"Elijah-sama!" I cry, as he falls down, Aria and Seria atop him.

Fortunately, Kali is all done. She is unconscious, but she is safe. She practically broke every bone in her body, and had intense internal bleeding. I kind of want to bandage her up like a mummy. Maybe later.

My body aches and I involuntarily blush as I rush over to Elijah. The other two join me, with concerned expressions.

"What! What happened, yes!?" Kaede exclaims.

Kiku just chitters furiously in concern, bursting into tears as she literally flash steps up to our man.

'Can I heal him, Michael?' I think.

//You... cannot in this case//There is nothing I can do for another spirit...//That is not what Sendervil's light is for//But it appears…//His spirit is very strange//It briefly siphoned my power as well to heal the girl//Crudely used, not effective…//But plausibly saving her life//I wonder if this is a strange function of it being a merged type?//

I thought so.

Everyone is panicking, though, so there ~is~ something I can do.

I raise Michael up, I should be able to...

"Kouurani Selvestic Tanikost!"

Heart of Courage. We can do that, right?!

//We can...//But do not strain me much more...// Michael whines.

A blood red curtain of light erupts from me, dousing us all. I feel tired, but full of confidence, suddenly, and doubtlessly so do the other girls.

Seria stops bawling and stands up slowly, snivelling, apparently managing to barely restrain herself with my assist.

It's impressive how much I've seen her look so undignified in so many ways for the first time, all in the last hour or so.

The eyes wide, the tongue out, and now, crying like the girl she appears. It’s bad, but it makes me feel better about myself.

"The boy managed to stop it barely, I think. If he rests... sniff... he will be conscious again soon..." Seria says.

"But what?" Aria manages, rubbing her eyes.

"He was... I don’t know where he got it front, but… using too much power... overstrain." Seria notes, rubbing her eyes.

Yes... basically burning away a spirits’ energy to grant temporary power. It's a thing all mages are taught to avoid, because many spirits have no concept of restraint or self, and will happily vomit up all their power at once, even if it destroys them and their host.

Everyone looks morose.

"Like my... like when I..." Aria chews.

"No... not like the power he granted you. That... I still don't fully understand that... but that seems to be something granted by his Etranger ability." Seria pauses, her brows scrunching.

"However... it is similar in that it ignores the body's limits."

"I thought so, Seria-sama." I say.

Everyone looks at me.

"When I healed you, Arry, I had to do more than just fix what that demon did to you. Your organs were a mess. You had fractured your fingers from... I guess... applying too much strength." I continue, to my long-time friend.

Aria grimaces as she looks up at me, unconsciously flexing her hand.

It’s true. It was by far one of the hardest things I ever did. In fact, reattaching Elijah-sama's hand was actually less intense, overall. Even if that seemed outwardly worse.

If I didn't do what I did, Aria might have had lung and kidney problems later. Why did that happen? I never knew, but I fixed it, of course.

People having overstrain... is actually a fairly common thing that Clerics have to deal with, Master taught us. It's the problem with magic. The magic itself does indeed strengthen us, but often it’s also makes us blind and deaf to our real limitations, however heightened they may be.

In fact, I had to mildly overstrain myself to heal Aria and Elijah-sama that time. Fortunately, Michaels' power could cope, and I had the boost of the ghostfruit liquor.

Humans are naturally weak and squishy. Even with magic. Even those with proper endurance boosting spirits, like Wood, Earth, and Metal. It's an advantage that demons can boast over us. But even they're quite fragile inside.

But, in this case, I suspect… perhaps his spirit was also borrowing extra power from me and Seria. Her reserves are likely so vast she didn’t notice, but of course, Michael let me know and I did feel unusually drained. Is it because we all slept together?!?

Aria sighs again, and stands up.

"I guess we should wait here. Elijah should wake up. I guess we should be thankful he and Kali's recklessness was able to turn things around." She says.

"Hmm... speaking of which, where were the two of you, yes?" Kaede asks me and Seria.

Uh oh. Truth time. Fortunately, we already agreed on a cover story together. My lust is a little embarrassing, after all. I glance briefly at Seria.

//We are going with that, right?// I ask. I'm used to this telepathic bond schtick now.

//Indeed// she replies, looking annoyed as she breaks contact.

"The teleporting creature threw me and Elijah into different isolated parts of the dungeon. Seria came and found us both, though." I explain.

"The boy had to fight it away when it reappeared. He used your sword Kiku." Seria adds.

Kiku is stomping around in anger, but stops, looks at Seria smiling at her, and chitters slightly, breaking out in a slight smile.

"I was stuck next to a weird underground lake. There was no way out even though I looked around for ages. Fortunately... I was safe. I just had to wait." I follow up.

"I found Rishya first, and then detected the boy. We went there. He was in a cave with flowers, very tired. Then we came back after I had to wait some time to recharge my power. I am sorry I could not get back sooner."

Flawless! Brilliant! Elijah passing out has done us a favour here. We previously just asked him not to correct us, but there was no guarantee and he can be devastatingly honest... we might still lose it later. But...

"You are both lying, yes?" Kaede shoots us.

"Huh?" I blink. "Why d-do think so, Kaede?"

The ninja girl crosses her arms and squints.

"You are both extremely clean, you are both walking funny, the Sage is suddenly considerably emotional for Nii-sama, and your story was almost a prepared drama, yes?" She ticks off her fingers. "So... you both had sex with Nii-sama, yes?"

//I did say this was a foolish idea//

Shut up Michael!

I sigh as the other three glare at us. Seria shrugs as I glance.

I guess we didn't account for this one's obscene perception.

Well damn... busted...