Finally reaching the top of the staircase, Catherine was greeted with the familiar scenery of a grassy field with a singular tree at its center. Under the tree was a familiar looking Imp, Delvin, impatiently tapping her foot against the ground. The imp looked extremely agitated, staring at the slime for of Catherine as she waited for her to approach.

‘Well she seems happy to see me…’ Catherine thought as she hopped on over to the center. As she got closer, she noticed Violet was absent, it was just her and Delvin. As she got closer Delvin gave her a look over, relaxing a bit.

“Good, you can still store it when a recall has been activated, but just incase I’ll make this short.” Delvin spoke “So, you fucking slime…” In the next moment, Catherine was shocked when Delvin vanished from under the tree, appearing behind her and grabbing her head sized body, lifting it up and holding her in place at face level with the angry imp, “Why did you fail to kill even a single fucking thing! Did you just forget this is very important to your own fucking survival?!”

Catherine squirmed in Delvin’s grip, unable to break free and when she tried to mold her body to escape Delvin’s grip tightened, threatening to pierce the slimes body. “T-that whole thing was unreasonable! How do you expect me to fight something under those conditions! I’d evaporate!”

Delvin rose her free hand to her brow and sighed. “You didn’t have to kill a fucking big one, find a small one, fish one up, or just do anything and not just sit on a fucking pillar!”

“And I’m telling you that was impossible! You stuck me in the worst part! Nothing was around me I could work off of! What kind of dumbass helper are you! I couldn’t even reach the nearest piece of land besides the entrance!” Catherine protested, feeling Delvin’s grip tighten before she gripped Catherine with both hands and stretched her.

“Are you really fucking telling me you did not have an ace up your sleeve, something you didn’t tell me, that would of allowed you to do anything, anything at all? You didn’t fucking forget about one did you?” Delvin stared at the stretched-out slime.

“N-no, I told you everything!” She said and after Delvin stared at her for a moment, she found her self released from her grip, falling to the floor and landed with a plop.

Delvin put both of her hands to her face, leaned back, and groaned. She then fell on her back and let out a deep sigh “… I JUST got onto the organization for that…” She cursed herself “Fucking ignorant kid… “

Catherine was silent, wondering what she meant. She Didn’t have much time to ponder before Delvin shot up into a sitting position, prompting the slime to jump back a bit.

“Sorry, my bad. “ She apologized “I’ll admit I did want to test you a bit but it seems like I overestimated you a tad.”

“Yeah, “a tad” my ass, you stuck me in the middle of a pool of lava! The heat alone was damaging me!”

Delvin snapped her fingers “Hey, chill I apologized and would have done something to help, really I should have placed you at the start of the lava cavern, but I thought we had more time.” She then stood up, motioning Catherine to follow her as she started walking towards one of the dungeons walls opposite of the stairs leading down.

Catherine followed, hopping along the ground “Yeah, sure, you were wrong though. This leash sent a recall order and it wants me to go back to Rose.”

“I know, your friend got a phone call and is waiting for you just outside the boss room on the upper floor.” Delvin spoke “Before you ask, no I don’t know who or what they talked about, but I can take an educated guess.”

“So who-“ Catherine was about to speak, but Delvin cut her off.

“Some higher ups in the organization you might of pissed off, again, my fucking bad but that might be my fault.”

“Wait, I thought the organization was ok with me right now? Since I was cooperating and all. What did I do in this dungeon that would of pissed them off?”

Delvin sighed “Let’s just say that me throwing you into the middle of a lava lake wasn’t the only time I shouldn’t of tested you as harshly as I did…”

Catherine stopped “Wait, what do you mean? What did you do? The only other time you tested me…was it that guy?”

Delvin stopped, and after a pause she nodded.

“…who was he?”

“Someone that if you killed while wearing a leash, would’ve surely triggered it.” Delvin continued to walk “The less you know about him, the better. Might give you a better chance at surviving.”

Catherine continued after her wondering how not knowing who she pissed off would help, especially since the lack of information was really hurting her right now “No, I want to know. Who was that guy and why was he so important?”

Delvin didn’t say anything, just continued to walk.

“Delvin, Tell me.” Again, Catherine was ignored “Delvin you fucking owe me if I am in trouble thanks to you!” She yelled but again was met with silence. Catherine, filled with anger shapeshifted into her high elf form, glaring down at the imp “I’m tired of being thrown around by everyone around me, fucking tell me or I am not hel-“Catherine’s point of view suddenly shifted, in one swift movement Catherine found herself laying on the ground with a tiny imp on top of her, with it’s foot firmly planted on her head.

“Someone is getting a bit cocky.” Delvin glared down at Catherine “If you don’t want to help me after this then fine, I’ll even let you keep all that shit I gave you.” Catherine felt her face press inward as Delvin applied more force to her foot “But I ask that you trust me on this one last thing? Alright? If you survive then you can do what ever the fuck you want as an apology from me? Ok? You being ignorant to the details will work in your favor, or should, if you don’t fuck it up.”

Catherine returned the imp’s glare, trying to morph her body to get away or even trip up the imp but found she couldn’t, doing so gave her a similar feeling to what Lucy did to control her body but a lot more powerful.

“Oh, and if you are tired of being pushed around by everyone then let me offer you some advice…” She pressed down harder on Catherine’s face, the slime barely noticing an insane amount of magic power building in the foot before suddenly Delvin slammed her foot down, popping the Catherine’s face. A ripple was sent to the rest of Catherine’s body, as it was assaulted with Delvin’s magic and lost definition, losing all shape and being reduced to just a puddle “Get strong enough to where no one can tell you what to do.”

Catherine barely registered what Delvin was saying, as magic assaulted her very being, it felt like a bullet of pure energy was bouncing around inside her and wrecking her bodies functions. She couldn’t shape herself, she couldn’t move. Every time she tried she felt the wave of magic bounce towards where she wanted to move and disrupted it. Eventually her mess of a body started bubbling, the magic breaking down the surface of her body. She tried to speak, but she failed to even form a mouth to do so.

The ground next to Delvin split, a giant flower forcing it’s way out of the ground and opened up to reveal a very cross looking Violet. Delvin didn’t even look at her, she just continued to watch the bubbling mess of Catherine “I didn’t go too far.” She said sternly “In my opinion it was a very good warning.”

Violet huffed, bending down and sticking her hand into the puddle, a light glow emitting from it. “Listen up slime, if you can even hear me right now.” Delvin spoke “What you are experiencing right now Is what happens when someone forces an insane amount of magic power into a being with shapeshifting capabilities, as your whole form is held together by magic. Since a lot of your abilities make you tricky to pin down and kill this is perhaps the easiest way to render you useless, and easy to kill. Learn to recognize when someone is going to do this and avoid it at all costs. You may be able to absorb magic, but by the looks of you right now you can’t do shit when that magic is running rampant inside your body, can you?”

Catherine felt Violet’s magic enter her body, calming the raging storm of mana inside Catherine. “Only beings of extreme power can do this, not many people of the mana or skills to force it to work.” Delvin spoke, moving away from them and to the dungeon’s wall. She raised her hand and a staircase opened up along the wall “This will take you near your friends, I suggest you go as soon as you are healed up. Don’t forget to put on your leash either.”

Catherine tried to reply but couldn’t. even with Violet’s help in reducing the rampaging mana she felt weak and immovable. “Remember, take this as a warning and avoid it at all costs.” Delvin then walked over to Violet, jumping on top of one of her petals “Sorry about all this. And… good luck.” She said then vanished with along with Violet, leaving the room empty besides a single tree and a fizzling puddle.