Period 8: Escape from Library Island

The group stood before the open doorway and stared into the gloom. Their objective was finally within reach. For the baka rangers that objective was academic security, for Mero Averruncus it was her whole purpose in coming to this world.

"I will go in first." She said. "In fact, you all should stay here."

"I don't think that's a good Idea." Yue said. "You're wounded pretty badly. Kaede should take the vanguard."

Damn! Once again she cursed herself for not performing a healing spell on herself before the others arrived, now it was too late. She had No logical reason to reject Yue's suggestion. Her wounds did hurt though. Perhaps given the circumstances this was the best option.

"Very well." The white haired girl said as she fell in line behind the others.

As the party walked down the dark corridor, Mero found herself drawn to Asuna.

"Asuna-san, how did you manage to break down that door?"

"How?" She scratched her head. "I don't know I just kicked it."

"Yes, but your attack actually managed to get through while Ku Fei-san's did not."

"I really don't know what to tell you. I guess I just got lucky?"

She considered saying more, but decided against it.

"Yes that must be it."

The hallway gave way to a large rectangular room. In contrast to the rest of the island, this place resembled a traditional library. Solid brick walls filled with rows and rows of ordinary bookshelves, with another doorway on the opposite side. The average person may have wondered how the furnishings could look so new, but to Mero it was obvious; this room was preserved by magic. Every wall was soaked in mana. This room had been in close proximity to powerful magic for a very long time.

"Is this it?" Makie asked.

"Which one is the magic book aru?" Ku said.

"Are we going to have to check all of these?" Asuna groaned.

The girls wandered around the room pulling random books off shelves.

"I can't read any of this!" Makie complained.

"This isn't japanese aru." Ku added.

Mero opened a book. It was written in latin like most magic texts, and listed some complex incantations. This was a spell book! She picked up another. This one was a history book detailing the war in the magic world. Another book talked about the strengths and weaknesses of various magical creatures. Where were they? Could this be dean Konoemon's personal library? She wondered. If that was the case maybe she could learn something useful here. Or perhaps it would be better to destroy it completely and deal a blow to the Kantou magic association. Either way she couldn't leave this library empty handed.

"It looks like all these books are in latin." Yue said examining a spell book.

"Whaaaa- so then coming here was all for nothing?" Makie cried.

"It's no use if we can't even read these." Nodoka said.

"Wait, Mero can read latin." Asuna remembered.

All eyes turned to her.

"I-Is it true Mero-chan?" Makie asked. "Can you really read this stuff?"

This wasn't good. She shouldn't have let it slip that she knew latin. Now she had no reason not to translate for them. What's more she needed their help to transport all the books. She couldn't very well say 'help me gather all these books, but don't take any of them for yourselves.'

"For now let's try to pack up as many books as we can." She said. "We'll see about translating or whatever else after."

Now that it had come to this, it seemed her only option was to have the baka rangers help her, then steal the books back from them later. They busied themselves loading as many books as they could into a pair of duffel bags they had brought with them. When she was certain she wouldn't be noticed, Mero snuck off to a corner of the library. Despite all the magical energy in the area, she sill wasn't convinced it was the place of power she was searching for. This place had clearly been affected by great magic, but it wasn't the source of it. If she had to guess there was probably a natural mana spring somewhere above them, she just had to locate it. Down here she was far away from the eyes of any enemy mages. She closed her eyes and chanted a spell. She reached out with her senses, following the trail of mana. It went up, out of the library and through the bedrock. Further, further, and . . . there. The edges of her mouth turned up in a smile. She found it.

Her celebration was immediately cut short, as the whole library lit up. A stone slab slid down from the ceiling to block each exit. The entire room began to hum, and glowing runes appeared on the walls.

"What's going on?!" Asuna cried.

"Is it another trap?" Nodoka worried.

No, examining the books didn't seem to set off any traps. Was this triggered by her spell?

"Tch, I was careless."

A magic circle appeared on the floor in front of each bookcase and glowed brightly.

"A summoning spell?" She wondered aloud.

A golem, identical to the one they'd just fought emerged from each circle. There were at least a dozen of them. The nearest giant turned to Mero and swung it's sword. She ducked under it and rolled away. Around the room the baka rangers were avoiding attacks from the other golems.

"What happened aru?" Said Ku dodging a blow from the golem in front of her.

"It doesn't look like they're going to let us leave without a fight De Gozaro." Kaede pulled four long blades from her uniform and fit them together to form her shurriken.

"But we could barely take on one of these things!" Asuna exclaimed. "How are we going to get out of this?!" A golem swiped at her. She jumped up and kicked it in the head. It fired a laser that just barely missed her, and hit her skirt, setting it on fire.

"Wah, wah, wah!" Asuna ran in circles waving her behind trying to put out the flame. She eventually succeeded and the fire died. In it's place was a hole revealing her white bear print panties.

"I hate these things!"

"Kyaaa!" Nodoka screamed as a golem reached for her duffel.

"No!" Mero ran to intercept it, but the golem in front of her swung it's sword down. She sidestepped and the blade was embedded in the floor. The golem punched with his free hand.

"Deflexio." [wind shield]

She conjured an invisible wall between them, and though it absorbed most of the blow's impact it did not stop it. She held up both her hands to block the massive punch, but with her reduced strength and her injuries it was all she could do to hold back the giant.

"Guh, ugh!"

This wasn't working. She shifted her weight, rotating her body in a tight circle and sending the giant fist slamming into the floor beside her. The golem, now on it's hands and knees before it's foe, bean charging it's laser beam. Mero spread her arms out and grabbed the side of it's head, then performing another circular motion she slammed it's face into the ground. The beam went off, causing an explosion that knocked her across the room.

"Hey, what was that aru?" Ku Fei said looking her way. "Tai Chi? Ba gua?"

Mero ignored her. She turned back to Yue and Nodoka. The golem had already seized the first bag. Yue slung the remaining duffel over her shoulder and took Nodoka by the hand.

"Let's run Nodoka."

The two ran down the aisle, until their path was blocked by another stone giant.

"You will not be leaving with that." It said before raising it's weapon. Before it brought it down, four daggers stabbed into it's exposed chest. The golem didn't even slow down, but then paper tags attached to each dagger smoldered and exploded. Kaede jumped in front of the two girls.

"It's time to go, Yue-donno, Nodoka-donno."

"B-But we're trapped in here." Nodoka worried.

"Stand clear." The ninja girl said before rushing in. She stabbed at the giant's face. When it tried to grab her, she kicked off it's body and jumped away, towards the end of the room. The golem fired it's mana beam. She dodged, and it blew a hole in the the exit door.

"We have an escape route." Yue said. "Let's go everyone!"

Mero was hesitant to leave the library so soon, but this was a battle they were not likely to win. Ku kicked the debris out of the doorway and they all fled. The floor opened into a larger area that connected to adjacent hallways and staircases.

"Which way do we go?!" Asuna cried.

"Give me a minute to check the map." Yue said.

Bam! One of the golem's beams blasted the ground right next to them.

"Damn it! We'll just have to pick at random." Asuna got ready to jump into the nearest corridor.

"Wait!" Mero said. When she cast her locator spell, she got a vague sense of the area along the trail of mana. She couldn't tell much, but she did know there was a tunnel leading to the surface somewhere in this area. "Come this way." She pointed to the doorway on the opposite side of the room.

"How do you know?"

". . ."

Asuna locked eyes with her and made a decision. "Alright let's go!"

They ran toward it, and the enemies rushed to block their path. Asuna kicked one drawing it's attention, while Nodoka and Yue slid between it's legs and ran through the door. The others followed, then Ku turned back and lunged at the pursuing golem.

"Sotenshu!" [Dual knock over palm!]

She struck the magic giant with both her palms, sending it flying into the enemies behind it. The girls escaped as the constructs stumbled over each other trying to right themselves. Once they were through the doorway Kaede threw an exploding dagger above the frame, sealing the entrance with rubble.

The chamber was a large cylinder, stretching up for what looked like miles. A spiral staircase ran along the wall up the length of the tunnel.

"Will this take us to the surface?" Yue wondered.

"It's so long." Nodoka said. "How long will it take to climb this?"

"We don't have a choice." Asuna said grimly.

The girls began running up the massive staircase. They were only a few stories up when they heard a loud crash. The golems had entered the tunnel. Despite their size they caught up surprisingly quickly.

"You will return what you have stolen." One of them said bearing down on Yue.

Kaede's shurriken hit it's head causing it to stumble. Then Makie tripped it with her ribbon. The earthen warrior lost it's footing, and plummeted into the abyss. The girls kept running, dodging swords and beams from the golems. Ku dropped one off the staircase with a kick. Kaede's clones tackled another sending it over as well.

"Haa, haa, I can't run anymore." Nodoka panted.

They slowed down, and a golem wrapped it's hand around the bag. Yue grasped the other end firmly and pulled with all her might. Nodoka helped her, but they were clearly not going to win the struggle.

"No!" Mero rushed toward them. After all the trouble they had gone through to get that she was not going to give it up that easily!

RIIIIIP

The flimsy canvas tore, and the two girls were flung backward, scattering the contents of the bag. Yue fell hard. Her head hit a step and she fell unconscience, still clutching the torn cloth in her hands.

"Yue, Yue!" Nodoka cried, desperately shaking her friend. The giant was off balance, and stumbled. Kaede leapt into action and knocked it over the edge. She put her hands together and produced two clones. One picked up Yue in her arms, the other carried Nodoka on her back. They all resumed their climb, leaving Mero behind. When the bag ripped a single book landed on the step directly in front of her. It was thin with golden runes on the cover. It was probably the only thing she would be able to physically recover from library island. Quickly, before anyone could see, she slipped the book into her jacket. It was something at least.

She caught up to the others just in time to see Asuna backhanded into the wall by one of the golems. She was dazed and defenseless as it approached her. Makie Kaede and Ku were all occupied with their own enemies. Was Asuna going to die? Mero couldn't decide if she should intervene. Of course it would be good to eliminate a potential threat, but Asuna wasn't a mage or ki user, surely she didn't need to die. And then there was that incident with the door. If she did posses some kind of unique power maybe it would be better to get rid of her now. Or maybe she could find a way to use it to her benifit. The golem was bearing down on her. She had to make a decision now.

"Acceleret!" [Accelerate]

She sprinted forward and tackled the monster with enough force to topple it.

"Ah!" She felt her shoulder pop, then she and the golem fell over the edge. Could she survive the drop? There was no way her thin magic barrier would be able to protect her completely. She couldn't move her right arm anymore. Was she going to die?

"You are such . . . "

"Huh?"

"An idiot!" Asuna reached over the edge and grabbed her by the wrist. "Guh!" The weight of the other girl pulled her down and pinned her to the staircase. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Did you just call me an idiot Asuna-san?"

"Shut up! You're so annoying, even when you're saving me! What's the point if you die too idiot?!"

"Ah . . ." She opened her mouth, but there was nothing she could say that would explain her actions.

"Grrr . . . aaah . . . " Asuna grunted and slowly pulled her back onto the ledge. "Let's all escape together." Mero looked at her.

"Okay."

"Can you stand?" She tried and her legs buckled.

"Go on without me. I'll recover in a moment."

"Geez, what did I just say?!" She picked her up, princess style, and ran. Mero rested her head against Asuna's chest. She could have just healed herself and ran on her own, yet there she was sitting in Asuna's embrace like a sheltered child.

Once they made it about half way up the tunnel, they came to a large circular platform, suspended in the middle of the spiral staircase.

"Wait, stop!" Mero said noticing a magic circle carved into the middle of the platform. "Put me down."

Asuna did so, and Mero kneeled to examine the circle. She guessed it was designed to travel up and down the length of the tunnel like an elevator.

"What are you doing?!" Asuna cried. "They're coming!"

Kaede set down Yue and Nodoka beside her, then turned to face the approaching enemies.

"Why are they still chasing us?" Nodoka said. "We lost all the books!"

"If you're going to try something Mero-donno." Kaede said. "Now is the time." Ku Asuna and Makie gathered around her at the edge of the platform.

If she activated the elevator they could escape almost immediately, but then she would risk exposing her magic. If she didn't they would soon be overrun by golems. If she unsealed her powers she could easily defeat them of course, but if she revealed her identity to her classmates, she would be forced to kill them.

"Here they come aru!" Ku said readying her stance

"Excitant!" [Activate] Mero slammed her left hand into the magic circle and activated the spell.

"Wha . . . wha?" Yue's eyes fluttered open just as the symbols lit up and the platform accelerated upward. The girls huddled together as the staircase rushed past them, leaving the golems and library island behind.

X

"Man, library island was terrible aru!" Ku exclaimed.

"Haha, I thought it was fun." Makie said.

It was already morning when they reached the surface. They emerged from a tunnel behind the dorm.

"Even after all that we didn't even get the magic book." Asuna groaned.

Mero put a hand to her breast, but said nothing.

"At least we got out safely." Yue sighed. She fiddled with the torn cloth she'd been carrying, and her fingers closed around something hard. She gasped. "This-"

"What is it Yue-san?" Mero leaned in closely.

"It -" She hesitated. "N-Nothing, Mero-san. I'm just tired. Let's all get some rest."

"What on earth happened to you girls!"

They turned to see Negi running toward the group of battered and bruised students.

"Well," Asuna said. "It's a long story . . . "