“Ahh! So tasty!” I cried out as I polished off a plate of steak and potatoes. “This is great!”

  I’d never been hungrier in my life. Skipping breakfast before a big fight was such a mistake. What was I thinking?

  All that training really did a number on me, so it was time to refuel with the biggest brunch that Adalyn’s seven course chef’s could offer. Was a seven course chef a real thing? Heck if I knew! The food was good, that was all that mattered.

  Indena was right along with me as we ate through plate after plate. It was almost a contest to see who could eat the most, which I had her beat by about a dozen plates.

  “Ain’t a better time to eat then after training,” Indena said to me. “Especially eating with people. It’s bomb!”

  “What’s that mean?” I asked.

  “Where I came from, if you say something’s bomb, that means it's good,” Indena replied. “I guess I’m teaching you street slang now too.” She pointed a fork of spaghetti at me with a proud smile. Although, her smile was a little intimidating with those red eyes she’d been sporting since we woke up.

  “Guess so,” I snickered. “This is bomb!”

  “Sss!” Samael hissed excitedly as he happily snatched some meat off my plate.

  The match might have been over, but there was an issue that needed to be taken care of. Indena had a little darkness still in her, seeing as a lot of it flowed through her soul to power her up. Her normally orange eyes turning red was a clear indication of that.

  Despite that corruption, she actually seemed to be in a chipper mood.

  A lot of the things she said during the fight were still bothering me though, keeping me from sharing that exact enthusiasm. I wasn't one to hold grudges, and she seemed like the type to forget them too if she cared about that person... But deep down, I had to know if what she said came from a place of disappointment in me or not.

  "Hey, Indena?" I spoke up. "Those things you said during the fight..."

  She stopped eating and turned to me, giving a serious frown. "What, your not sad about that, are you?"

  "Well..."

  "I want you to get angry," she said. "I want you to wake up in the morning and remember that feeling of rage. You're not helpless, but the people your trying to protect are. Their lives are in your hands. Don't sit around and wait for someone else to do what you need to."

  She had really good points. I was too busy sulking over my attachment issues to remember that humans were suffering. I had to be serious.

  "I understand," I nodded.

  "Good," she nodded back. "Besides, if your going to use that fire magic you stole from me, rage makes it stronger."

  That explained why she was angry all the time.

  It was getting harder and harder to ignore the red energy sifting around her eyes like evil tie dye. My first order of business in this new mindset was to free her from whatever corruption she'd picked up during our fight. “Miss Cynthia?” I turned around to see the head maid of the household approaching the table with a mouthwatering turkey. “Didn’t you say that there’s a way to help Indena?”

  She claimed that was possible when we woke up in the infirmary.

  “Indeed there is,” she reaffirmed. “Magical girls like me have the ability to channel stardust energy through our wands. Long ago in the past, when demons were more prevalent, we worked alongside the church to cleanse people of dark energy.”

  “And why didn’t you fix me then?” Indena asked.

  “For the same reason you fought young mistress Yalda…” Miss Cynthia stated. “It is a good opportunity for her to learn the art of exorcism.”

  “Exorcism?” I said with a mouthful of food. “Magical girls can do that?”

  “Yes,” She nodded. “And refrain from speaking when your mouth is full, young mistress.” Miss Cynthia scolded.

  “Sorry, Miss Cynthia…” I made sure to take her order seriously, since it was pretty gross.

  Seeing as a magical girl could perform an exorcism with stardust, it probably wouldn’t be difficult for me to do it. She promised to teach me when we finished eating.

  Speaking of eating… While we were devouring every morsel in front of us, Marek was at the table trying to fight for a few scraps of food we hadn’t been able to reach.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “That battle must have taken a lot out of both of you,” Marek said. “How much can you two eat?”

  “They can have as much as they’d like,” Miss Cynthia said as she finally placed down the tray of turkey, which Indena and I both immediately started fighting over.

  “Mine!” I shouted, trying to pull on a leg.

  “Stupid bottomless pit!” Indena shouted, tugging the other leg. “Find your subatomic particles somewhere else!”

  I was so impressed that she remembered that part of my digestion that I let her have the whole thing. She deserved a reward for paying attention a while back.

  “Petite madam…” Marek looked at me. “You really were incredible during that battle, especially when you transformed.”

  “Yeah,” Indena turned to me. “That thing you did was bad ass. How did you do that?”

  It was pretty cool, but it came with a bit of a problem…

  “I have no idea how I did it,” I shrugged with a goofy smile. “It had something to do with my Theta Drive systems, which I guess is some sort of transformation state.”

  The transformation wasn’t something accessible through my spell list or hot bar buttons, but I had a feeling that if I could figure out the system command that triggered it, then copied it into my console, I’d probably be able to transform into that False Theta form again.

  Unfortunately, my body was fried like an egg on a hot stove top, so I needed to recover my strength before testing the theory. The others seemed understanding, although Indena was really pushy about me using it again soon for practice.

  So instead of twiddling my fingers, Miss Cynthia figured a much easier task would be teaching me how to perform an exorcism. Never thought a magical girl would be teaching me that sort of skill…

  ~☆☆☆~

  Indena looked silly as she laid across a decorative table with candles floating around her. A Seven Star shield ornament was hovering just above her head, providing stardust light down on her face so we could see her in the dimly lit room.

  For some reason, Miss Cynthia found it proper to block the windows with a set of curtains, so when I say it was dimly lit, we had quite the moody vibe going on.

  “Cynthia, is this necessary?” Marek folded his arms. “You’ve never been this theatrical when doing an exorcism before.”

  “Of course it is,” She smiled, tapping the head of her wand in her palm. “Yalda is a beginner, so setting the mood will help her learn this better.”

  “Is that why I’m strapped down?” Indena commented, tugging on buckles locking her arms and legs in place.

  “That’s insurance in case things go wrong,” Miss Cynthia clarified.

  The extra insurance was comforting. Considering we’d be pushing dark energy out of her body, the odds of this devolving into a worse situation was pretty high.

  In order to begin the exorcism, I had to put myself into a serious mood and tap into a less childish side. The reason was that my mood apparently influenced the quality of my stardust energy, imbuing it with a certain amount of feeling.

  With a few quiet moments of meditation in this very calm room, my motivation began to influence the sparkle being drawn from my pulsing crystal heart.

  -Congratulations! You may now perform Exorcisms!-

  -Notice: Semantic component required to fully activate-

  That message was a great sign, proving I was on the right track. But like a few of my other spells, I had to add in some sort of words or phrase to invoke the power to its fullest extent.

  I tried to quietly think about what sort of term would be the most effective here. It had to be spiritually related, while also psyching me up in the proper way.

  -Let there be light-

  “Let there be light…” I whispered.

  It fit perfectly. There wasn’t even a hint of doubt placing those words upon the pedestal of a darkness destroying exorcism.

  As I spoke the words, even whispered, my eyes sparkled along with my heart. While I moved, a hint of light trailed behind them, like an afterimage.

  The others were quiet when they saw I was on the right track. They watched me closely as I stood up and began traveling toward my darkness filled friend.

  Indena’s face was riddled with fear the closer I came. She tried to undue the straps holding her down, but she couldn’t break them. Her willpower wasn’t weak though and she fought the urges to move.

  “What do I do next?” I said, standing by her head.

  “Place your hands over her heart and let stardust energy flow carefully out from you.” Cynthia said.

  My hands pressed down over Indena’s chest, feeling her racing heartbeat through my touch. Stardust energy fell from my hands and was absorbed into her skin.

  Her heartbeat fell and her eyes closed, as if she were being relaxed by the process.

  “Good,” She said softly. “Your energy is flooding into her soul. That’s the first part.”

  “What comes next?” I asked.

  “You’re filling the darkness in her heart with new light,” Cynthia claimed. “Once she is full, you must send a powerful wave of light energy into her to fully push everything out.”

  This was where the semantic component came into play. Rather than a gentle stream of light, I needed to be a momentary storm of energy.

  “Let there be light!” I shouted, pressing my hands down, transferring waves of stardust energy into my friend.

  Her body jerked for a moment. Clouds of darkness lifted from her breath like a damp vapor

  “Good work,” Cynthia said. “You’re a natural.”

  “I’d hope so,” Indena smiled, looking tired. “Guys, get me off this table already, yeah?”

  -A special thanks to my friend for making these bookmarks based on my book!-

  Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, please support me, Taylor The Writer, here on Royal Road! :)