his activities from view as far as possible.

Meanwhile, Mystery was thinking. For all of her short life, she'd relied on Kellela's mana supply. She was the one with the small supply, while Kellela was the one with practically unlimited amounts. Now their positions were reversed. With the Vale's Finger, she could regenerate mana at speeds faster than her mother. Her tank was still smaller, but that simply meant she could go from empty to full in almost no time. Meanwhile, Kellela had been completely drained, and would need hours to restore what she'd lost.

"If I can borrow from her, why can't she borrow from me? Shouldn't it work both ways?"

Mystery returned to her foetus, recalled the feeling of drawing mana from Kellela and reversed it.

ding
Through unwavering effort, you have unlocked the [Recharge] skill.

Kellela gave a quiet gasp at the brief feeling of mana flowing into her. Very brief.

"That was unpleasant," thought Mystery, having instinctively shut off the flow. "Felt even worse than that disgusting collar. Is that how it feels to Mum when I take her mana?"

"... Sorry..." she apologised.

"... What for...?" replied Kellela, using Mystery's telepathic connection since she was still indoors.

"... Giving mana... is unpleasant..."

"... That was... you...? What are... you doing...?"

"... Giving mana... Will try... again..."

Mystery concentrated, activating both [Recharge] and [Conduit] and funnelling the incoming mana straight to Kellela. This time, braced for the feeling, she didn't let the unpleasantness disturb her, and kept pumping. By the time Hayedalf had finished fiddling with the collar, and then done the same with the second, Kellela's tank was full.

ding
For funnelling large quantities of mana from an external source into another, [Mana Absorption] advances to level 13 and [Recharge] to level 3.

"That certainly saved time," commented Hayedalf. "I think we're better off breaking out now than waiting for my mana to recover fully."

"There'll be no disguising our escape from now on. We'll need to move fast," added Kellela.

"... Let's go...!" agreed Mystery.

Hayedalf nodded, then grabbed the hacked collars, clamping one around the floor grate and the other onto the grate in the ceiling.

The lights flickered, then went out, plunging the cell into darkness.

"... How does... that help...?" asked Mystery, not overly affected thanks to her array of esoteric senses.

"It's not just the lighting; I've taken out the warding that protected the cell too. Time to transform."

Despite the relative privacy, Kellela performed her [Transformation Sequence] before casting [Light]. As usual, Mystery recast on top, then transformed Hayedalf, who still lacked the mana to transform himself. The pair of them together—with Mystery's added boost and the cell's warding broken—did what Grace alone was unable to, tearing the door off its hinges. Despite the noise caused by ripping it off, Hayedalf and Kellela put it down as quietly as possible.

"If any guards hadn't heard us before, they sure have now," thought Mystery. "Seems a bit pointless being careful in some places when we can't avoid making just as much noise in others."

ding
For a daring escape attempt, [Magical Girl Transformation] advances to level 24.

The trio found themselves at the end of a short corridor. Two more doors were set on either side of them, with a third at the corridor's far end.

"Much easier to open from this side," commented Hayedalf, turning a handle. They weren't even locked.

Well, there was extensive magical warding specifically designed to keep the door closed, but to Hayedalf, now that he was on the outside, that didn't really count.

The first door opened to reveal Rrillandral waiting patiently. When she saw the pair of transformed magical girls, she beamed. "I knew you'd escape," she declared. "What did Mystery do this time?"

"Tried to kill me," answered Kellela matter-of-factly. "Thankfully, she failed, letting Hayedalf actually rescue us,"

Mystery, who'd spun up [Telepathy] ready to answer before Kellela had pre-empted her, accidentally radiated her embarrassment over the link.

ding
For letting others know how you truly feel, [Telepathy] advances to level 18.

Rrillandral giggled while Hayedalf fiddled with her collar. With his own removed, Mystery's help wasn't required, and he had it off in minutes. Without any time to regenerate her mana, she couldn't transform herself, but Mystery obliged there.

The second door opened to reveal a white flash.

"Eep!" exclaimed Hayedalf, jumping backward, but the white wave washed over him with no apparent effect.

"Hayedalf?" came a relieved sounding voice from inside.

"Did you think I was a demon?" he asked, blinking away the dazzle. It faded to reveal Grace, already transformed and standing defensively in front of Rose, who was restrained by far more than a collar.

"I guessed it was you, from the noises, but since my attack only hurts demons, it didn't hurt to play safe."

"Safe? You just got me the [Blinding Resistance] sub-skill for [Robust]!" he complained.

"I told her to, so don't blame her," snapped Rose, who was somewhat grumpy. Not only had she been stuck with her hands rigidly entombed in a wall for hours, which wasn't at all comfortable, but Grace's move had been perfectly tactically sound.

Kellela whopped Hayedalf over the back of the head. "Quit whining and get Rose out of there."

He stepped inside, leaving Kellela and Rrillandral to keep watch in the corridor and hurriedly worked to remove the collar.

"Why are you so much more thoroughly restrained than anyone else?" he asked as he fiddled.

"No idea. Probably just..." started Rose, before Kellela interrupted.

"Grace! Purification, now!"

Another white wave rolled out from Grace, and an inhuman scream sounded from the other end of the corridor.

ding
For aiding your pupil in the slaying of multiple demons in a single blow, [Magical Girl Transformation] advances to level 25. Milestone reached.

"Milestone?" thought Mystery. "That's not something I've ever seen on a level-up message before."

Alas, there wasn't exactly time available to ask about it.

"Dammit," complained Hayedalf. "A few more minutes, and we'd all have been loose. Mystery! The moment I get this collar off her, transform her!"

Grace hesitated, torn between staying with Rose and heading out to the corridor.

"... Behind you...!" yelled Mystery at Grace, as quickly and loudly as she was able, but nevertheless a fraction too late. A long, fleshy tendril whipped out of the floor grate, wrapping itself around Grace's ankle from behind and dragging her to the floor.

"Got it!" shouted Hayedalf as the collar fell from Rose. He immediately charged it with his magical girl's ability, tossing it at the drain.

A crash sounded from outside, then the collar landed with an even larger noise. The tentacle released Grace with the same impressive speed with which it had grabbed her.

"For friendship and justice, demon slaying magical girl Aster Blue, transform!" thought Mystery, doing her best to ignore the distractions.

That was made harder when a dozen tentacles burst through the grate. A few targeted Grace, most went for Hayedalf, but one went for Rose's neck.

"Sword rain!" shouted Rose, but nothing happened. With her collar only just removed, she lacked the mana required for summoning, however little the requirement was.

Mystery aimed [Lightning Bolt] at the one aimed at Rose, causing it to retreat back into the floor, but after a cast of [Magical Girl Transformation] using her own mana, she didn't have enough left to target everything. Nor did Hayedalf have anything to throw, and whatever was attached to the other end of the tentacles seemed to be monster rather than demon, given that it didn't react to Grace's purification.

"I can't, I have no soil!" came a shout from outside as Rrillandral's abilities equally failed to extract her from whatever situation she and Kellela were in.

"... Free yourself..." Mystery told Rose as she desperately leaned on [Conduit], trying to recover enough mana for more lightning.

"How am I supposed to do that?!" she exclaimed, yanking ineffectually at her bonds but failing to pull her hands free even with her enhanced strength.

Grace screamed as she was lifted into the air upside-down, the petals of her skirt falling upwards and treating the rest of the room to a view of the forbidden white beneath. Hayedalf followed her, albeit with less screaming, treating Mystery and Rose to the sight of the panties of all-consuming darkness. The tentacles seemed somewhat unsure what to do next, given that the hole in the floor was too small to fit their prey, even with the grate destroyed.

They couldn't even perform the function that Mystery would have traditionally expected of tentacles, given the irremovable nature of the magical girls' panties.

Another scream sounded from outside.

"Some rescue this turned out to be," sighed Rose, giving one more ineffectual tug on her restraints.

Spoiler

Mystery (Human)
Age: -9 months
Occupation: Hero (L)
Skills:
- Soul's Eye (U) (42/100)
>> Sense Vitality (U)
>> Sense Soul (R)
>> Sense Mana (U)
>> Sense Light (C)
>> Sense Sound (C)
>> Pierce Illusions (U)
>> Sense Miasma (R)
>> Multi-focal (R)
>> Sense Spirit (R)
- Astral Projection (U) (26/60)
>> Sure Navigation (U)
>> Uncontainable (U)
>> Tether of Will (L)
- Robust (C) (30/50)
>> Hardened Soul (R)
>> Secured Mana (U)
>> Pain Tolerance (C)
>> Strengthened Will (U)
- Stealth (C) (3/20)
>> Camouflage Vitality (R)
- Magical Girl Transformation (R) (25/30)
>> Age Correction (R)
>> Gender Bending (R)
- Light (C) (12/20)
>> Heterochrome (U)
- Increased Attributes (C) (11/20)
>> Mana Storage (U)
- Investigation (C) (6/10)
- Cosplay (U) (12/20)
>> Skit (U)
- Mana Absorption (U) (13/30)
>> Drain Mana (U)
>> Conduit (U)
- Translate (U) (10/20)
>> Two Way (U)
- Telepathy (U) (18/40)
>> Reciprocity (U)
>> Empathy (U)
>> Guarded Mind (U)
- Lightning Bolt (U) (8/30)
>> Multishot (U)
>> Continuous Discharge (U)
- Fireball (U) (5/20)
>> Multishot (U)
- Wall of Light (U) (1/10)
- Energy Resistance (U) (7/10)
- Recharge (U) (3/10)
Achievements:
- Early Bloomer II (R)
- First Skill (C)
- Adept (U)
- Survivor of Zarklaxxos, the Arcane Infernal (R)
- I Broke The System, And All I Got Was This Lousy Achievement (E)
- Astral Explorer II (E)
- First Spell (C)
- I Broke The System Again, And Now The Administrators Hate Me (E)
- Famous Spell Forger (E)
- Demon Slayer III (E)
- Monster Slayer VI (E)
- Curiosity (U)
- War Veteran (U)
- Royal Audience (C)
- Diligent Hero (L)
- Studious (C)
- Pioneering Guider (E)
- Royal Pervert (R)
- I Couldn't Stop Breaking The System, And Now I've Been Smited (E)
- Royal Corrupter (E)
- Blessed of the Forest (C)
- Artefact Wielder (R)
- Veteran of the Corruption (R)
Artefacts:
- The Vale's Finger

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