A few minutes earlier within the dungeon.
"It's this way!" The little spriggan said as she flew down the corridor.
Most fairies and spriggans below Greater status tend to be rather hard to detect with the 6th sense of nascent souls. Because regular and lesser spirits tend to be rather small and lacking in energy, to a nascent soul, they usually just look like insects buzzing around inside a tiny spike in the regular elemental energy you'd find in the air.
So, when Shinji got locked up, he had his spriggans sneak around and do some reconnaissance inside the dungeon. He also had them keep an eye out for the locations of his fellow disciples. So, when reuniting with Kenji and Alex, he had naturally asked them to lead them to Aiko so they could get out of here.
"It is over there somewhere! I think?" Little Thunder said.
"You think or you know?" Kenji asked with a doubtful expression.
"Here it is!"
"This is a dead end!" Shinji pointed out.
"I saw them bring her through here earlier! I swear!" Little Thunder said.
"Okay, uhm! I think it was-? No, not that one!" Little Flower mumbled to herself.
"Just admit you don't know!" Kenji said.
"SHUT UP, STUPID! I DO KNOW! I SAW IT! THEY WALKED THROUGH HERE!"
"Walked through?" Alex muttered as he thought of something.
A thing to remember about elemental spirits is that they do not see the world the same way we do. They mostly view the world through their spirit sense as they do not possess functional eyes, reading the flow of energy in the air as it bounces off things to perceive their physical surroundings.
As a spirit sense operates through the use of a specific type of elemental energy, this means spirits of different elements also see things differently from each other. For example, a light spirit can perceive color while most other fairies are colorblind, an earth spirit can see deep underground while most need to go around a wall to see what's on the other side, while wind spirits can eavesdrop on conversations happening even outside the range of their spirit sense. These are only some traits specific to the individual elements, but there are also some environmental factors to their senses as well.
Since a spirit sense operates on the concentration of elemental energy in the air, their senses might sharpen if the concentration is high. However, this also means, if you place an elemental spirit in a place with very little of their specific attribute, like a human fumbling around in the dark, they'll practically be blind to what's right in front of them. So, for example, if you place a lightning-fire element spriggan inside a damp, cold, and poorly lit, underground dungeon, she'd naturally have a hard time seeing for example, a wall suddenly moving out of the way. An earth-ice spriggan on the other hand.
"It was this one!" Little Flower said as she pushed in a brick in the wall.
"WAIT, NO, STOP!"
*Click**Rumble*
When opening a hidden doorway like this, you are most likely going to find one out of two things. A secret room someone doesn't want people to know about, and the other is a hidden exit way. Given how the entire palace is covered in deadly flying purple strings, it might be fine if the secret room isn't connected to anywhere outside, but if it was a passageway outside, it would only worsen their situation by inviting even more deadly yarn into the underground prison. Alex had realized this a moment too late, and as Little Flower opened the secret passage, which directly led to the ritual room where Aiko had been taken, the group were greeted by a dense purple wall of strings. In that moment, all their minds were one as they collectively said.
"Crap."
*Swoosh**Swoosh**Swoosh*
*Continues sizzling*
Moments after the wall opened, hundreds of strings came flooding in like a violet tidal wave. Alex immediately manifested his aura fire to try and keep it at bay, but the share quantity was too much and the river of purple death was slowly pushing through.
"Damn it! The button to close the door wouldn't happen to be within reach?" Alex asked while shooting a continuous stream of green fire from the tip of his scythe.
"No! Sorry!" Little Flower replied.
"Okay! We're retreating!" Alex said.
"What about Aiko?!" Kenji said.
"WORRY ABOUT HER LATER! WE CAN'T SAVE ANYONE IF WE'RE DEAD! NOW MOVE IT!" Alex shouted into the ear of the junior he was riding.
"Uh, senior? There's a problem!" Shinji said, from behind.
Coming from the opposite direction were the strings that had been chasing them through this winding tunnel of a dungeon. Previously, Alex would just swing his necrosis scythe and put up a fire wall to hold them at bay, but he was currently preoccupied with the multitude of strings coming from the other direction.
*Swoosh**Sizzle*
As the strings pincered them from both sides, Shinji created a wall of white aura fire to block the ones coming from behind.
"Good going Shinji! So, let's push back and-!" Alex said.
"Ngh! Can't!" Shinji interrupted.
"Huh?"
*Swoosh*
*Sizzle*
Suddenly, a purple string came flying through the white fire, stopping just short of Shinji's face as it burned off and scattered into dust.
"You made it look so easy, but it takes everything I have to keep it from shooting through my-! Ngh! *Swoosh**Sizzle* Face!" Shinji said, as a burning string shot past his cheek.
"WHAT!? SO WE'RE STUCK!"
"…! Senior! You know spatial magic, right? Could you-?"
"No! I won't be able to maintain my current aura output if I split my focus!"
"Guys, no pressure or anything, but we're running out of room! So now would be a great time to do something!" Kenji said, pointing out the fact they were being sandwiched between two fire walls.
"…? Room! THAT'S IT! If we don't have enough room, then let's make some!" Shinji shouted, as he got an idea.
"What?" Kenji asked confusedly.
"GOOD THINKING! KENJI, LITTLE SPRIGGANS! START DIGGING A TUNNEL INTO THE WALL! NOW!" Alex ordered in a hurry.
Placing his senior down on the ground using telekinesis, Kenji and Little Flower began melting their way through the side of the wall, while Little Flower was trying to cool the molten rock and strengthen the walls to keep the makeshift tunnel from collapsing. Meanwhile Shinji and Alex were slowly backing their way into the indent in the wall while maintaining their aura barriers.
The plan was to dig an escape tunnel in the side of the wall, making it so they only needed to defend from one direction, while limiting the quantity of strings that can attack simultaneously by moving to a narrower space.
"KENJI!" Alex shouted in a hurry as they were running out of time.
"There's enough space for all of us, but-!"
"GOOD! Shinji! Start moving into the tunnel before me!"
"You sure you don't want Kenji to carry you in first?"
"You and Kenji will need to stay in the back, working on expanding the tunnel, meanwhile, I'll be maintaining the fire barrier!"
"By yourself? Sure you don't want help with that?"
"Our auras will interfere with each other if you try to help! It's better if I focus on the defense while you help with the tunneling! If we can gain enough distance, we can collapse the entrance to the tunnel, hopefully buying enough time for me to teleport us the hell out of here!"
"Okay!"
"Hey, Shinji! Before you enter, be careful where you step! Since we were in a hurry, we focused on the walls and ceiling, so there are still some puddles of-!"
*Sizzle*
"Huh?!"
*Thud**Sizzle*
"AAAAAHH!!"
"-Magma!" Kenji finished saying.
Unfortunately, Shinji had accidentally stepped into a small puddle of magma, lighting his foot on fire, causing him to lose focus and fall on his back, which resulted in his ragged clothes catching fire from the glowing embers and molten rock puddles. The reason why this was unfortunate was not because Shinji was now burning alive, but because he lost his focus, the fire barrier he was in charge of went out a little ahead of time, giving a short, yet decisive opening.
*Swish**Sizzling*
"ARGH! Uh-Oh!" Alex uttered, as he felt the sizzling of his flesh surrounding the violet string poking out of his back.
"ALEX!!!" Kenji screamed as he noticed what had happened.
In an instance, Alex began to dry up like a prune, like someone was sucking all the liquid out of his body as if drinking out of a juice box. And then all of a sudden, as if it tasted something gross, the string changed color to blue and spat the expired juice back through the straw, as he suddenly returned to normal. Shortly after all the glowing blue strings turned into glittering dust before vanishing completely as if they had never been there in the first place.
"Huh?! What?" Alex muttered, looking confused at his rejuvenated hands.
Meanwhile, Kenji's expression was frozen in place, as he was struggling to process the sudden change in the situation. Shinji on the other hand.
"AAAHHH! SOMEBODY PUT ME OUT ALREADY!!!" Shinji screamed, as he was still on fire.
"I'm trying, but I'm just so tired from the tunnel!" Little Thunder said.
"M-me to!" Little Flower said.
After putting out Shinji, the trio looked at each other, a bit confused and shaken from the experience. However, after calming down a bit, they suddenly remembered Aiko and was about to rush out to search for her when suddenly they heard a familiar voice.
"Wow! You guys look like shit!"
Walking in through the secret passage came Nox carrying a certain unconscious purple- and silver-haired lolli over her shoulder, while accompanied by a bunch of golems.
"About time you showed up!" Alex complained.
"BOSS!" Kenji and Shinji cried, as for the first time ever, they were actually glad to see her.
"Sup!" She replied.
Shinji and Kenji immediately began talking over each other in an incoherent manner, rapid firing words, and spit, as they told her to heal them all up, cried about their senior's missing legs, and asked about the purple strings that just disappeared, all without giving her a chance to interject.
"… AND THEN THEY JUST DISA-!"
*BANG**BANG*
Nox, having had more spit thrown in her mask than she could tolerate, quite literally punched her two disciples back to health, sending them flying into the wall, unconscious, while using magic to heal their wounds.
"Mind fixing me up to?" Alex asked.
"Hm? Sure! What kind of prosthetic would you like?" Nox said as she half-opened her robe to show off the variety of prosthetic legs attached to the inside of her garment.
"My own legs please, and don't pretend you can't! I know you can, and I'm too exhausted to beat around the bush!"
"You sure you don't want a prosthetic! I've been working on a rocket punch function! Well, I guess it would be a rocket kick!"
"Yes!"
"The legs come with a flight function!"
"MY LEGS PLEASE!"
"Tsk!"
A bit disappointed she couldn't convince her adopted son to become a cyborg of his own volition, Nox snapped her fingers and regenerated his legs… facing the wrong way.
"…! I'm not going to let you turn me into a live-sized action figure, and if you don't stop messing around, I swear to God-!"
"HEY! Language! Unconscious kids are present!"
"I WILL, I'll find a way to bring Victoria here, and I will tell her where you are!"
"…!"
"You thought I hadn't heard? Strategy 1 o 1! Know your enemy's weakness!"
"Tsk! Fine!" Nox said, snapping her fingers.
*Snap*
"Ugh!"
And with a painful snapping sound, Alex's legs twisted 180 degrees, making them face the right way. Stretching out his new legs, Alex let out a sigh of relief as he made sure they weren't made of metal or had a secret rocket launcher implanted in them.
"So, about the purple string thing?"
"Wimp had a little accident!"
"Could you not talk like she just wet the bed! She nearly killed us!"
"Well, that's on you!"
"How is this on me! You're the one who suddenly disappeared on us! Where even were you while this was going on!"
"Well, first I went to the beach to look for my stuff these pranksters flushed down the toilet! Then I got kidnapped by a rock thief and made to climb space mountain, which collapsed on top of me! Whichever safety inspector approved that thing should be fired, witch hunter style! Then I got a lot of papercuts from the sword-boat I made and proceeded to sink because swords don't float! I then turned it into a submarine, did a little underwater pirate larping, and then just decided to fly back."
"Uh-huh. So, can I-!"
"On a giant crow!"
"So can I-!"
"Who I brainwashed into thinking it was a horse!
"So can I go home now?"
"Hang on a sec! I need to have a talk with my little pranksters!" Nox said, as she proceeded to throw Aiko next to Shinji and Kenji before whipping out the pain stick.
*Bonk**Bonk**Bonk*
"AAAAAAAAHHH!" They screamed in unison as they were bonked awake.
"SHUT UP!" Nox shouted over their screams before slapping tape over their screaming mouths to silence them.
"Now! Where, oh where, is my mystery box?" Nox asked.
*Muffled*
After finally calming down, Aiko lifted her hand shakily, a little fearful of the look in Nox's eyes. In response, Nox tore off the tape from her mouth, allowing her to speak.
"Wh-What was the question?"
"MYSTERY BOX! WHERE IS IT?!" Nox shouted, grabbing and shaking Aiko by the shoulders with a literal fire in her eyes.
"Uhhh?"
Seeing Aiko was drawing a blank. Shinji raised his hand for a moment, then immediately lowered it, as he realized he shouldn't draw his master's attention to him while in her current state. Unfortunately for him, he was to late as Nox noticed him.
"SPEAK! MY MYSTERY BOX!"
"Uhhh! I don't kno-!"
Nox raised the pain stick.
"-know if it's the right one, but did you mean the yellow cube with a question mark on it?"
"YES! NOW FORK IT OVER! I NEED IT FOR MY BANK ACCOUNT!" Nox shouted as he lifted him in the air by his collar.
"I-I can't! Kenji ate it!"
"Huh?"
"The pill inside the box I mean! Kenji ate it!"
*Muffled Protests*
Seeing Shinji was trying to use him as a scapegoat, Kenji tried to protest, but unfortunately, the tape covering his mouth was muffling his voice.
*Thud*
"Pill?" Nox said, looking confused at the disciple he just dropped on the ground, still under the misunderstanding that the prize she got from the Kaguya Alchemy tournament was a bunch of magic stones.
In this momentary calm, Shinji signaled for help from his senior disciple.
"Hm? Uh, master? What was this about again?"
"Hm? Somebody stole my 1st place prize money reward for winning the meth lab tournament on New Year's Eve!"
"New Year! Wait, are you talking about the Kaguya Alchemy tournament? Was that UFO really-? Actually, now that I think about it! It would be more surprising if it wasn't you!"
"Then be surprised! For the UFO was these guys! The Intergalactic bad guys who stole their mothers lunch money! NOW COUGH IT UP!" Nox shouted as she looked like she was about to beat the three up for their lunch money.
"Hold it!" Alex said as he held back his master from pummeling his juniors.
"LET ME GO! I WORKED HARD TO STEAL THAT DRUG MONEY! THEY'VE EARNED THIS BEATING!"
"It wasn't money you won! Calm down!"
"Ah! Huh?"
"The prize for the alchemy tournament is a cultivation pill! So, calm down!"
"A pill? But the animal cruelty ring had a money reward?"
"If you're talking about the magical beast tournament then you should know the different tournaments have different rewards! The blacksmiths get high grade ores and materials, the beast tamers get magic stones, and alchemists get pills! It's how the Kaguya tournaments have always been!"
"Uhhh!"
Nox just stared blankly into the air as she struggled to process the reality of her situation. She then got depressed as she realized her time as a magical alchemy girl was for nothing, and so she curled up on the floor in silence.
"Is the boss okay?" Shinji asked.
"She is just sulking! Freelance magicians like our master tend to go nuts whenever money is involved, since they are constantly in need of it to fund their experiments! This is probably the most normal reaction you'll get out of her actually!"
"Should we do something or?"
"Yes! Leave her alone, and look for somewhere to hide just in case she suddenly thinks of a reason to take her anger out on-!"
"So, what happened to the pill again?" Nox suddenly asked.
"…!"
"…!"
"Kenji ate it!" Aiko said.
Nox then suddenly appeared standing over Kenji, who was caught off guard as he didn't even see her move. Nox still had that lifeless blank stare, as she asked.
"Crybaby! What grade was the pill I got, and what does it do?"
"Uh? I forget the name, but it's a mythical grade one that guarantees an indigo stage nascent soul's ascension into human immortal, I think?"
As she heard Alex's words, her eye twitched in irritation, before finally tearing off the tape covering Kenji's mouth.
"Boss? Just so you know! They made me take it! It's not my fault!"
*Sigh*
"Uh-huh! So is that how I found you undergoing your ascension into nascent soul out in the open, surrounded by a hoard of dead animals and a missing Wimp?"
"Uh? Yes?"
"So, here is my question to all you big-brained idiots! Why didn't you just wait until you were better equipped to have your advancement farts?"
"Wait? Was that an option?!" Shinji asked, as he, Aiko, and all the golems who survived the hoard of rabid animals, turned to look at Kenji.
"Of course it was! Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU SAY SO SOONER?!"
"Well, nobody asked! You all just started panickin when I said I was about to advance! I just figured you were as stoked as I was and wanted to get right to it!"
Alex, tried to keep himself from laughing as the choir of golems all facepalmed at the realization that they all almost died over such a stupid misunderstanding.