After the battle was over, Alethea and I were out of commission. What does that mean? WELL, in short... it sucks. So, Overdrive is pretty much a last resort sort of thing for us. Compressing mana or aether is a sure way to increase output in short bursts. I do that all the time. I can maintain a certain level of it for a while, but I can also increase the compression many times over in a short burst. It’s really hard to do and can be dangerous if not handled properly, so it’s best to do the higher compressions in short bursts only. That said, it’s also not a good idea to do any amount of compression indefinitely. The same dangers apply, just it takes longer to build up.

What is the danger exactly? The link between body and soul is important. The body will die if that link is severed completely. Mana and aether come from the soul, and that link is how gets from the soul to the body. For someone like me who has reincarnated so many times, the supply of mana and aether in the soul is astronomical, but each life means a new body that must be conditioned to handle more and more at a time. I’ve done quite well to improve my current body so much, but I’m still a long way off from standing among the top-tier people in this world. They’ve had thousands or millions of years to train due to how lifespans in this world work, and I’ve had just over fifteen. The link between body and soul can be compromised by compression. Only so much can go through it at once, but if mana or aether is compressed in the soul before being delivered, more can be pushed out in the same amount of space. It’s like the air in a chip bag. The bag takes up so much space, even though the bag isn’t completely filled with chips. Compression is like a bag that is filled to the brim. You get more chips in the same space. That doesn’t sound very dangerous, and it’s really not. The danger comes when you try to fit dozens of bags into the space of one. Too much compression will damage the link, that being either too much all at once or doing it for too long.

Overdrive is an extreme measure to allow an absolutely massive amount of compression in a short window, after which the link will require a non-trivial amount of recovery time. This ability has been overused to the point of death many times, so Lady Eve placed a hard restriction on it to keep her champions from using it unnecessarily or unsafely. If a champion died and she wanted them to stay in that world... that’s a problem. While we were recovering, Alethea and I were unable to channel aether at all and our channeling for mana was drastically reduced. We could use mana well enough to complete school lessons, but we pretty much were under house arrest outside of school hours for a while after that battle. How long? WELL, I had to cancel my outing with Doran that was scheduled for one week after the battle, and that was just the start. We were allowed to do things on campus, but those things had to be approved ahead of time and chaperoned by an adult royal.

Six months later, we were starting to recover our faculties. The restrictions Lady Eve implemented on this ability were no joke. Sometimes, we questioned if we would ever recover. Could we have gotten by in that battle without using it? Maybe, but hindsight says we would have lost lives without it. We didn’t have a single casualty that day and that fact is attributed to our use of Overdrive. Allison, Mom, and James could have easily fended off that attack with aether, but they would have likely destroyed the entire city and killed millions in the crossfire. Allison did use aether to kill the S-Class, but we had to take some rather extreme measures to do it safely. She said if she had casted Annihilation without the incantation, the beam would have been hundreds of times that size. That’s a scary thought. And without a stationary target, she would have missed even with the incantation, because after the incantation is started there is no aiming... it’s locked in. I want to try learning that spell to see if I can insta-cast it without it being huge. Incantations give much more precise control, but I don’t need that. I’m impressed with how far ahead my guardians are in output and mana control, so learning how much trouble even the most skilled people in this world had with aether was a shock. I had a lot of extra time on my hands in the months following the battle and put my brain to work thinking about how to improve them. The result I came up with is that there must be something fundamental missing.

“Aliana, you have monitored my diet for the past six months and I’m sick of the restrictions. I am going to the food court right now and getting something tasty.” Kye stared Aliana down with the most determined of eyes.

Aliana nodded. “I understand, Princess.”

“As such, I will not hear any nays! We are going right now and that’s that!”

“I understand, Princess.”

“You can save your arguments for an- Wait, you understand? No arguments?” She lost her poker face. Kye had practiced with Liliana for days to get her lines right, but Aliana was giving in without a fight, leaving Kye surprised.

“You have more than earned it, Princess. I am surprised you held out this long. I am proud of you.”

Kye was thrown off so much that she didn’t know how to feel. With a blank expression, she walked over to the door separating her and Alethea’s suites and went through it. She waved at Eliana as she passed through and barged into Alethea’s room. Alethea was in the middle of changing clothes and shrieked. Kye stood there and watched silently as her lover quickly dressed herself in embarrassment.

“Kye!”

Kye smirked as Alethea walked over. “That was nice. Your boobs are bigger.”

“What?” Alethea examined herself, forgetting the embarrassment. “Are they?”

“Heh. They’re quite nice...”

“You’re such a perv.”

“HEY! I am not!” Kye stared into her eyes.

“K-Kye?”

Kye quickly spun around behind Alethea, reached around, and grabbed two handfuls.

“HEY!”

“They’re definitely bigger!”

“KYE!”

Kye released her, spun her around, and kissed her.

Alethea blushed and stepped back. “Meanie.”

Kye gave her a warm smile. “I love you.”

Alethea smiled back. “So, what’s up? You doing something fun?”

“Food court. Wanna go?”

Alethea had stars in her eyes. “YES!!!”

Going to the food court these past six months was among the few social opportunities I had. My guardians were concerned about my diet in the aftermath of using Overdrive, so Aliana went into overdrive managing my meals. I was sentenced to salads whenever I went out to eat.

We ran into Louise at the food court. After our initial visit six months ago, she became a regular there. We talked about my enchanting method occasionally, but due to her lack of progress and my inability to channel aether in the short term, we usually talked about other things. She was quite the researcher. I thought about telling her my secret, but it remained only a thought. I was able to keep everything believable thanks to my list of accomplishments, so I decided there was no need to share it. She knows that I invented “divine manasteel” and possess white mana. Those two things alone give me a lot of credibility.

“You wish to come to my lab today?” Louise asked.

“I do. Congratulations, by the way, on being granted a private lab.”

“Thank you. I do wonder if you are to thank for that?”

Kye grabbed a slice of pizza before answering. “No, actually. I did mention it to my mother, but she had already decided to assign one to you.”

“I see.” Louise sipped her soda, but it was empty. “Oh, I’ll be right back.” She took her drink and headed off toward the fountain.

“So, Alethea, Aliana, how’s your progress?”

Alethea was confused with a slice of pizza half shoved into her mouth. Aliana was reaching for a slice but stopped. “I was able to replicate the effect somewhat. I realized that my ability to render objects invisible or intangible is to simply create a void.”

“Void?” Louise asked as she returned. “May I ask?”

“I wanted your input on the subject, too, actually,” Kye said. “Aliana, go on.”

She nodded and continued. “The basics of my power is to do this...” She held a piece of pizza between her fingers, and it suddenly became invisible. She was still holding it, but all that could be seen were her fingers with a space between them. “And this...” She reversed the invisibility and applied intangibility instead. She tried to grab it with her other hand, but that hand went through the slice of pizza and the fingers holding it. “I can also do both at once, but you get the idea, so I won’t demonstrate.” She took a bite.

“You just wanted to take a bite sooner.” Liliana giggled and Aliana shrugged while she was chewing.

“And that’s where I come in!” Alethea cheered. She formed a ball of mana with the void effect, though she winced while she held it. “This is perhaps the most dangerous single thing that has ever existed. It is the very concept of void in the form of mana.” To demonstrate, Kye formed a ball of light mana and Liliana touched a light-imbued napkin to the ball. They simply collided and were pushed apart. Liliana then dropped the napkin onto the void ball. The napkin vanished as it fell, but only the portion of it that touched the ball. The surviving scraps fell to the table below. Alethea dispersed the mana so that Louise could examine the leftover scrap of napkin.

“It’s as if the missing piece was just... never there. There’s no sign of tearing, no burns, nothing. It’s... interesting.”

“I can imbue my weapon with this magic, but I can’t make things invisible or intangible,” Alethea added.

“I haven’t progressed enough to imbue anything, but I can form a ball of mana with it,” Aliana said as she briefly demonstrated before reaching for another slice of pizza.

“I would be very interested to research this with you if you are inclined,” Louise offered. “I have a list of questions already in mind that I believe we could use to learn more about it.”

“Aliana, this is your power mainly, so I will follow your lead,” Alethea said.

Aliana nodded and agreed to the questions. They decided to visit Louise’s lab after lunch to conduct experiments.

“Lord Apollyon, are you certain you do not wish to invite another from Daemonheim?” asked Layla. She was seated at a large round table. Next to her were James and Allison.

Around the table were royals from each of the five universes. From Terra, the Atlantis sisters: Atalante, Astarte, and Astraia. From Daemonheim, Apollyon sat alone. From Drachenheim, representing the Maya family: Drakon, Drayon, Drangan, Draelana, and Draenara. From Nippon Sekai, representing the Akari family: Zen I and Hatsumi; representing the Venturi family: Leonardo III and Leonardo I; and representing the Tachibana family: Ginchiyo and Kanade. From Alcanus, representing the Marshall family: James alone; representing the Romanov family: Alexandra and Kolodka; representing the Knight family: Adalric and Rebekka; and representing the Barrett family, aside Layla, James, and Allison: Edward and Charles.

“Thank you, Lady Layla, but that will not be necessary. I am the only royal of Daemonheim so it would not be proper to have another here until more have been selected as candidates.”

Layla nodded and looked toward Allison. She stood up and began, “It has been six months since the attack. Kye Akari and Alethea Atlantis are beginning to regain their ability to channel aether. As they are the main topic today, does anyone have thoughts, questions, or concerns about them?”