Xania and Anise staff heading in, using light magic to make the area brighter, heading in as Xania hums to herself to Anise's annoyance.

  “Anise, relax a little.”

  “Shut. Up.”

  “Why?”

  “Shut. The. Hell. Up.”

  “Don't really want to y'know?”

  “My lord, I'm not joking.”

  “Anise, you could just relax a b—”

  “My lord! Take this a bit more seriously! You couldn't even overpower the key and it could control your divinity too! This area is probably dangerous enough to hurt you too!”

  “Alright. Fine, calm down.”

  Anise sighs before she's stops walking, turning to face Xania's

  “Sorry for shouting my lord.”

  “It's okay, I suppose I was being too carefree anyways.”,

  “No, it isn't your fault. Now that I think about it, you haven't actually had many outdoor trips. Most of your long-distance trips were by teleportation and your longest trip was probably towards the cursed swamps after your first summon.”

  Anise sighs again, taking another step as she suddenly senses something approaching quickly as she dodges, watching as an arrow flies by her.

  “Seriously? Such primitive traps in such a supposingly strong area?”

  “Another arrow flies towards her which she tries to block with shields but it completely penetrates through them, with Xania teleporting out of the way just in time.

  “Oh… what the hell.”

  “See? My lord, you have to be careful!”

  “Got it.”

  Xania and Anise keep progressing through the hallway, dodging any traps that get sent at them with new traps being introduced the further they go, such as an indestructible boulder rolling at them. Very acidic acid being sprayed. Or very hot liquid being poured from the ceiling.

  They eventually end up in a decently sized square room where they find a table and chairs in the center as they sit on it, resting for a moment.

  “Well… I've never had so many close death experiences ever, my lord.”

  “Same… the traps also kept getting faster overtime.”

  They suddenly noticed a black gem teleport into the table as Anise reached out to touch it but it burnt her hand immediately.

  “Owwww.”

  Xania tries doing so too, trying to use her mana to figure out what it was but only finding a bunch of magic circles on it, much more advanced than she'd ever seen as she tries to mimic them to no avail.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Damn.”

  “What?”

  “It's nothing.”

  Xania starts infusing some dark mana along with divinity, same as the same as the key as the gem starts turning from black to bluish but it doesn't react further.

  “Huh?”

  Xania keeps adding more as she gets frustrated, eventually turning the gem into a cyan colour but not stopping, causing it to crack open.

  “Oops?”

  “My lord, look what you did!”

  “Sorry…”

  Light starts shining out from the cracks of the gem, causing Xania and Anise both to shield their eyes.

  As they both open their eyes after a short while, they find themselves in a black location where Xania punches herself.

  “My lord, what are you doing?”

  “Huh? You were here? Guess that means this isn't a dream.”

  “Have you been dreaming about the abyss aga—”

  “No, have I destroyed half our room as I woke up?”

  “Actually, there have been a few—”

  “No, I haven't dreamt of that.”

  Xania shuts Anise up by pinching her lips shut, annoying her as she pulls away, not arguing back due to noticing the environment change.

  “My lord, do you know what is happening?”

  “Kinda, this place is about to change.”

  “Huh?”

  The environment changes from the black area to two women standing at the balcony, their faces and identities blurred to the point where only their demonic and some normal features can be somewhat made out.

  “My lor—”

  “Shh, just listen and watch first.”

  “Look ——-, this is the remains of what's left. Our people are left with little food and housing, unable to fight back further.” The shorter figure says, her cyan hair flowing behind her as she turns to look at the other figure who has reddish hair instead.

  “But my lord, there's nothing left we can do in our situation.”

  “I could use magic, fix their houses, our defences, and produce food for us all.”

  “You can't, you need to save mana in case they attack again.”

  “Tsk… they aren't even strong, all they do is come continuously in huge numbers.”

  “But my lord—”

  “I know, I got it okay?”

  The taller figure with red hair sighs before turning to walk away as the Xania and Anise return back to normal.

  “My lord! What was that?”

  “No clue, just keep showing up on my dreams.”

  Anise tries to speak again as they suddenly notice a wall open up, rising into the ceiling as they look at one another.

  “So… Anise, should we…”

  “I suppose so…?”

  Xania and Anise get up, walking into the new path which didn't last nearly as long nor were there any traps as they find themselves in a stadium made for fighting with the audience seats all empty and an entrance on each side, totaling up to 4.

  “Great…” Xania sighs as they teleport to the center, finding another black gem but encased within a glass box with Xania unable to break it.

  “Oh, we're gonna get one of these everytime we clear one of these things huh?”

  “I suppose so, my lord.”

  Xania tries to push mana in but it gets absorbed by the box, causing the ground to start vibrating.

  “My lord, what did you do?”

  “I just tried to push mana in!”

  “Damn you! Can't you wait before doing things?!”

  “Nope.”

  A bunch of monsters that Xania not Anise has seen before starts pouring out from all the entrances. Their appearance with 4 legs, one eye in the center of their face, no ears, a long mouth with teeths made for crushing.

  “Oh… what the hell are these monstrosities…”

  “My lord, just kill them! Take 2 sides and I'll take the other two!”

  “Fine.”

  Xania and Anise both bring out their weapons, easily killing the monsters but they keep pouring out, causing Anise and Xania to use their mana more efficiently.

  After a whole day fighting, Anise lies down on the ground, stressed due to being nearly mana deprived as Xania walks up to her, pushing neutral mana into Anise's body, helping her to recover.

  “My lord, that was… I don't know how to describe it.”

  “Don't worry, I kinda just experienced the same thing anyways.

  As Anise is in the midst of recovering her mana, suddenly more monsters start pouring out, chasing Anise to stand back up with Xania stopping her.

  “Anise, rest first.”

  “Fine… I'm only agreeing since you're more than strong enough for this.”

  Xania uses her scythe, waiting for more monsters to come out before swinging it in a 360 degrees, causing most of them to die except for some lucky ones who were protected by the box in the way which Xania just rains fireballs down on.

  This keeps going on for the next few hours as it finally stops, letting Xania rest and look at the box opening up.

  “Finally”

  “My lord, can I try it this time?”

  “Sure? But don't you need divinity?”

  “Just let me try!”

  “Fine.”